After the lovely but butt-chappingly cold (remember, I’ve been in Egypt for 16months!) nighttime visit to Edfu temple, we climbed back on the boat and headed south to moor alongside Kom Ombo village and temple of Haroeris (another incarnation of Horus – the falcon god) and Sobek (the crocodile god).
David Roberts litho of Kom Ombo (from: Travellers in Egypt)
*Aside regarding Edfu* As I’ve said, we were not overly enthused about our guide on the cruise (nor he about us). I was suffering from a cold/cough and not running in full gear, so he had been obsequiously kind to the “suffering lady” – BLECH. However, he and Jack were like oil and water. When we arrived at Edfu, Jack began unpacking the tripod for stabilized night shots. When our guide was handing out tickets, he said to Jack, “That is considered professional gear, you’ll have to pay and extra LE20 for a professional ticket” I expected Jack to explode – he very calmly said to Bessem, “YOU are my guide. I PAY YOU to take care of things like that.” Unfortunately Bessem did not understand, or chose to ignore. Jack was stopped at the security gate and had to buy another ticket for the tripod. This infuriated him because it delayed his entry, so the ENTIRE BUSLOAD of tourists from our cruise were milling around, and “ruining” his shots by the time he joined us.*
The ships engines were on and off all night as we motored to Kom Ombo and then jockeyed for position at the mooring site. By the time we were wakened for breakfast and our “early morning tour” we were the 2nd boat in a 3 boat sandwich. We walked off our boat, and onto another before we got to dry land!
The morning was cold and clear – the sun had not risen high enough to fully illuminate the temple. It was INCREDIBLY gorgeous.
True to form, Bessem herded the tourists into the deepest and coldest shade to expound on the important things to see at the site. Jack and I walked away – Mom listened half-heartedly, but she, too, occasionally wandered away.
My cough was getting worse, and I don’t maintain body temperature even at the best of times, so my excursion at Kom Ombo was short-lived. Pictures from the temple HERE. Jack and I left the temple to go back to the boat – but, apparently, Mom saw the mummified crocodiles for which this temple is famous!
I slept the last couple of hours as we sailed to Aswan. Both Jack and Mom said that the Nile was spectacular, and the encroachment and widening of cultivation along the shore was gradual, but noticeable. By the time I woke up, we were moored in Aswan harbor, our window looking across the Nile at the Tombs of the Nobles.
I have to admit it, to my great chagrin I finally gave in to my deteriorating health and Jack/Mom’s concern. Once we were docked in Aswan, I agreed to let Jack contact a doctor. My cough had gotten painful, to the point that I couldn’t breathe after coughing. Probably time for medical attention. The doctor came to the boat, examined me and determined that I had advanced bronchitis, but not pneumonia YET (his emphasis). I got loads of meds and was told to rest, not to get chilled and not to drink cold liquids (HUH?). Jack sent one of the cruise staff into town to get the prescriptions.
We were scheduled to see Philae Temple in the afternoon. The doctor recommended NO. Jack and Mom were inclined to agree. I was not. I’d read about and seen pictures of Philae and had anticipated visiting it for quite some time. I was determined to go, and neither Jack nor Mom was ready to forbid it – smart people!
In true Egyptian fashion – the Philae excursion was not just to Philae Island, and we were not informed of this until we were on the bus! We went to the High Dam, then to Philae, and finally to a SURPRISE stop at an alabaster factory (I hate these types of, nearly extortionist, enforced commercialism).
The High Dam was not much to see. When you are standing atop the Dam, all you really see is the Nile on one side and Lake Nassar on the other.
The “fun” of the High Dam was hearing Bassem’s justification for why Nassar HAD TO BUILD THE DAM. Ahhh, revisionist history.
We took a small boat to the island of Philae. The temple on the island is an extremely well preserved Temple of Isis. It is picturesque nearly to a fault, and is one of the prime “quintessentially Egypt” photo-ops (seen in virtually every tour magazine).
All that said, I cannot fully express my awe and pleasure at exploring the island and temple. I was tired, doped up on meds and very cold, so my explorations were short-lived. My few pics can be seen HERE.
My health issues, however, saved us from the Alabaster Factory. Bessem offered to let me stay on the bus, and ride back to the boat with another tour – due to my condition (he made it seem like I was pregnant or had “the consumption”). I don’t think he meant that Jack and Mom could skip the factory (that was potential commission out of his pocket!) but they ignored his solicitous suggestions that they “go on ahead” into the factory.
Thus marks the end of our Nile Cruise. We slept on the boat that night and disembarked for further adventures in Aswan and Abu Simbel.