Aswan

We travelled down by taxi from Luxor to Aswan - not a particularly long way but slow roads with lots of speed bumps so all-in-all a journey of about 6 hours, not including stops.

We had decided to take a taxi rather than the train so that we could stop at two more temples en route. Both were built relatively late, under the Ptolomies.

First, Edfu, dedicated to the falcon god, Horus. It is the second largest temple after Karnak, but quite different in style. It was interesting to see the hypostyle halls here fully roofed with massive blocks of stone and also a complete set of ancillary rooms for purification, perfume-making etc. Some of the carving has suffered from later defacement but still very impressive.

Then on to Kom Ombo, dedicated to the crocodile god, Sobek. This occupies a particularly wonderful site right alongside the Nile. There was also a small museum showing how crocodiles were mummified and buried with their grave goods, just like the pharaohs. The crocodile cemetery covers an area of 42 acres and well over 200 crocodile tombs have so far been excavated.

We arrived in Aswan about 5pm, to spend 2 nights in the Old Cataract Hotel, where Agatha Christie wrote Death on the Nile. We had decided we’d splash out as we reckoned we’d regret it if we didn’t! We would then move from here to a cheaper hotel, but still in Aswan for a further 2 nights.

Dinner in the 1902 restaurant - jackets compulsory!

Day 1

We have just been relaxing at this historic hotel, built by Thomas Cook in 1899. Our room is wonderful, the Nile views are stunning and the pool is refreshing!

In the late afternoon, we joined a history tour of the hotel, including visits to the Agatha Christie suite, where she stayed for almost a year in 1937 and to the Winston Churchill suite, which he always occupied on his frequent visits to the hotel. Both are very grand, with Churchill’s boasting an enormous 1st floor terrace, but little of the original furniture / decor remains. After that, we had a short cruise on the Nile in one of the traditional feluccas. Then dinner via room service on our balcony.

Day 2

We had arranged for our bags to be taken separately to our second Aswan hotel and, suitably unencumbered, got a taxi to the airport for the short flight down to Abu Simbel, to see the temples of Ramses II and his wife Nefertari. They occupy a stunning location on the shores of Lake Nasser, having been cut up and moved up 65m to raise them above the level of the waters of the lake created by the building of the upper dam.

The exteriors are extremely dramatic but the interiors of the larger temple are also brilliant, all originally carved out of the soft rock and wonderfully decorated.

The Egypt Air timetable allows for about 2 1/2 hours on site, which is quite sufficient, before the short flight back to Aswan airport, from where we got a taxi and a boat to our next hotel.

Day 3

A lazy day, enjoying the hotel and the sunshine and reading our books. This hotel is on Philae island, in the lake formed between the upper and lower Nile dams just south of Aswan. We have a distant view from our small terrace across to Philae temple (you may be able to make it out to the left of Diana’s sunglasses in the picture below!). I guess it’s supposed to be a re-creation of a Nubian village, but in reality with everything being painted a brilliant white and bougainvillea everywhere it looks a bit more like a Greek island! Anyway, it’s been a restful place to spend the day. We fly to Cairo tomorrow for the final leg of our trip.