Aswan

We sailed into Aswan mid-morning, arriving a bit later than anticipated because at our request the crew unfurled the sail and disconnected us from the tugboat for part of our journey, slowing us down considerably.  It was worth it though to have a glimpse of how the ships sailed the Nile before the invention of the steam (or diesel!) engine.  Our mooring point was slightly south of the main part of the city in the designated spot for dahabiyas. The larger cruise ships docked at the city center and took up most of the shoreline, even though they were moored four to five deep.  When we passed them on our way to the temple, I counted 50, a testament to the large number of ships that cruised back and forth between Luxor and Aswan.

Our first stop in Aswan was the Aswan dam, the original dam built in the 1920s, and the high dam, built about 50 years later.  Aswan dam is long, about 2km, and a lot lower than the high dam which sits south of it and forms the giant Lake Nassar.  The dams regulate Nile levels, changing the nature of agriculture in the lower Nile, which has been historically driven by the seasonal Nile flooding.  Additional dams are upstream along the Nile, including a new one that is being built in Ethiopia, making water management of the world’s longest river a multi-lateral effort.  The high dam was impressive and more so the sheer size of Lake Nassar.  The creation of Lake Nassar drove the relocation of several temples and tombs so they would not be lost to history.  One, the famous Abu Simbal temple that Ramses II built, was on our list of destinations along with seven other temples we would visit during our Lake Nassar cruise later.

After the visit to the dams, we headed over to the Philae temple, dedicated to Isis, and one of the temples that was moved to an island for preservation after the dams were built.  The temple complex is vast and not only encompasses the sanctuary (and accompanying courtyard, columned halls etc..) for Isis but also a shrine and small temple to Hathor (again, Hathor is everywhere in Egypt!).  In addition, like many of the other structures left from ancient Egypt, the Greeks and Romans and Christians occupied and altered parts of the complex for their own uses.  The outer wall of the temple has the largest figures of any temple, dominating the structure with pictures of the gods. Trajan built himself a shrine adjacent to the outer courtyard and a small alter, with Christian crosses, sits in the corner of the columned hall.  Suprisingly, given the extensive use by subsequent cultures, the hieroglyphic scenes on the inner temple walls remain in good shape with practically no de-facing.  The beauty of the faces and the details of their expressions were readily discernible and it was a nice change from looking at rough cut rock where faces used to be.  Just for the clarity of the scenes and the artistry of the carvings, this temple was one of my favorites.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After completing our visit to the Philae temple we took a falucca ride on the Nile.  The falucca is a small traditional sail boat used by people to move around the river.  Our captain, along with the other faluccas on the river, had to tack against the wind to move down the Nile, even though the current was in our direction; the river was alive with sailboats zig-zagging in front of us.  The sailing trip consisted of a peaceful circuit around the islands that form the first cataract of the Nile just below the Aswan dam.  The tall reeds and granite boulders that dot the river completely blocked the city, creating a glimpse of what sailing the Nile might have been like eons ago.  Our excursion ended as the sun was setting and we headed back to the dahabiya for our last night aboard.

After a late dinner on the dahabiya I went back to my room to pack.  Two of our group were returning to Cairo in the morning, but myself and another were staying in Egypt for another week, including a couple more days in Aswan.  The following morning we moved to our Aswan hotel, the Old Cataract Hotel, a very nice, colonial-era hotel set on a bluff overlooking the Nile north of the city center.   After dropping off our stuff in our luxuriously appointed period rooms, we headed out to the Nubian museum.  Nubia encompassed upper Egypt from 700BC forward when invaders overran the Nile delta below Giza.  From that point onwards, when many history books mention “Egypt” they refer to the history of lower Egypt, the area of interest for conquerors due to the rich resources of the Nile delta.  Upper Egypt, from Giza northwards (and at times Aswan), became known as Nubia.  Until visiting the museum and reading about the history and development of upper Egypt, particularly after 700BC, I did not understand the distinction nor the complex political and social environment between “Egypt” and “Nubia”.  We lingered in the museum for almost two hours and it was a great learning experience!

While we were in the museum the day heated up with the temperatures hitting 104F, so the afternoon was spent relaxing. Despite the heat (it was a dry heat after all…) I sat by the pool, which faced the Nile, reading a book and watching the world go by.  It was nice to take a break and simply sit!  That evening after the sunset, when it had cooled down a bit, Hossam came to gather us up to show us the Aswan market and we spent an hour or so wandering around taking in the activity; families and individuals were out doing their shopping, interspersed with a few tourists.  It was very colorful and chaotic.

The next day, which promised to be just as warm- over 100F, we headed out early to visit nobles’ tombs on the West Bank across from Aswan.  We took a small motorboat across the river, that being the most efficient way to cross.  There are few bridges across the Nile – ferry boats, row boats, and faluccas serve as the most efficient point-to-point travel still today.  The climb up the steep sandstone cliff was challenging but at the top the interior of the tombs were still cool.  Aswan was the source of granite for the pyramid and temple builders of the south, so it was not surprising to see granite as a building material in several of the tombs.  One tomb still had a stack of bones in a basket sitting inside an inner burial chamber!  The cliff was littered with tombs and in the distance an archeological team was at work- the results of their finds, including mummies of ancient priests, I had seen the day before at the Nubian museum as part of a special exhibit.  I suspect there is a lot more to uncover in the area!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leaving the cliffs we headed up river in our small motorboat, the breeze on the water serving as a counteragent to the heat of the day.  We meandered slowly, moving around and amongst the islands that form the cataract, enjoying the abundant bird wildlife and except when other motorboats intruded, the silence of nature.  Our destination was a Nubian village on the West Bank just south of the Aswan dam and as we went further north, colorful houses started popping up on the riverbank—hotels, cafes, homes.  At one point several boats of tourists were pulled up and the occupants out swimming and wading in the Nile on a shallow beach.  At the Nubian village we were shown a school, with a short lesson on the Arabic language (I can now write my name!) before going to a restaurant for a traditional lunch. Later in the day we had high tea at the restaurant and finished our stay in Aswan in a relaxing manner.  Tomorrow- off to Abu Simbal!