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Feb 13, 2019

We wake up in Edfu. Day 5. It’s another day of ancient ruins and cruising on the Nile. Here’s where we are on the map. We seem to have travelled from Esna to Edfu overnight.

We visit the Edfu Temple. My guide today was sent all the way from Aswan. He’s one of their best guides. He showed around visiting Kings and Queens. His name is Hasan and he’s indeed very good.

The temple is spectacular, especially given that it didn’t need to be reconstructed. It has been preserved since the ancient times because it was burried under sand from the desert and mud from the river Nile. The details are awesome. This is an example of an Egyptian temple built by Greeks. The Greeks embraced the Egyptian culture and religion. They didn’t try to impose their own.

The Egyptians surely liked to write on their walls. The hieroglyphics describe every aspect of their life, how the temple was constructed, aspects of medicine, religion, etc. The walls of their temples are effectively drawings with really really long captions 🙂

There were also some falcons, symbol of power, protecting the temple. Perhaps the inspiration for Angry Birds?

There were signs of smoke at the top of the temple. That’s because the Christians, as they were trying to hide from prosecution, they used the Temple as hiding place. They lived inside and started fires.

I failed Hasan’s test. I was paying attention to the information he was giving me. I internalized the fact that the columns represented the 32 priests but in the drawing, i could only count 8. Well, apparently the Egyptians at the time started depicting depth in their drawings. Hasan said that there were “3D drawings” 🙂 The is an illustration of 5 priests walking side-by-side.

And finally, what appears to be all of the tour guides’ favorite joke.  I heard at least 3 tour guides make the joke. The Egyptians invented the symbole for WiFi…

The temple is represented in one of Egypt’s notes, the 50 EGP. I tried to take a  photograph to match the one in the bank note. Close enough 🙂

We sailed from Edfu towards the Temple of Kom Ombo. Another Greek-built temple. Another tour guide for me.

The temple’s location was like a busy parking lot for riverboats.

I was impressed by the history of this temple. It was the center for medicine. At the back of the temple they had a hospital. The walls were full of medicine-related drawings and instrunctions. There is even a drawing of what appears to be the first even stethoscope. There were drawings description how conception occured, recipies for medicines, description of medical instruments, the steps for delivering a baby, and much more. Soooo impressive.

Back to the boat as we sail towards Aswan once more. Beautiful  sunset. 

As I was getting ready for dinner, I checked my email and noticed one from the Egyptian government. My e-visa for entry into the country has been approved! Hooray for me 🙂 I did apply online at the very last minute but I didn’t actually expect it to take that long. As a result, I had to pay again at the airport for a second visa, which is how I made it to day 5.

Some excitment at dinner. There is a German group of high-schoolers with their teachers on the same riverboard as me. They are based in Alexandria. They celebrate their last night on the riverboat or there is some other reason. The chef prepared a large cake for them and, for some reason, they had to move it around the dining area twice while dancing. The high-schoolers joined of course.

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Next Days: Egypt – Days 6, 7