Gee. Has it been 2 months since we were in Abu Simbel? And still no post.
I slack, therefore I am.
We went to Abu Simbel in “the convoy”. [They even had a bear in the air]
For “safety” reasons, all tourists are required to ride in a convoy between Aswan and Abu Simbel. [Between Aswan and Luxor too, I have been told]. There are 2 convoys per day in each direction.
I don’t know what the government was thinking, but if I wanted to safeguard tourists on a road, I certainly wouldn’t bunch them all together and have them travel the road AT ANNOUNCED TIMES. But maybe that’s just me.
“The convoy” is a bit of a misnomer anyway. There is a common meeting place where all the buses, mini-buses, taxis and private cars assemble. They are all then let through the checkpoint together.
After that, it is every man for himself. It becomes the cannonball run!
We were in a mini-van. At the checkpoint a policeman with a rifle got in. Looked to be a Lt or so.
I thought “hmm, do they put a cop in each mini-van”. I looked around, “no, just us”.
“Why are we special? Is it because we are in a short-bus?”
After a few minutes of observation and listening, I realized the cop needed a ride to the other side and he knew this driver. So he climbed in. And promptly fell asleep.
Many Egyptians seem to have an amazing ability to sleep anywhere, anytime.
So, off we go. Our driver was quick. I think we beat everybody else to Abu Simbel.
We stayed at a “resort” about a 20 minute walk from the temple complex. It is a nice place. But the travel agent and everybody else was right: staying over night in Abu Simbel is not really worth it. We were staying 2 nights.
Not worth it, UNLESS you want to be there for sunrise or see the Sound and Light show. We got to be at the temple when the sun rose on Christmas Morning.
One night would have been enough, but we were unable to get flights out on Christmas Day, so we spent 2 nights. Which means we spent one day doing ABSOLUTELY nothing.
The temple was amazing. One fact is that the temple was built such that on Ramses birthday, the rising sun shines through that door at the bottom, all the way back to illuminate Ramses’ face on the back wall.
Side note:
I was more amazed the the modern Egyptians got it right when they moved it (when the dam was built) than I was amazed that the ancient Egyptians were able to get that right.
Granted the Egyptians had UNESCO help the second time. BUT I just found out that they (UNESCO) got it wrong! They are off a day. So the sunshines on Ramses’ face on his birthday+1. LOL. Welcome in Egypt.
This interesting bit of, um, “reporting” has some interesting “facts”. They say that the day that the light shines on the faces in the back of the temple is on the equinox in February and October.
Last time *I* checked, the Equinox was in March and September. Now I know the earth’s orbit has changed some, but I don’t think it has changed THAT much in the 4 or 5 thousand years the temple has been built.
And then the article goes on to say that the new location is off a day because they had no choice during the move. An American archaelogist/egyptologist of my acquaintance says that it was a mistake. They had all the calculations to do it right, but somebody screwed up somewhere along the line.
Who knows.
Regardless, I may have to make a trip back on the “egyptian equinox” to see it for myself.
So we got up at 4 am, put on every piece of clothing we had and marched off to the temple. Kaddee’s mom decided to sleep in.
It was REALLY cold that morning. We froze. I kept one hand in my pocket, the other had worked the shutter release. The skin on that hand dried out and cracked and the cuticles bled from the cold.
I would do it again in a heartbeat.
A friend who has been here in Cairo a few years longer than us asked:
“So, I haven’t been to Abu Simbel yet. It is just a pain to get to. Am I nuts if I leave Egypt without seeing it?”
The answer is “Yes. You would be nuts not to go.”
It is one thing if you are only in country for a week and are trying to squeeze in to much (but even then, I urge people to go) but being here for multiple years and missing it is inexcusable, IMNSHO.