After a slightly turbulent night on the train, constantly being awoken by the rattling of the bunk ladder, we were awakened by a knock at the door around 7:30. We got dressed and were soon served breakfast in our cabin - a carb overdose of croissant, white roll, sweet bread and cheese roll. We enjoyed watching the scenery pass by, amazed at how green it was and savoring glimpses of the Nile and farmlands. An hour later we were rolling into Aswan, earlier than expected. We walked out of the train station and our awaiting bus driver took us to the Nile hotel.
Aswan immediately had a different feel to it, less crowded, less traffic... The view of the Nile was spectacular, it was very wide with many islands dotted along it, and vast desert dunes on the other side. The temperature was also higher, and we were lucky to have a fabulously sunny day despite the winter time. Apparently it gets up to 55 degrees in summer, not a good time to be in Aswan.
8 of us had elected to go on an optional trip to the Philae "romantic temple" so we went straight from the hotel in the bus, about 25 minutes to a docking area. On the way we passed the Coptic Orthodox cathedral, a massive modern white building, and the unfinished obelisk and the cemetery. Arriving at the dock we were surrounded by many touts selling everything from maps to t shirts. We just kept walking, past rows and rows of trinkets and jewellery to the boat, a small motor boat with cushioned seats. A young boy tried to start the engine in vain. Once the boat was going, he and his father proceeded to attempt to sell us more jewellery, they had a captive audience so they did well!
Only 5 minutes and we saw the temple on its island. The Philae temple used to be on the island of Philae, but when the Aswan high dam was built, it had to be moved, as it was already almost covered in water, they moved it stone by stone to another island called Agilika.
We climbed some stairs and entered the temple courtyard for Mohammed to tell his story. The temple is dedicated to the Goddess Isis, goddess of beauty and love. Isis was married to Osiris, God of the heavens. Osiris' brother Seth was evil, and very jealous of his brother. He tried to kill Osiris by throwing a party, in which a beautiful elaborate sarcophagus was on offer to whoever it fitted perfectly. Of course only Osiris fitted, and as soon as he was in the box, the followers of Seth placed a heavy lid on it and threw it in the Nile. Fortunately, it got caught on a fallen tree, rather than washing into the Mediterranean. Isis found her husband, and they then had a son, Horus, the falcon headed boy god.
When Seth found out about Osiris being alive, he set out to truly destroy his brother. He killed him and tore him into 14 pieces, so that he could never come back to life. The pieces were scattered in every part of Egypt. When Horus grew up, he sought to get revenge for his father, and he and his mother flew everywhere finding the pieces. Wherever they found them, they built a temple. The Philae temple is built where they found his heart. When they had all the pieces, Isis wrapped her wings around them and beat them furiously to bring Osiris back to life. After this he also became the God of the underworld, and is represented as a mummy. Isis is represented with a sun and cow horns above her head, and Horus as a falcon head. Horus' wife Hathor is also represented with sun and cow horns and the only well to tell her and Isis apart is to check their cartouche - their name in hieroglyphics. Hathor always has a falcon inside a square, representing "house of Horus". Seth is not shown at all in the temple, but he typically takes either an anteater or hippo form.
Mohammed's explanation was given in a huge outdoor courtyard with many beautiful pillars on either side. Some of the pillars on the East side were unfinished, with blank capitals. The entrance to the temple had two large pylons on either side of a large door. The engravings on the walls were incredible, each telling a piece of the story, and often showing the king making offerings to the Gods. Sadly some of the engravings were badly damaged by the Coptics who used the temple as a church and added Coptic crosses to the mix of symbology.
Inside was a central court with many more carvings and another two pylons with engravings of the King making offerings to Isis, Osiris and Horus.
We walked through the door to the inside of the temple, and saw the pillars had much more elaborate capitals, common from the Ptolomeic period. Here they combined multiple elements into capitals, where the Egyptians would only have had one, I.e. Papyrus or lotus. The inner hypostyle hall was also used as a Coptic church, with an altar, niche and Coptic cross at the apex.
The final room was the inner sanctuary of Isis, where we saw a stone pedestal. This would have held a gold statue of Isis and the barque in which it travelled but these are now in Florence and Paris. There is also an awesome engraving of Isis wrapping her wings around Osiris to bring him back to life. There is Greco Roman "graffiti" at a few points in the temple.
Outside the main temple are other smaller temples, some more damaged. We walked around the temple of Hathor and the kiosk of Trajan, before taking more photos and then joining Mohammed for a Turkish coffee at the lovely coffee shop overlooking the Nile. They were playing cool Nubian music until the time came for the call to prayer, when they had to switch it off.
We got back in the boat and headed back, glad that we had opted to visit the beautiful temple. Arriving at the hotel, we checked in, and checked out our room on the second floor. It wasn't fancy but the views of the Nile were fabulous. We had a shower and then went exploring. Finding a restaurant was difficult - many of them were closed. There were also many cruise boats parked up on the side of the Nile, Mo told us later that only 10% of them were in use. We finally found a restaurant with no name other than "Cafe Restaurant" on a boat on the Nile. It was almost empty but they were open, and we had very good chicken shawarma rolls.
Next we walked to the souq, and enjoyed looking at the different wares on offer. Most seemed more targeted at locals than tourists, which we liked, we saw spices, teas, meat, fish, veges, clothes, almost anything. The souq just carried on and on and eventually we turned back, stopping to pick up some hibiscus tea which the area is famous for and getting to smell all the seller's aromatic spices.
At 3:30 we rejoined the group and got onto a bigger motor boat for the cruise around Elephantine island. We were joined by another Mohammed, this time the Nubian one. The weather and light were superb as the sun was hanging low in the sky. Feluccas were sailing in the breeze. On the other side of the island we saw amazing dunes, and Mo pointed out tombs of nobles. We also saw the beautiful mausoleum of Aga Khan, the Shi'ite leader who spent a lot of time in Aswan trying to cure his rheumatism in the hot sands. Apparently he arrived in a wheelchair and left walking. He built a home on the West Bank of Aswan, and his wife continued to visit his grave to place a rose for almost 50 years after he died, eventually she was buried with him and the gardeners still place a rose for them.
After seeing the famous old cataract hotel, we docked on the island and Mohammed the second led us through his village. It was charming and ramshackle, with randomly built buildings, washing hanging, children playing and a winding mud/sand pathway through the colorfully painted houses. We arrived first at the crocodile man's house and Mo explained the architecture a bit. Each house has a mastaba porch out front which absorbs the heat during the day and is used by the residents to sit and socialise once it is cooler. The houses are all painted in colors representing nature like green, orange and blue. There was a croc about 1m long in a cage at the entrance of the house, and we all got to hold a tiny baby croc with razor sharp teeth in our hands. There are over 70,000 crocs in lake Nasser, and residents sometimes like to keep them as pets until they get too big, at which point they are returned to the lake. We walked up stairs to the top of the house to a big open rooftop and enjoyed the views as the sun was setting.
Next we walked to Mohammed's house and made ourselves comfortable on his lovely rooftop. We were served iced hibiscus tea while Mo the first explained more about the Nubians. They are a culturally separate people but the kings of Egypt always sought to unify them into Egypt. They had to move when the high Dam was built, otherwise their homes and lands would be flooded. The government gave them money and lands and they had a choice of where to go. Some moved to the big city, some to Elephantine island and some to new cities built specially for them in the desert.
After a truly delicious lentil soup served with yummy bread, we feasted on chicken, meat pies, aubergine mousakka, white beans in tomato sauce, chips, rice, and salad. We relaxed and chatted most of the night, and were given the option to get a henna tatoo before finishing with tea and heading back. Since we would be getting up at 3AM, most of us headed straight for bed...
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