Egypt, Jordan, Israel (really): Aswan, Edfu, Luxor Feb. 15-19

~Aswan, Edfu and Luxor~February 15-19,2012

dinner at mahmoud's house

The flight on Egypt Air is fine, but clouds hide the geography that we were eager to see. Maybe we'll get another chance on the way back to Cairo in a few days, but we can tell that it's vast, as we all have learned in school. The climate is wonderful, we comment, as we deplane and realize the temperature has risen about 15 degrees.

Our first foray in Aswan is to lunch in the Souk, the open market place, and we find a little cafe whose owner has corralled us with his smiles and waves of welcome. Egyptian pizza is good and beer is cooling from the heat. In fact, it's really quite warm as we go into the souk, look at the vegetables that seem a little wilted, get a big glass of fresh orange juice, buy some water, and retreat back to the hotel for the hottest part of the day. We gaze out our window and pinch ourselves as we watch the Nile flow by.

Aswan has much to offer in the middle of the desert because of its approximation to the Nile. The history here is vast. The boatride across that life-giving body of water brings us to the west bank where we find ourselves on camels, riding across sand dunes toward a 7th century monastery called Deir Al-Anba Sama'an or San Simeon. Built by the Coptic Christians as a refuge from the Romans, it became a pilgrimage and lasted into the 1400's. We find it in ruins, wasted by invading armies and sand. Still, its huge form is evident, even to the stone slabs that served as beds, where the toilets, kitchens, and stables were located and its magnificent view of the Nile.

Back onto the camels, we listen to the squish of sand between their toes as they plod along. It could be fairly hypnotizing to sway on the saddle of this beast in the warm sun, except my camel reaches out and bites the tail of our guide's camel. Hasan, my animal handler, the miniscule 12-year-old with big brown eyes, long eyelashes and dimples, saves the day by separating the two. He looks up at me and shrugs his shoulders. He has already made my camel run, only to be reprimanded by his father. It must have been the look of panic in my eyes. Or perhaps the grip on the saddle that almost popped the veins in my arms? We return, unscathed, and hop back in the boat to cross this grand river.

The breeze is up, so we can finally get our felucca ride that we have looked forward to. These ancient boats, largely unchanged over time, have been used on the Nile for centuries. They are old and elegant, with one large sail that billows as it is carried smoothly through the waves. Having read so much about these water carriers of goods, humans and beasts, we are delighted to be able to have this delightful experience. Relaxing in the warm breeze and warmer sun, we feel particularly fortunate.

The Nile is certainly the lifeblood of this beautiful and exotic country. Our whole experience here is centered around it. Later in the day, we have another amazing experience, that of visiting a Nubian home. I figured it was going to be a restaurant in disguise, but, in fact, it was in the home of a friend of our guide Lorna.

Mahmoud's home is two very large square connected buildings with side rooms for the myriad of family members that he has. Everything is painted blue because he is Nubian, with tile floors on one level and sand on the other. Colorful cushions cover the built-in couches, and a courtyard opens up to the starry sky. The dinner is served by Airi, Mahmoud's beautiful sister-in-law who is wearing a luxurious red scarf and a glittering smile. The food is scrumptious: lentil soup, sun bread, grilled chicken and 2 vegetable tagines with potato chips! We stuff ourselves, watch the children play, and prepare to depart. Back in the boat, we see that the sun has set and the sky is black with glittering stars. A little light but not enough to navigate by makes me nervous about going back through the rapids, but our boatman takes the safe passage, and we arrive at our hotel cool from the night air.

Airi with the tea things

Three in the morning finds us off on a 3 hour ride to Abu Simbel, the great temple of Ramses II, and another temple dedicated to his wife Nefertari. Built around 1274BC, Ramses' temple is the more famous with 4 big seated statues of the self-proclaimed god-king. It has beautifully carved and painted scenes of Ramses' battles, how he is to be received into the afterlife, and his devotion to the gods. It is enormous, with the seated statues about 20 feet in height.

There are far too many temples to mention them all. In Edfu we see Kom Ombo with its crocodile god Sobek. We also visit a crocodile museum that has lots of those beasts in mummified form. In Luxor, we visit Luxor Temple with still more huge statues of Ramses II and an avenue lined with more than 50 sphinxes that sweep toward my favorite temple Karnak Temple.

on our camels "Jimi" and "Rambo"

Karnak Temple's most famous part is the Hypostyle Hall with its 134 columns, 60 feet tall and 8 feet in diameter, each completely decorated with thousands of hieroglyphs and capped with giant flowers of papyrus and lotus blossoms. Still more statues of Ramses II (can we say self-centered?) adorn the grounds. Two obelisks shoot up into the brilliant blue sky. There were originally 6, but one was given to be erected in Istanbul, and the other 3 are lost. Coptic Christians also used this complex as a refuge while fleeing from the Romans. Their columns had painted images on them of Jesus and Mary, although very faint. We are in awe, standing and looking at history marching before our eyes, all the people who had a part in the building, all those who passed among the mighty and majestic columns, all refugees fleeing from the Romans. So much history in this one place; it's hard to take it all in.