Egypt: Day 13 (Abu Simbel & Aswan Spice Market)

Today we took an early morning bus ride (starting at 5 AM) from Aswan to Abu Simbel. It was an amazing bus ride for me. I really enjoy looking out the window while traveling and watching the sun come up over the desert in Egypt was near the top for me. It was so desolate out there, you would maybe see a bus or two on the road then nothing for some time. The trip was about 3.5 hours each way. We had to go through military check points since this is close to the border with Sudan.

Abu Simbel is the location of two temples. One to Ramses II and the other to his first wife, Nefertari. The two temples were moved in the 60s and 70s by UNESCO because the creation of Lake Nasser was threatening to flood their locations.

Artificial mountain built behind the temple to mimic the original structure.

69 ft tall statues of Ramses II in front of the temple.

No photos inside. There were some amazing carvings though.

Really, the statues are large.

Yeah, jumping picture.

Entrance to Nefertair's temple.

The two temples seen together.

It is pretty amazing to think that they dismantled both of these temples block by block and moved then to the current location 200 feet higher.

Looking North towards Cairo on Lake Nasser.

Looking South towards Sudan (less than 20 miles away) and Lake Nubia.

Islands on Lake Nasser.

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The ride back to Aswan from Abu Simbel was a hot one. The high was 102 F with a low of 87 F. We were quite tired from the early 5AM bus ride. I tried not to sleep because I really like looking out the window at scenery. We were heading through part of the black desert. It's called the black desert because deposits of basalt have eroded away and sometimes cover the desert with black rock. It was a pretty remote place, it would not have been a good place to breakdown.

Missy napping.

Sand with basalt formations in the distance.

Crooked picture taken from the moving bus of the black desert.

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Our last dinner and evening on the boat. I have only been on 3 cruises so I am not sure, but it seems like having baked Alaska desert is tradition on the last night. I thought the meals were quite good on the ship. There was not much local food, but the dishes they had were good to try.

The waiters and kitchen staff singing and dancing with our desert.
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After dinner we took a trip to the Aswan market. It is called the spice market, but they sell all kinds of items here. The general feel in Aswan was much different than other parts of the country. People were very laid back and the market experience was much better than in Cairo. The vendors didn't really hassle you and you felt like you were in control of the shopping experience for once. Since it was the last day and we hadn't really purchased anything we were eager to buy.

Walking through the market to find bargains.The obligitory tour stop at a spice stand. We quickly left to do our own thing.Colorful spices.The locals come out at night due to the high day-time temperatures.Missy's favorite shop owner.

One shop owner that was nice to us and bargained pretty fairly (see photo above). In Egypt part of the bargaining was about talking with the other person and it would take some time to get the price lower. In most cases you had to determine how much time to invest to lower the price. A common line from the shop owners when we were close in price was: It's only a dollar difference, not much for you, but a lot for me. We enjoyed this evening and were a little sad it was our last night in Aswan. We were looking forward to getting home and out of the heat.

(Dave blogging again)