(Didn't have my camera on me at the time, but pictures are coming soon!)
We started this morning by waking up on the sleeper train, which we had spent about 12 hours on. To say the least, the sleeper train was definitely not my favorite part of this trip. Luckily I was extremely tired from the lack of sleep I got the night before and the busy day we had, so I WAS able to fall asleep. I also had a bit of motion sickness because the train was extremely bumpy so I took some Dramamine and I conked out around 9:30. The beds were extremely small and hard, so when I woke up at 3am to go to the bathroom, I basically didn’t fall back asleep. We were woken up at 7am for breakfast, which included, a roll, a croissant, a corn muffin thing, more bread, etc… Haha, so basically I had a little bit of starch for breakfast (Don’t worry mama I’m watching myself!)
We got off the train around 8am and arrived in Aswan, which right off the bat we could tell was completely different than Cairo. Aswan is a city in Southern Egypt, which we learned was a very important city in ancient Egypt. We also learned that the land of Nubia occupied the lower region of Ancient Egypt and Northern Sudan, so much of the culture in Aswan is still Nubian today. The people here look different in appearance; because we have traveled significantly further south, the people have darker skin compared to those living in Cairo.
Our first stop in Aswan was the High Dam. On the way there we drove over the Low Dam, which was constructed before the High Dam and is smaller. Prof. Ghaly told us that the difference in water elevation on each side of the High Dam is about 70 meters and was constructed to better regulate agriculture and irrigation in Egypt; the site was very impressive to say the least. Lake Nasser was created as a result of the High Dam, which was named after President Gamel Abdel Nasser (the person responsible for starting the project). Unfortunately this is not my area of expertise so you can probably refer to Ben’s blog entry on this for more details.
The next stop was to the Island of Elephantine to see the Temple of Philae. The Temple contained remains mostly for the Goddess Isis and was originally located on the island of Philae but was relocated to the island of Elephantine to better protect degradation of the structure. It took many years for the temple to be relocated exactly how it was on Philae. There was a clear Greek influence in the structure of the temple, and the hieroglyphics displayed in every inch of the place was remarkable. The detailing in the carvings was still so clear despite many years of damage.
Next we went to the unfinished Obelisk, which was left from the ancient time carved into granite. It was at this site that the ancient Egyptians would carve granite stones and bring then to other locations to build structures. Before the construction of the Dam, the Nile would reach this location and they would use boats to move the stones. When the ancient Egyptians were carving the obelisk from the granite, cracks began to form and they stopped completion of this project. Considering how hard the material is, it is pretty unreal they were able to complete such a feat in those times.
For lunch we went to a Nubian restaurant where we ate chicken cooked in a pot with tomato sauce (not the tomato sauce you might be thinking of) and some other vegetables. Unfortunately my stomach still isn’t 100% so I didn’t get to enjoy the food completely, but it tasted good.
Finally we checked into our hotel, Pyramisa Isis Island, which is so beautiful and has an amazing pool. We quickly freshened up and took a boat to see what a typical Nubian village looked life. We went into a home that was made out of mud and had paintings on the wall. Here we got to hold a baby crocodile (yes! Seriously!) And get henna tattoos (many of us got an Eye of Horus (symbolizes protection) tattoo on our ankles to symbolize our experience in Egypt. They had a lot of kittens here too that we got to play with (so cute!) and gifts to look at. We had a lot of fun here. There were a number of shops outside this location as well (unfortunately I didn’t get anything, I’ve been very picky with the stuff I’m buying!)
After this we headed back to the hotel to eat some dinner. A bunch of people went in the pool at this point as well (wanted to go in but I wanted to finish blogging!). We are only staying in this hotel for the night and then tomorrow we are heading to the Abu Simbel Temples, which should be very exciting! We have to get there very early and it takes 3 hours to get there so we are leaving the hotel at 3am! (A.k.a I’m getting no sleep tonight! Boo!) Tomorrow we will also be starting our cruise. Hopefully Internet works well!
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