Egypte / Egypt 2002

July 4, 2002 – Aswan – Abu Simbel – Aswan (Cont.)

A little further from the crossroad that leads to the airport, the minibus stops and we are 6 to take a taxi for the big trip the others are going back to the hotel. We are on the way to the High Dam where there is a 5 EGP fee to drive on it as a tourist.

The dam is not really impressive in itself. It is not a mountain dam with the water reserve on one side and a high slope on the other side but there are boards with some figures: 3,800m long, 40m wide in his upper level, 980m wide at his basement, 180m high of water on the Nasser lake. It enables to increase the cultivating fields by 30% and the turbines deliver 10 billions of kilowatt/hour of electricity. Wao!!! The dam offers a great view on the lake Nasser from one side and on the Nile river on the other one.

Nile river from the High Dam

After visiting the high dam, we are going to Philae temple located on a small island near the old dam. Here like in Abu Simbel, there is only an entrance ticket. After the check of the bags, you have to negotiate with the owner of a boat to go to Philae even if the tariffs are well written at the desk (20 EGP minimum for a boat and roundtrip or 2.5 EGP each if there are more than 8 people). We have to negotiate with this guy because he saw some asian people there so he asked for 30 EGP, sorry but there is a French on board so we will pay the regular price. The view from the boat is great and we are alone on the island, only 2 other persons are there, it is a private visit.

Philae temple is dedicated to the Goddess Isis. I meet Salim there, a French guy from Tunisia. It is funny because the first words I exchange with him at the dam were in English because I thought he was Syrian or Jordan. I will spend the next week with him. Salim explains us some details of the temple. Here again with Philae, the help of the westerners was gratefully accepted to save this temple from the water. Because the temple was removed from its original location to the island of Agilka a few hundred meters north. This job will last from 1972 to 1980 because since the beginning of the 20^th century the old dam put the temple with water at medium level, people came there with little boats to visit the columns.

Philae temple on its island

Façade of Philae temple

After this magnificent visit to the Philae temple, we are heading to the last stop of our trip: the unachieved obelisk in Aswan. We can appreciate the work necessary to remove the obelisk from the quarry and put them in Luxor, Karnak or other places. But a single obelisk does not worth the visit to the quarry and the 10 EGP if you don’t have a student card.

Back in downtown, Salim tells me that he is staying in a hotel where there is swimming pool on the roof. I have to see it and if it is a nice one I will change and come here. When I see the swimming pool, I definitely want to come here for my last night in Aswan.

At 5pm, we go to elephantine Island to meet the Jamaican family who is specialized in the felucca trips on the Nile. We want to know what is included in the 2days / 2 nights trip. The Captain Jamaica (no joke!!) gives details of the trip and clearly says that we will not go to Edfu but we will stop before and a minibus will transfer you to Edfu and then to Luxor where we will arrive at the end of the morning. The price of 60 EGP includes the authorization to sail on the Nile, the food. You have to add 10 EGP for the minibus to Luxor and the entrance fees for Kom Ombo and Edfu. Unfortunately Salim will not be able to start on Friday so he will take like me the trip on Saturday morning.

I am late at the hotel and Jack and Cathy are waiting for me. They decided to come here at the Nubian Oasis because their hotel in under work. We decide to go at around 7:30am to the Nubian Museum (camera ticket 10 EGP but it doesn’t worth the price, not enough light). The museum is really nice, and you can learn a lot on the history of Nubia for more than 10,000 years. There are a lot of objects presented with good explanations in Arabic and English. That’s a museum with a beautiful light on the pieces and you dream about such a museum for the Egyptian Museum in Cairo where all the pieces will be fully explained and shown under a beautiful light. At the end of the story, there is the rescue work done by the international teams to save many monuments from the water of the Nasser lake. If there is only one museum to be done after the one in Cairo, this is the one to visit. It is really the best museum of Egypt.

Statue of Ramses II at the Nubian musuem

After a visit of more than 2 hours, we stop a few minutes in the park outside the museum to enjoy the temperature and to admire the lights on some pieces exposed around the building. We go back to the souqs area. On the Corniche, we attend a marriage dance with a lot of music and great dancers. We are on Thursday and it is like our Saturday in France.

In front of the restaurant boats, I leave Jack and Cathy who want to have a good dinner tonight. Tonight I am not hungry so I will eat only a shish kebab and I will smoke a shisha on the sidewalk of a café. I enjoy the atmosphere while drinking a tea and writing a few lines on my diary.

Tonight, there is a marriage celebrated at the café near the hotel, the music is so loud that I might need earplugs to ease the noise. I am on the roof and it is like attending a concert of a famous rock star. Good ambiance!!

Main expenses of the day :

Big tour (Abu Simbel, High Dam, Philae temple, Obelisk) : 45 EGP

Abu Simbel entrance fee : 19.5 EGP (student fare) otherwise 36 EGP

High Dam entrance fee : 5 EGP

Philae Temple entrance fee : 10 EGP (student fare) otherwise 20 EGP

Boat for Philae : 3.5 EGP (minimum 20 EGP for a boat or 2.5 EGP if more than 8 people)

Obelisk entrance fee : 5 EGP (student fare) otherwise 10 EGP

Drinks (water, soft drinks, tea…) : 25 EGP

Nubian Oasis Hotel : 15 EGP (single with a fan)