From Cairo we took an overnight train to Aswan, overnight also including the following morning, as the trip is some 13.5hrs long. Here it is said that the Nile is at its most beautiful and certainly compared to the polluted river in Cairo as it nears the end of its course, it most certainly is better. The heat in Aswan was pretty much unbearable when we first arrived, so we waited until the cooler evening before visiting the Philae Temple of Isis for its Sound & Light Show.

The following day travelling by convoy we headed off at 4.30am 280km south of Aswan (only 40km north of the Sudanese border) to Abu Simbel. This huge archaeological site comprises the two massive temples of Ramses II originally carved out of a mountain on the west bank of the Nile between 1274BC and 1244BC. Not only is this a magnificent monument in its own right but also its removal brick by brick & reconstruction (when threatened by submersion in Lake Nasser due to the construction of the High Dam) during a UNESCO project in the 1960's another feat of great engineering. The temple is aligned in such a way that on 22 Feb & 22 Oct every year the first rays of rising sun penetrate it where they illuminate three of the four Gods of the innermost chamber (sacred sanctuary) Ra-Horakhty, Amun, & the deified Pharaoh himself as they sit on their thrones. Ptah is the fourth. This was one of the most impressive sites on the trip. It was definitely more mind blowing than the Pyramids of Giza, but it is also much younger and by the time of Ramses II the Egyptians archititectural skills surpassed any earlier attempts. Ramses II was a great warrior but also a great family man (well producing them anyway). He graced Egypt with 125 of his offspring - 85 boys and 40 girls, of which he outlived 16 of his children and was succeeded by his 13th son! What a busy boy!

Intro | Museum & Pyramids | Aswan | Felucca | Luxor West Bank & Temples | Dahab | Mt Sinai & St Catherine