We woke at 3:00am, first to the alarm and then the wake up call from the hotel. Not a good night, lots of noise from the street, hooting, shouting, dogs barking. We hurriedly dressed, and got ready before heading down to the restaurant for tea and coffee. Nicki made sure we got on the bus first so we could claim the back seats and get some sleep. Our bus joined the armed convoy of tourist vehicles. We set off into the darkness and drove for several hours through the desert before we reached Abu Simbel at around 7am.
Mohammed gave us our tickets and we proceeded through the security check points until we were standing at the rear of the monument, a large rocky hill towered over us. All around we could see lake Nasser, the waters shimmering in the early morning sunlight. Lake Nasser occupies over 6000 square kilometers, the biggest artificial lake in the world.
Making our way around the mountain we came face to face with the four gigantic statues guarding the entrance to the temple, carved from the face of the mountain rock. It was chilly and we huddled close as Mohammed began explaining the monuments.
The monuments were created during the reign of Ramses II, who reigned for 67 years and was one of the most important of the the Egyptian Pharoahs. The temple was built for the god Amon Ra, the sun god, Ramses means son of Ra. The temple was rediscovered in 1817 and subsequently graffitied. The statue just to the left of the entrance, was found with the head already collapsed and so has been maintained in this way. All four of the statues are of Ramses, representing him as king of north and south Egypt. Betweem the legs of the statues, were smaller statues of women, those of the queen mother, the queen and Ramses favorite daughter. Mohammed went on to explain about the carving of Horas above the temple entrance, as a form of the god Amon Ra, protecting visitors to the temple. Mohammed pointed out the line of 22 baboons at the very top of the temple, watching the rising sun.
Directly inside the temple was a hall, with 8 statues of Ramses portrayed as Osiris in mummy form but the beard of the king is straight indicating that he was still alive at the time of construction. Above vultures representing Mut, again protecting visitors. On the walls were inscribed various scenes from the life of Ramses. There is a scene from the battle of Kadesh (1280BC) against the Hittites where Ramses is depicted firing arrows from his chariot, leading his troops and subjugating his enemies by smiting them on the head and standing on them. The battle ended with a peace treaty after which Ramses took a Hittite princess as a wife. Another scene depicts his victory parade with a proud looking horse, with the troops ahead of the king. In others scenes he is depicted as making many offerings to the gods, liquid (milk, wine, beer) and solid (veg, fruit, meat, bread).
There is also a scene with Amon Ra with an erect penis, symbolizing that he provides fertility, seed for the earth for life to continue, along with Ptah and Hathor. In adjacent rooms were kept the offerings brought by the king for the gods, and consumed by the priests. There is also a very busy scene with King Ramses watching over the running of the empire, counting the animals and goods. In the sanctuary of the temple, which only the priests had access to, are four statues of Ptah, Amon Ra, Ramses II, Ra horachti. In this scene Ramses is stating he is one the gods worshiped in this temple. The sanctuary is constructed to face east in such a way that on 21 October (Ramses' birthday) and 21 February (Ramses' coronation) the sun illuminates the statue of Ramses II directly on his face. Mohammed explained that on these days it's not unusual to have up to 7000 visitors who file through the temple to catch a glimpse of the sun on the statue which lasts for a mere 14 minutes.
Mohammed continued explaining about the smaller temple of Neferteri, the wife of Ramses II. There were 6 statues guarding the entrance of this tomb, 4 of Ramses and one of Neferteri and one of Hathor. Within the temple there is scene depicting Ramses being crowned by both Seth, god of evil, and Horas, god of protection, showing them as being at peace. Another scene shows Ramses and Neferteri in front of Hathor and Isis crowning Neferteri.
With the explanations completed we made our way into the temples of Ramses II to explore for ourselves. We managed to see all the aspects of the temple that Mohammed had explained. The artworks and carvings were in great condition and the scale of the work was breathtaking. We even managed to identify the cartouches of Ramses and Neferteri. It really took a lot of self control not to take any pictures with our cameras. A few of the others in our group risked it and either got away with it or had to bribe the officials.
The relocation of Abu Simbel was explained in a series of wall charts in a darkened room near the exit. It explained how the entire site was carefully cut up into blocks, each one identified and moved and reassembled at a higher location some 200 meters away. All gaps and cuts were precisely measured and recorded, no cut was to exceed 6mm in width which was very tight tolerance. An enormous steel and concrete dome was constructed to cover the new site. All this was done as the Aswan high dam filled up, a temporary coffer dam was constructed to keep the waters out while construction took place. The relocation of Abu Simbel was one of the most impressive engineering feats of the 20th century.
The way back to Aswan was hot and unpleasant. We read and wrote a bit but eventually we gave in to the heat and passed out. Riding through the desert, we occasionally saw settlements for Numbians being built virtually in the middle of nowhere. Hard to imagine anyone choosing to live in such a desolate place of extreme temperatures.
We got back to Aswan around 13h00 and visited the perfume factory. We were served complimentary lunch of Kushary, which consists of macroni, rice, lentils, noodles, caramelised onions, and then with tomato sauce, vinegar and garlic, and optional hot sauce added in. With our appetites satisfied, the salesman launched into an explanation of the virtues of perfumed oil. We were given samples of some local fragrances including lotus and papyrus.
In Aswan we had free time for the rest of the day and contemplated our next move. We considered the Nubian museum but the entrance fee was too much. Eventually we settled on sundowners at the old first cataract hotel. We got dressed a bit smarter and made our way on foot, it was a short 15 minute walk from our hotel. The hotel was just immaculate, lush gardens and fountains decorated the path from the gate to the hotel entrance. The style of the hotel could be described as antique oriental. One could easily imagine pantalooned English lords strutting about with their monocles and exclaiming "tally ho" or "jolly good". Apparently the hotel features in a book by Agatha Christie called "Death on the Nile" which she may have written while staying there. We were ushered to the lower terrace for non guests and ordered two Sakara beers. We were served by a charming Nubian Midget, dressed in a smart outfit. The scenery was exquisite, we could see the ruins of Abu on Elephantine Island across the water, fellucas sailing by, the scene playing out in the golden light of the dying day. The moment felt timeless and eternal, just as the waters of the Nile and the millennia of time that had run by this point, connecting us to the distant past.
In the gathering darkness we made our way back to the hotel and stopped in at the Coptic cathedral. The place was actually really busy but no one paid any attention to us. We made a circuit of the church interior. Of interest was the curtained off sacristy at the rear of the church, and the artworks detecting the life of Christ with Arabic captions. Outside we caught the attention of the shop keeper who proceed to sell us various Coptic crosses, an Ankh and other paraphernalia. She also told is that they celebrate Christmas on 6 & 7 February. We declined the offer of crosses and made our way out.
We went out for dinner with the group around 7pm. We started out at the boat restaurant close to the hotel, but they had virtually no cooked meals on offer, and no vegetarian so we left to go to El Masry on the recommendation of Hubert. It turned out to be a great choice. We ordered our meals kofta and lamb and soon the table was overflowing with vegetables, bread, salads, tahini. Afterwards we strolled through the markets which were really busy. Exhausted we collapsed in bed and slept.
No comments:
Post a Comment