Happy 19th Anniversary to Todd and Michele!! For our 19th anniversary we decided to go on a cruise here in Egypt. The Nile River flows from South to North through the entire country and empties into the Mediterranean Sea about 150 miles north of Cairo in a city named Alexandria. The Nile originates in two locations in Africa, the White Nile in Rwanda and the Blue Nile in Ethiopia. The two rivers come together in Khartoum in Sudan. It then flows into Egypt in the south through the towns of Abu Simbel, Aswan, and Luxor, which are famous for the Pharaonic ruins. The Nile used to flood and destroy homes and crops each year and so in the early 1900’s Britain built a dam in Aswan to help control the Nile flooding. In the 1960’s a new larger dam was built by Egypt and the Soviet Union to help further control the flooding caused by the Nile. This larger dam created a lake called Lake Nasser, which is over 400 miles long.
This large lake was going to flood and cover many ancient and important historical temples. A United Nations organization which focuses on saving historical antiquities called UNESCO agreed to help organize and save several of these ancient sites. These sites were all in the southern part of Egypt in an area called Nubia. Nubian people are darker skinned with an African heritage rather than the lighter skinned Middle Eastern people more common in Cairo. Many countries worked together to move these sites before they were flooded and covered by the new lake created by the larger dam.
The cruise that we chose to go on was a 4-day/3-night cruise along Lake Nasser. During our cruise we stopped to see several of the rescued Nubian temples and historical sites. Many of these sites are only accessible by boat, so it was exciting to see these seldom visited temples.
The boat we traveled on was called the MS Eugenie and it was a nice boat with character. It was not new or modern but tried to create an elegant feel. It has 50 rooms, so it is much smaller than most Caribbean cruise ships, and it had a more intimate feel about it. There were about 100 people on our cruise. About half of the people were French and there were about six Americans. Many people were ex-pats living in Cairo.
On our first day we visited a site in Aswan with several relocated buildings. The Temple of Kalabsha had some Pharaonic aspects, remodeled into the Greco-Roman style and dedicated to the God Mandoulis. We also saw Beit El Wali, which was erected by Ramses II in the beginning of his reign. There was also the Kiosk of Kertassi erected to honor the Goddess Isis.The next day we crossed over the Tropic of Cancer and visited the Wadi El Seboua temple, dedicated by Ramses II to the two Gods Amon Ra and Ra Harmakis. The temple of Dakka was dedicated to the God Thot of divine wisdom, Lord of times and seasons, master of literature. Also on that site was the Greco-Roman temple of Meharakka.
Our third day we visited temples in Amada, which contained the oldest rescued site. There was also a temple dedicated by Ramses II to the rising sun. A tomb to a viceroy of Egypt named Penout was also saved and moved here.
That afternoon and evening were the highlights of the trip. We arrived in the city of Abu Simbel. We approached the magnificent Abu Simbel temples of Ramses II and his wife Nefertari by boat. The statues outside of this temple are over 60 feet tall. These temples were built into mountains. The international effort that was involved in rescuing this site was amazing. They cut these temples into 20-30 ton pieces on rock and numbered them and then moved them 1/4 mile over and higher and reassembled the pieces like a 3D puzzle so they would not be covered. These temples had been covered by sand for 2000 years and were rediscovered in the 1800’s.
I can’t even describe how amazing these monuments were. They were very well preserved and their size was huge. The amount of work involved to cut, move and reassemble these temples was unbelievable. Todd thinks this site compares to the Giza Pyramids in terms of grandeur and interest. There was a sound and light show that night which was very well done. We went back to the boat and had a nice Egyptian dinner sailing out in front of the lit Abu Simbel Temples.
You can click on this site to read more about these temples.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_simbel
The cruise was very relaxing. Todd and I enjoyed spending quiet time together. We read books and soaked in the sun up on deck. It was in the 80’s during the day and the 70’s in the evening. The stars were amazing during the evening sails. We had a balcony and enjoyed sitting out there watching the beautiful scenery as we sailed on the Lake.
Our cruise ended and we flew back to Aswan and enjoyed spending the afternoon touring and relaxing in Aswan. We ate at McDonalds for the first time since we arrived in Egypt. Here is a picture of the official McDonalds hijab uniforms. We flew home to Cairo and had a memorable and enjoyable anniversary.
