Sightseeing in Aswan

Wednesday:

Wake up, breakfast at the new hotel…almost as nice as the Flamenco, but still very good. Pack up the backpack and load up the bus. No wooh wooh wooh song, but we arrive at the first destination of the day: The Unfinished Obelisk…after a quick history lesson we walk up the path through an ancient quarry and arrive at the unfinished obelisk. Very cool to see. It is a massive obelisk that was never completed, but was lying on its side. Walk along the path a little more, snap a few scenic shots and a few cool rock structure shots and were back in the bus heading to the Philae Temple. 30 minute bus ride and we arrive at a lake on which we have to take a boat out to the Temple…A beautiful lake with landscape that took your breath away…Boats everywhere and the whole ride out you are looking at the Temple. We arrive at the Temple and our guide gives us a history lesson of the place, I had trouble paying attention because I was so distracted by the massive carvings everywhere. When you walk in…through a metal detector with a guard packing an MP-5 which is becoming more and more standard at these places…the first thing you see is an outdoor forum of pillars filled with carvings. Most having a main carving on them symbolizing an ancient story, and the rest of each pillar is filled with hieroglyphics. Every pillar was probably 20-30 feet high and there were at least 50 of them. We then walk into the temple. With walls 50 or 60 feet high I am guessing. The walls are LOADED with carvings, again with a main carving showing the story and the rest of the wall loaded with smaller hieroglyphics…it was crazy to think that someone +2000 years ago had carved all of this. More history lessons and we were allowed to roam around for a half hour or so. I just walked around and tried to not take a lot of pictures, and just soak it all in…the whole complex was amazing, it was an ancient paradise in the middle of a beautiful lake, and I couldn’t believe what my eyes were looking at…I hope I can load up some pictures from today ASAP…back on the boat across the lake, back on the bus and off to the Aswan Dam…On the trip to the Dam we got the history lesson both from Dr. Denis who gave us the U.S. Politics behind the dam, as well as our guide who gave us more of the specifics behind the construction of the Dam. All of the engineers were psyched to be able to check it out. Many a corny engineering joke were had. Off the bus on the top of the dam, and the view was again, amazing…on one side was Aswan, and the desert behind it with the Nile rolling through it, and on the other side of the Dam was lake Nasser. This lake was a monster, it was a great shot for a panorama on both sides, so I am going to try to use my cool stitch tool, well see what happens…group shots, solo shots, back on the bus and back to the Hotel…bathing suit on, sunscreen on, pool, relax, play it safe for lunch with some pasta, read a little, book still sucks, back in the pool, dry off and head back to the Bazaar with a bunch of people. Walk around for an hour or so, didn’t buy anything but talked with people and took some more great shots. Decided we were hungry so we found out about this great restaurant that you take a ferry across the Nile to get to…boat ride was very relaxing, get to the restaurant, menu looks delicious. I order another safe bet meal of grilled chicken, and i'm still feeling OK…another day, and i'm not sick…tick tock tick tock…Leave the restaurant and take the boat all the way back to the hotel, thanks to the ferry driver…rode on the top of the boat, and took some more great night shots of Aswan from the Nile. Back to the hotel, head to the pool area to play some cards on the deck…after cards, bought some water at the bazaar and came back to the room to write this entry and edit some photos…heading to Luxor tomorrow, so stay tuned…

Peace

-Al