#Aswan High Dam

[bargainsleuthbooks]

Empress of the Nile: The Daredevil Archaeologist Who Saved Egypt's Ancient Temples from Destruction by Lynne Olson #2023Books #HistoryBooks #Egyptology

The remarkable story of the intrepid French archaeologist who led the international effort to save ancient Egyptian temples from the floodwaters of the Aswan Dam. #EmpressoftheNile #LynneOLson #Egyptology #BookReview #February2023Books #randomhouse

In the 1960s, the world’s attention was focused on a nail-biting race against Fifty countries contributed nearly a billion dollars to save a dozen ancient Egyptian temples, built during the height of the pharaohs’ rule, from drowning in the floodwaters of the massive new Aswan High Dam. But the extensive press coverage at the time overlooked the gutsy French archaeologist who made it all happen.…

[streamingthruamerica]

Protecting the Nile

Egypt has relied on the Nile since the dawn of civilization. For over 5000 years, the Nile has pushed nutrient-rich silt through its 6600-km waterway from the wellsprings of Lake Tana in Ethiopia (Blue Nile) and Lake Victoria in Uganda (White Nile)...

[furtherfurther]

Old Philae Temple, Aswan

[irhabiya]

Soviet poster celebrating the construction of the Aswan High Dam, 1964, which the USSR greatly assisted in building

[thehereticpharaoh]

🏛️ Abu Simbel Temple: Then and Now 🏛️

Abu Simbel Temple, one of Egypt's most magnificent monuments, was originally constructed by Pharaoh Ramses II in the 13th century BC.

This stunning temple features colossal statues of Ramses II, intricately carved into a mountainside, symbolizing his power and divine connection.

In the 1960s, to save it from the rising waters of the Aswan High Dam, the entire temple complex was relocated to a higher ground, a remarkable feat of modern engineering.

Today, Abu Simbel continues to awe visitors with its grandeur and historical significance, standing as a testament to ancient Egyptian ingenuity and resilience.

[st-just]

Got a write up on high modernism, or someone else's you would recommend?

I think James C. Scott is the one to coin the term? Where I got it from anyway. You can probably best understand as a) a deep abiding faith capital-P Progress and a teleological view of history and civilization, b) a cult of experts and technocracy, with academic/technical knowledge prized over custom and tradition and 'uneducated' popular opinion and c) a program of using technology and scientific organization to improve the world (which as a necessary precondition requires the world been rationalized and made legible to bureaucratic understanding and scientific optimization.

Though really I use the tag a) with a wildly variable amount of irony depending on what I'm tagging and b) mostly as, like, a vibe.

Uh, think, aesthetically: Brasilia, the Aswan Dam, the Turkestan-Siberian Railway and the Interstate Highway System - overmighty civil services and fordist/state capitalist economics - mass electrification and literacy programs as wholesale national missions - 'towers and flowers' urban design and high speed rail as prestige project - 'measuring the marigolds' and skepticism/demystification as ideological project - land reform but the type that ends up empowering technical experts and state managers as much/more than the peasant farmers - the heroic age of science - the Green Revolution - Better Living Through Chemistry - your first reaction to someone talking about 'the good old days' being infant mortality/forced marriage/smallpox/blood feuds - thinking a world where everything about the world is legible and rationally ordered as an impossible utopia and not a depressive nightmare.

[fatehbaz]

A major interest in that work [...] was the era of post-war decolonization, and how archaeology connected with it (or not). As the territory of what became the Arab Republic of Egypt emerged from various forms of British rule and Egyptian monarchy, I wanted to know how that process impacted upon archaeology, a field that had been dominated by Euro-Americans (and whose major official institution, the Egyptian Antiquities Service, had been run entirely by French men). [...] The book revolves around, but is not limited to, a major event in the development of what became World Heritage, at least in UNESCO’s -- and, put bluntly, many other people’s -- telling.

UNESCO promotes its International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia, which took place in the adjoining regions of Egyptian and Sudanese Nubia from 1960 until 1980, as central to the development of the 1972 World Heritage Convention. The campaign -- to a large, but not total, extent staffed by teams from the Euro-American institutions who had long excavated in Egypt -- sought to preserve and record ancient temples and archaeological sites in Nubia. Those sites were due to be flooded by the construction of the Aswan High Dam, which, despite having been planned many years earlier, became a centerpiece of Nasser-era modernization plans. Among them the temples at Abu Simbel and Philae, the monuments on the Egyptian -- but not Sudanese -- side of the Nubian border were listed as part of the second tranche of World Heritage sites in 1979, and today Nubian temples are located around the world: “gifts-in-return” for financial contributions to UNESCO’s project, perhaps most famous among them the temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The World Heritage Convention, meanwhile, remains the major international piece of legislation in the heritage arena, and at the time of writing has been ratified by 194 States Parties. Oddly, however, beyond an official history published in the 1980s, there has never been a book-length, critical treatment of the Nubian campaign, nor have the articles and book chapters written about the event really addressed it in terms of the “local” (which is to say Egyptian and Sudanese) perspective, let alone the Nubian one.

Flooded Pasts discusses how, in combination with the politics of irrigation and development, UNESCO’s Nubian campaign built on and transformed colonial-era archaeological understandings of Nubia as a region of picturesque ruination: a place filled with ancient, Nile-side ruins, and not a place where people -- Nubians -- lived.

---

During the early decades of the twentieth century (and before and after the British declaration of nominal Egyptian independence in 1922), the building and heightening of the original Aswan Dam had, to increasingly destructive levels, flooded Nubian settlements on the Egyptian side of the Nubian border. These settlements were located alongside the many ancient ruins located in the region, which were also increasingly submerged. Eventually receiving some compensation from the Egyptian government, Nubia’s population were forced to move their homes higher up the Nile’s banks, and many Nubians moved to Cairo and Alexandria to work in domestic service. Meanwhile, Egypt’s antiquities service launched two archaeological surveys directed by colonial officials that sought to record ancient sites before they were flooded.

This process, I argue, made it much easier to separate an ancient Nubian past from the region’s present: one dominated by a territorially novel kingdom of Egypt whose permanence was extrapolated backwards in time.

---

Accordingly, as Egypt and Sudan signed the Nile Waters Agreement of 1959 and confirmed the impending construction of the High Dam, that process precipitated a continuation of earlier archaeological work [...]. Simultaneously, separate “ethnological” surveys either side of the newly hardened Egyptian-Sudanese border prepared for the relocation of the now-separated Nubian population to new, government-planned settlements elsewhere (the Egyptian survey was supported by the Ford Foundation and based at the American University in Cairo; the Sudanese one was supported by the Sudan Antiquities Service).

Even in the face of Nubian demonstrations -- particularly strong in Wadi Halfa in the very north of Sudan -- this forced, state-backed process of migration made the job of archaeological survey easier, constituting further representations of the desolate desert dotted by ancient monuments that earlier work had made possible.

That those monuments -- and that “desert” -- clearly had a far more complex history was a fact elided by most involved.

To a great extent, too, that elision continues, even as the Nubian diaspora has in recent years become much more vocal about its plight. [...]

---

[T]here is no doubt that the Nubian campaign, and the Nubian archaeological surveys before it, affected tens of thousands of lives for the worse. [...] I would hope that Flooded Pasts enjoys a readership beyond the academic, not least because issues around heritage -- what it is, who has a say in it, how its governance operates -- have become so salient in the last few years [...]. There has been a growing amount of work on the histories of archaeology and heritage -- and a corresponding amount of discussion around what it might mean to decolonize those fields [...]. More pressingly, then, I hope that the book catalyzes discussion around the lives of contemporary Nubians [...].

---

All text above are the words of William Carruthers. As interviewed by staff at the Jadaliyya e-zine. Transcript titled ���William Carruthers, Flooded Pasts: UNESCO, Nubia, and the Recolonization of Archaeology (New Texts Out Now).” Published online at Jadaliyya. 22 December 2022. [Image from the cover of the book. Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me.]

[xenonmoon]

This place surely looks a lot like the temple of Hathor and Nefertari at the Abu Simbel site!

Fun fact: the temples of Abu Simbel today are not in the same place they were originally built. Since the construction of the Aswan High Dam would've raised the water level enough for them to be completely submerged, between 1964 and 1968 the entire site was carefully dismantled into blocks and moved in a new location higher and farther from the Nile.

This is also the second time in ancient Egyptian history that a temple is dedicated to a queen, the first being Akhenaten's temple dedicated to Nefertiti. It's also one of the few instances in ancient Egyptian art in which statues of the king and the queen are of the same size (usually the queen is smaller). Ramses really loved his wife huh

[kaiyves-backup]

I took advantage of this last gasp of summer weather to do something I’d wanted to do for a while and bike the Harborwalk to the @jfklibrary.

I hadn’t been since I was in undergrad, and while the Freedom 7 capsule is no longer on display there because the ten-year loan from the Naval Academy is up, it’s still a wonderful museum in a magnificent location.

I only had an hour to explore so I had to hurry, but I still took a ton of pics in the space exhibit:

Also, the Aswan High Dam project:

I’m curious about this photo in the Oval Office replica room, it LOOKS like a J-Class racer from the 1900s-1930s (and it really only could be an original J-Class in JFK’s time, the restorations and new builds didn’t start until the 1980s), maybe from the Rosenfeld collection, but I wonder which one it might be:

The museum shop was closed by the time I finished with the exhibits, but I guess having a replica “If I were 21 I’d vote for Kennedy” campaign button to wear isn’t as funny now because I wouldn’t be an actual 19-year-old wearing it anymore.

I want to come back and have more time to look through the WWII special exhibit, but I’m so glad I finally got to visit at all.

[egyptvacationstour]

Egypt Easter Tours & Holidays 2024/2025

Egypt is a fascinating destination with a rich history and cultural heritage, making it an excellent choice for Easter tours and holidays. While I can't provide specific information about tours and holidays for the year 2024/2025 since my knowledge is based on information up until September 2021, I can give you a general overview of what you can expect when planning an Easter trip to Egypt.

Cairo: Start your journey in the capital city, Cairo, which is home to iconic landmarks such as the Pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx, and the Egyptian Museum. Explore the ancient wonders of the pyramids, learn about the pharaohs, and immerse yourself in the vibrant atmosphere of this bustling metropolis.

Luxor: Travel south to Luxor, often referred to as the world's greatest open-air museum. Luxor is famous for its temples and ancient sites, including the Karnak Temple Complex and the Valley of the Kings. Take a cruise along the Nile River and witness the breathtaking beauty of the temples and tombs that line its banks.

Aswan: Continue your journey to Aswan, another enchanting city located on the Nile River. Visit the majestic Aswan High Dam, explore the Philae Temple, and take a boat ride to the picturesque Temple of Kom Ombo. Aswan is also a gateway to the stunning Abu Simbel temples, which are a must-see if you have the time.

Nile River Cruises: Consider embarking on a Nile River cruise, which is a popular way to explore Egypt's ancient treasures while enjoying the comfort of a luxury cruise ship. Cruises typically range from a few days to a week, allowing you to visit multiple sites along the Nile and experience the beauty of the river.

Red Sea Resorts: If you're looking to relax and enjoy some beach time during your Easter holiday, Egypt's Red Sea resorts offer stunning beaches and world-class diving and snorkeling opportunities. Destinations such as Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh are known for their pristine waters, coral reefs, and vibrant marine life.

Reach out to us:

Emails

egyptvacationstour@gmail.com

operation@egyptatours.com

Contact@egyptatours.com

WhatsApp: (1553119249

[darylelockhart]

Never mind Cleopatra – what about the forgotten queens of ancient Nubia?

by Yasmin Moll, University of Michigan

Jada Pinkett Smith’s new Netflix documentary series on Cleopatra aims to spotlight powerful African queens. “We don’t often get to see or hear stories about Black queens, and that was really important for me, as well as for my daughter, and just for my community to be able to know those stories because there are tons of them,” the Hollywood star and producer told a Netflix interviewer.

The show casts a biracial Black British actress as the famed queen, whose race has stirred debate for decades. Cleopatra descended from an ancient Greek-Macedonian ruling dynasty known as the Ptolemies, but some speculate that her mother may have been an Indigenous Egyptian. In the trailer, Black classics scholar Shelley Haley recalls her grandmother telling her, “I don’t care what they tell you in school, Cleopatra was Black.”

These ideas provoked commentary and even outrage in Egypt, Cleopatra’s birthplace. Some of the reactions have been unabashedly racist, mocking the actress’s curly hair and skin color.

Egyptian archaeologists like Monica Hanna have criticized this racism. Yet they also caution that projecting modern American racial categories onto Egypt’s ancient past is inaccurate. At worst, critics argue, U.S. discussions about Cleopatra’s identity overlook Egyptians entirely.

In Western media, she is commonly depicted as white – most famously, perhaps, by screen icon Elizabeth Taylor. Yet claims by American Afrocentrists that current-day Egyptians are descendants of “Arab invaders” also ignore the complicated histories that characterize this diverse part of the world. A relief depicting the Nubian Kandake Amanitore in the Egyptian Museum in Berlin. Sven-Steffen Arndt/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Some U.S. scholars counter that ultimately what matters is to “recognize Cleopatra as culturally Black,” representing a long history of oppressing Black women. Portraying Cleopatra with a Black actress was a “political act,” as the show’s director put it.

Ironically, however, the show misses an opportunity to educate both American and Egyptian audiences about the unambiguously Black queens of ancient Nubia, a civilization whose history is intertwined with Egypt’s. As an anthropologist of Egypt who has Nubian heritage, I research how the stories of these queens continue to inspire Nubians, who creatively retell them for new generations today.

The one-eyed queen

Nubians in modern Egypt once lived mainly along the Nile but lost their villages when the Aswan High Dam was built in the 1960s. Today, members of the minority group live alongside other Egyptians all over the country, as well as in a resettlement district near the southern city of Aswan.

Growing up in Cairo’s Nubian community, we children didn’t hear about Cleopatra, but about Amanirenas: a warrior queen who ruled the Kingdom of Kush during the first century B.C.E. Queens in that ancient kingdom, encompassing what is now southern Egypt and northern Sudan, were referred to as “kandake” – the root of the English name “Candace.” A comic inspired by the story of Amanirenas. Chris Walker, Creative Director, Lymari Media/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Like Cleopatra, Amanirenas knew Roman generals up close. But while Cleopatra romanced them – strategically – Amanirenas fought them. She led an army up the Nile about 25 B.C.E. to wage battle against Roman conquerors encroaching on her kingdom.

My own favorite part of this story of Indigenous struggle against foreign imperialism involves what can only be characterized as a power move. After beating back the invading Romans, Queen Amanirenas brought back the bronze head of a statue of the emperor Augustus and had it buried under a temple doorway. Each time they entered the temple, her people could literally walk over a symbol of Roman power.

That colorful tidbit illustrates those queens’ determination to defend their autonomy and territory. Amanirenas personally engaged in combat and earned the moniker “the one-eyed queen,” according to an ancient chronicler of the Roman Empire named Strabo. The kandakes were also spiritual leaders and patrons of the arts, and they supported the construction of grand monuments and temples, including pyramids. A pyramid of Kandake Amanitore amid the Nubian pyramids of Meroe. mtcurado/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Interwoven cultures and histories

When people today say “Nubia,” they are often referring to the Kingdom of Kush, one of several empires that emerged in ancient Nubia. Archaeologists have recently started to bring Kush to broader public attention, arguing that its achievements deserve as much attention as ancient Egypt’s.

Indeed, those two civilizations are entwined. Kushite royals adapted many Egyptian cultural and religious practices to their own ends. What’s more, a Kushite dynasty ruled Egypt itself for close to a century.

Contemporary Nubian heritage reflects that historical complexity and richness. While their traditions and languages remain distinctive, Nubians have been intermarrying with other communities in Egypt for generations. Nubians like my mother are proudly Egyptian, yet hurtful stereotypes persist. Hafsa Amberkab, right, and Fatma Addar, Nubian Egyptian women who compiled a dictionary, show off a Nubian lexical chart near Aswan in upper Egypt. Khaled Desouki/AFP via Getty Images

Today, some Black Americans embrace Cleopatra as a powerful symbol of Black pride. But the idea of ancient Nubia as a powerful African civilization also plays a symbolic role in contemporary Black culture, inspiring images in everything from cosmetics to comics.

Egyptian voices

Researchers do argue about Cleopatra’s heritage. U.S. conversations about her, however, sometimes reveal more about Western racial politics than about Egyptian history.

In the 19th century, for example, Western interest in ancient Egypt took off amid colonization – a fascination called “Egyptomania.” Americans’ fixation with the ancient civilization reflected their own culture’s anxieties about race in the decades after slavery was abolished, as scholar Scott Trafton has argued.

A century later, a 1990s advertisement for a pale-colored doll of queen Nefertiti sparked debate in the U.S. about how to represent her race.

Nefertiti’s bust – one of the most famous artifacts from ancient Egypt – is on display at a German museum. Egypt has called for the artifact’s return for close to a hundred years, to no avail. Even Hitler took a personal interest in the bust, declaring that he “will not renounce the queen’s head,” according to archaeologist Joyce Tyldesley. The famed and fought-over bust of Queen Nefertiti. Francis G. Mayer/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images

Even today, contemporary Egyptian perspectives are almost absent in Western depictions of ancient Egypt. Only one Egyptian scholar is interviewed in the new Netflix series’ four episodes, as he himself notes, and he is employed not by an Egyptian university, but by a British one.

For many Egyptians, this lack of representation rehashes troubling colonial dynamics about who is considered an “expert” about their past. The Netflix series “was made and produced without the involvement of the owners of this history,” argues the Egyptian journalist Sara Khorshed in a review of the series.

To be sure, there is anti-Black bias in Egyptian culture, and some of the social media reaction has been slur-filled and racist. Educating people about the stories of Nubian queens like Amarinenas might be a way to encourage a more inclusive understanding of who is Egyptian.

Yet I believe Egyptians’ frustrations about portrayals of Cleopatra also reflect long-standing concerns that their own understandings of their past are not taken seriously.

That includes Black Egyptians, like my mother. When I asked her if she planned to see the Cleopatra series, she shrugged. She already knows that queen’s story well from its many portrayals on screen, whether in Hollywood films or Egyptian ones.

“I will wait for the series on Amanirenas,” she said.

Yasmin Moll, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Michigan

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

[madamlaydebug]

Top ten fascinating facts about Egypt commonly nicknamed "the two lands."

1. The Great Pyramids of Egypt were not built by slaves. Those who contributed in the construction were paid laborers and some of them built with great honor towards the Pharaoh and had willingness.

2. The world's oldest dress was found in Egypt. It is possible that the world's first fashion house emerged from Egypt.

3. The world's largest dam lies in Egypt. Aswan high dam was built to contain the raving waters of the world's longest river, the Nile.

4. The ancient Egyptians are the authentic inventors of the Gregorian calendar which is the 365-days a year calendar. They did so in order to predict the yearly floodings of the Nile river.

5. Egypt is home to the only remaining monument of the 7 ancient wonders of the world. The Great Pyramid of Giza has undisputably survived through long periods. The pyramids of Giza are located in the capital city of Cairo.

6. Ancient Egyptians produced the world's first prosthetic limb, a toe composed of leather, wood and thread and dated between 950 and 710 B.C.

7. Egypt is home to seven UNESCO-designated World Heritage sites: Abu Mena; ancient Thebes with its Necropolis; Historic Cairo; Memphis and its Necropolis; Nubian monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae; the Saint Catherine area; and Wadi Al-Hitan, or Whale Valley, home to fossil remains of the earliest and now extinct form of whales.

8. Cats are highly revered and exalted. They have been sacred animals in ancient Egypt. Cats were believed to bring good luck. When a cat died, the pharaohs would have them mummified. This showed how important they were.

9. Ancient Egyptians believed that makeup had supernatural powers that protected them from the sun. The black eye paint is largely synonymous with ancient Egyptian depictions.

10. The Ancient Egyptians had so many gods that literally every city had its own favorite deity.

[ahlulhaditht]

True dreams of the Believers - In Sha Allāh - A great calamity hitting Misr - Egypt

**Dream text** :

I was inside my house when I heard screaming. I came out and saw the people in total confusion, as water was coming from the south, and my mother was sitting with a child, a small one who is still breastfeeding. I took the child in my hands and my mother on my back and we just fled, ahead of the water that was coming our way. My sister was with us, she said : " It is obvious that the dam capsized". And it came to my mind that this was the Aswan high dam she was talking about.

Interpretation by Muhammad M. from Bilād al-Maghrib, mu'abbir following Qur'an and Sunnah in dream interpretation methodology :

This dream appears very much to be a true dream. There is Tawātur (similar dreams repeated across people, unrelated).

It is also a رؤية عامة - ru'yah ''āmmah- dream that is general, not specific to the dreamer. It is about events that will affect the people of a certain area. Here the area is large and includes Sudān as well as Misr - Egypt.

There are 4 qarinā : screaming of the people, and their confusion, secondly : the mother carrying the child, thirdly : the water is coming from the South, fourthly: the capsizing of the High Aswan dam.

3 of them are to be taken على ظاهرها - 'alā dhāhirihā - as they appear - meaning these are not symbols to interpret. Only one qarinā should be interpreted here, and it's the one about the mother. The mother here symbolizes Misr - Egypt, the country. That's because the Egyptians call their country Umm ad-Dunya (mother of the Dunya). As for the child here, it symbolises the future of Misr. Hence this means this calamity will have a heavy bearing on the future of Misr - Egypt. It also means that somehow Misr will survive this calamity. There will be destruction and many deaths, however Misr will survive and that's what this second qarinā means. The water is coming from the South because the Aswan High Dam is located in the South.

The rest of the dream is clear.

Muhammad M. says that he received other dreams indicating the Aswan High Dam will be the centre of a great calamity.

There have been scientists warning about problems with the dam, already twenty years ago : "Since the High Aswan Dam was planned in 1952 until it was completed in 1970, it was associated with numerous technical, social and political problems. The side-effects of the dam after its construction until the present time are the concern of various authorities all over the world."

Hence this should not come as a surprise, says Muhammad M. : It can very well happen, and Allāh knows best

May Allāh protect Misr and Ahlu-Misr ,(the people of Misr) and the whole Ummah of Muhammad ﷺ

t.me/Truedreams_Endtimes

[kyndaris]

Dam-Nation

Our last day at Aswan had us waking at a more reasonable hour than the day before. It was a good thing too as I’d embarrassed myself the night before when I was called up to dance when our cruise ship hosted a Nubian performance. And if you’re asking for proof, you won’t get it. I know not to reveal my true face on the internet! 

Popo, by now, was terribly tired. I, on the other hand, was still full of vim and vigour. So, while she stayed aboard the Jaz Celebrity, I disembarked with a few other members of the tour group.

Our first stop was the High Dam. It should be noted that the High Dam was the second attempt to utilise the mighty Nile waters to bring benefits to the Egyptian people. Constructed in the years between 1960-1970, it saw Lake Nasser flood, threatening 40 temples in the area, including Abu Simbel. With the help of UNESCO, the Egyptian government was able to save the most important temples although some were taken overseas to other European countries. Only a few remained in Egypt including our next destination: Philae Temple.

The flooding of Lake Nasser also saw the relocation of the Nubians to their current location further north of the Nile and near Aswan, changing their lifestyles from living off the land through farming to becoming fishermen and relying on tourism for their livelihood. Which, as per my previous post, meant entertaining strangers in t heir houses and sharing the space with pet crocodiles!

Of course, constructing the dam also had its benefits. The first dam built atop the Nile in Aswan had been at the behest of the English and the French. When Egypt threw off the yoke of their previous ‘benefactors’ in the Suez Crisis, they sought the assistance of the World Bank and the USSR to help build a new power plant near the High Dam. This enabled Egypt to transform its economy and provide it with independence from other countries.

Our second stop for the morning was a visit to Philae Temple, which was dedicated to the Goddess Isis. It also featured the most recent use of hieroglyphs with dating devices putting in the tiny wall scribble at about 350AD. It might not have been a very good engraving but it still showed that the language of the Ancient Egyptians was still being used when the country was under Roman Rule.

Philae Temple, it should be noted, seems to have mostly been constructed during the Greek occupation of the country. The Grecian-style to the columns was very distinctive to my well-trained eye, although not all had been completed. Another indication that it was built during the Greek era of Egypt’s history was the presence of a ‘birthing’ house, which was meant to illustrate how the Ancient Greek leaders were transformed into Egyptians in order to make their rule of the country more palatable to the common folk.

And although I wasn’t able to take a long look at it, I did note that on the map layout of the Temple, there was even a small dedication to the very first Roman emperor, and the focus of one of my Ancient History projects: Augustus.

Once we had finished touring the temple in the allotted time we were given, it was back on the motor boat and the coach as we headed back to the cruise ship to collect our luggage and head to El Dokku, a Nubian restaurant, for lunch. The novelty here was that the restaurant was on a small island that was only reachable by boat!

After lunch, we headed to the airport with only moments to spare in order to check in and board. Upon landing once more in Cairo, we visited the Khan El-Khalili bazaar where, instead of wandering the stalls and being the target of wily thieves, I simply sat at a local cafe and enjoyed a mango smoothie. Later, people would claim that the mango smoothie was the source of the diarrhoea that struck down quite a few of the tour group but let it be known that I was unaffected.

Then it was back on the coach for a very late dinner at a restaurant near the pyramids. By the time we reached our hotel, St Regis Almasa, it was 11PM.

But it was better this than another hurried visit to the Papyrus and Essential Oils store - something that held zero appeal to me and felt like an attempt to shove in some sponsored shopping (something I very much detested in my cheap Chinese Europe trip back in 2009 with my mother).

And so ended our stay in Egypt. We might not have ticked off everything on our travel itinerary but we got to see most of it. 

Turkey (or Turkiye), here we come!

[deltaegypt1]

Aswan Day Tour

Aswan Day Tour Aswan one day tour. Our daily tours will take you to the High Dam that created Lake Nasser, Unfinished Obelisk and Philae Temple, dedicated to the goddess Isis. Delta Egypt representative will pick you up from your hotel / cruise in Aswan to enjoy a day tour in the amazing city Aswan. Start your tour by a visit to the High Dam, an engineering miracle built in 1960 protecting Egypt from annual floods from the Nile. Then proceed to visit the Unfinished Obelisk which shows the techniques used by the ancient Egyptians to cut obelisks. Most probably this obelisk belongs to Queen Hatshepsut, one of the rulers of the 18th Dynasty and the royal wife of king Tuthmosis II. This queen was the owner of her Temple in the eastern bank of Luxor. Also there is an opinion said that it belongs to Queen Nefertiti. Move on to visit the majestic Philae Temple which was built on the honor of Goddess Isis the chief deity of the island. Later you will be transferred back to your hotel / cruise.

#Delta_Egypt #Aswan_Day_Tour