progol

Thanks for chiming in here, yestravel! I was thinking of you and wondering if you’d answer this question.

I don’t think Abu Simbel is more important than other places in Egypt - it has the dramatic facade, true, but otherwise, you will have had your share of temples by then!

yestravel

agree! I was also tired of the whole “tour” even though like you, we were on our own with guides etc.

Ian

I have left Abu Simbel out of our planning. I also decided to kill a trip up to Abydos and Dendara. I know what we are like – particularly my spouse – and I know that we will probably hit maximum in Luxor. Call it being arted out (or ruined in this case), our travels have taught us that too much is simply too much. And long drives on relatively uninteresting roads . . . yeah, that's another problem. Instead, we will have one or two down days near the end to just chill. Do you think the Winter Palace may be a good chill spot?

yestravel

We feel the same. We stayed at the Winter Palace. If I did it over I would stay at one of the boutique hotels on the other side of the river. Winter Palace was fine, its a typical big hotel.

progol

I think you’re making a wise decision. There is just so much to see that it’s easy to reach that level of “too much”. I know we took breaks when we could during the day and we never packed our days full. And that drive from Aswan to Abu Simbel is long and dull.

In Luxor, we stayed at the Winter Pavilion, which is the newer building on the Winter Palace property. If you choose to stay at this property, I thought the Pavilion was excellent and considerably less costly than the Palace. We were happy here and enjoyed the pool, too. As yestravel says, there are a range of smaller, boutique-style hotels and guest houses on the West Bank which might be nice to chill at, though again, we found the Winter Pavilion property very pleasant.

Songdoc

I really appreciate the suggestions. I should mention that we would NOT be doing the driving. If we continue with our current itinerary, we would be part of a bus tour from the ship, and I figured we would sleep part of the way on the bus.

I'm going to ask the travel agent what we would be doing that day if we skip Abu Simbel.

FYI, we are not part of a tour. With input from those on this forum, friends, and independent research, we presented a Tel Aviv-based travel agent with our list. They put together the itinerary with hotel options and then we tweaked it. We will mostly have private guides. Their original itinerary did not include Abu Simbel.

Ian

I was eyeballing a couple over there - Al Moudira & Djorff Palace.
The Al Moudira is pretty far afield while the quirky Djorff has a free shuttle to Luxor for dining . . . and a large ground floor room with a veranda . . . and my wife loves the lattice woodwork . . .

progol

Songdoc,
We were driven, too. For me, sitting in a bus or car or van for essentially a full day would be a lot. Even driving there one day and back was a lot.

Again, people do it and it really becomes how important it is for you to see that particular site.

progol

I know of a few people who stayed at Al Moudira and liked it very much. I don’t know of the other one.

progol

I’m sure you all thought we were done with this trip by now, but we’re not! Today, we travel back to Aswan!

Friday November 11After a simple breakfast at the Kabara Nubian House, we were on our way back to Aswan by 8:45am. We made one rest stop after 1 1/2 hours and arrived just outside of Aswan just over 3 hours after leaving Abu Simbel. We are staying at the Movenpick on Elephantine Island in Aswan, and arrived a total of 4 hours after leaving AS at the ferry where we board the private ferry to our hotel.

We meet up with Mustafa, the Djed rep in Aswan, and he and Hamesh accompany us to our hotel, helped settle us in and we are on our own for the first time in a while. First order of business was lunch, and we took the quick ferry ride back across to the “mainland” where we had a filling and satisfying lunch at El Masry. In fact, we had plenty of leftovers which we saved for later.

Later that evening, we took the ferry again and explored the souk, but the vendors really started to get to us so after a little bit of shopping, we returned to the hotel and enjoyed our terrace overlooking the Nile.

The Movenpick hotel is a large, modern resort (we’re in the new wing of the hotel), nicely sited on the island, with good views of the water and of Aswan from our balcony. Lots and lots of feluccas (traditional wooden sailboats) gliding through the water making for a very picturesque vista! The customer service was excellent and the hotel was well run, but there is nothing that feels traditional about the hotel except, perhaps, the palm trees in the center of the atrium! The one real disappointment is that the hotel grounds are cut off from the rest of the island by the gate, so you can’t stroll off the grounds.

progol

Return to Aswan and a stay in another Movenpick (and lots of feluccas!)


The silent type


Guess where we are!


Mustafa and Hamesh accompanying us to the Movenpick


Movenpick Atrium


Movenpick grounds


And lots of feluccas!


The view from our balcony


Felluca


Vendor in the souk


Good night, Aswan

progol

Saturday, November 12

Our one full day in Aswan - and it was a full day! Mustafa came by with our Aswan guide, Fatima. She is very pleasant, her English is excellent, though she tended to tell us every little detail of everything we saw. By the time we arrived in Aswan, my brain was saturated and I don’t think I took much in.

What we did- first stop Aswan Dam and Lake Nasser. The dam was built between 1960 and 1970, and the construction of it both improved irrigation in the region but forced the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. It was the reason why so many temples had to be moved. While Abu Simbel is the most well known, there are many others, and we visited a few that day. This was an important stop to see primarily to see something of such historical significance, but visually, it doesn’t offer much in the way of views. But it’s interesting to see and be able to appreciate both its value and the negative consequences of the construction of the dam on the countryside.

We then took a small boat to Kalabsha, the first of 2 islands, the home of a temple complex comprising of 3 separate structures: Kalabsha, Beit Al Wali, and Kertassi. They aren’t in the best shape, but they’re significant because they were built under the Ptolemaic dynasties and completed under the Romans, and dedicated to a Nubian god. The Nubians, under the Nubian king Silko, were Christian, and imagery in the temples reflect this. The Nubian solar god, Mandulis, figures prominently in Kalabsha temple and is a bird with a human head.

The next structure, Beit Al Wali, is a cave partially cut into the rock. It may not be in its original place, but you’d never know it! The temple is dedicated to Amun-Ra, but many more gods are featured, including Horus, Isis and Hathor.

The last, the Kiosk of Kertassi dedicated to Isis, and features a series of Hathor’s faces on top of the columns.

Kalabsha was a surprise - not many visitors, and we “felt” this temple more than we would’ve expected at this point in our journey!

progol

Kalabsha

Arriving at Kalabsha




Note the carving of a figure on horseback. This is thought to be the Nubian king, Silko, conquering his enemies. Above him is a small angel - clearly, Christianity has arrived!




Beit Al Wali, cave temple








Hathor’s face on the column

progol

November 12, continued We then took our little boat to Philae, a larger island and temple complex, and a very popular destination in Aswan. There are many temples here that have been moved because of the construction of the dam, but the most prominent is the stunning temple to Isis, the main deity of the island. It’s been an important temple for thousands of years. Other structures moved here include the Kiosk of Trajan and the Gate of Hadrian. The island has many handsome ruins in a beautiful setting.

One of the smaller structures, the Temple of Hathor, contains many delightful carved reliefs of a series of musicians. Loved it.

The lovely Kiosk of Trajan sits at the water’s edge and was a popular image painted by artists during the Victorian era. One can see why!

progol

Philae

Arriving at Philae


Philae complex



















Old Grafitti


Musician carving - 1 of a series












Fatima, our guide

progol

And, Farewell to Philae (romantic, isn’t it)



I’m partial to black and white - what about you?

tripplanner001

I like the black and white. Perhaps it’s way we enjoyed visiting Philae at night while the night visits to the other temples did not speak to us as much.

Nelson

I like the black & white too, it's a classic looking image. Nice work. The entire series of photos from Kalabsha and Philae are fascinating, perhaps because you "felt" it, brain dead or not. Thanks.

zebec

Absolutely, that B&W works. Another enlargement?
I am done. the monochrome

progol

tripplanner, seeing the temples at night - now that sounds like a “wow!” sight! By nighttime, we were definitely comfortably back at the ranch, so to speak, and the only temples we were looking at them were our photos.

Nelson, glad you enjoyed the photos. Kalabsha surprised us since we weren’t expecting anything, and the sense of the place, with few tourists, did resonate. Philae was busier but it was in the nooks and crannies that we “felt” it more.

zebec, if only I had wall space! But thank you, glad you like that B&W shot. I’m a former darkroom printer so often see things in B&W and this image just screamed it!