FEBRUARY 13 - UNFINISHED OBELISK, PHILAE TEMPLE AND FELUCCA RIDE
Starting out at 8 a.m., we traveled to the site of the Unfinished Obelisk.
There's a great aerial view of the Unfinished Obelisk on this website - it's far too huge to be captured in a photo from the ground.
According to a website I just found:
"Who is believed to have ordered the creation of the Obelisk? If you’re thinking that it had to be someone as unorthodox as Queen Hatshepsut then you may be right.
Many experts attribute the decision to start production of this giant obelisk to her, since this project was remarkably similar to her obelisk in Karnak Temple in Luxor. The final clue? Some reliefs depicting scenes of transporting an obelisk were found in Hatshepsut’s Deir el-Bahri Temple. It appears as if this queen had some unfinished business to take care of before her reign came to an end – but never got around to it."
In my opinion, she was probably still dealing with the shenanigans of her stepson who would later try to obliterate everything she accomplished.
As you can see in the first photo, it's quite a ways away. There was a "walkway" to the left that we could've climbed in order to get to the top where you can see people in the second photo. Our very brave companions opted to take the hike but we chose to go with Ahmed to the market area for a little shopping. Ed later told us it was quite treacherous and we were smart to bypass it!
I bought a lovely scarf for only $42 in a shop where the owner was actually weaving them. It was a lovely shop and he and his son were just wonderful and gracious. I was amazed at the huge balls of thread hanging around the loom, so much so that they actually gave me a small ball of thread to take home!
Our next stop: "Philae - originally located near the expansive First Cataract of the Nile in Upper Egypt and was the site of an Egyptian temple complex. These rapids and the surrounding area have been variously flooded since the initial construction of the Aswan Low Dam in 1902. The temple complex was dismantled and moved to nearby Agilkia Island as part of the UNESCO Nubia Campaign project, protecting this and other complexes before the 1970 completion of the Aswan High Dam."
We arrived on Philae by ferry boat ....
A good walk-through of the Temple can be found here. Built during the reign of Ptolemy II (Egypt’s Greco-Roman Period), the
Temple of Isis at Philae is dedicated to Isis, Osiris, and Horus. The
temple walls contain scenes from Egyptian mythology of Isis bringing
Osiris back to life, giving birth to Horus, and mummifying Osiris after
his death. The myth of Osiris and Isis, which I have previously written about, culminates at the Philae Temple where Isis finds the penis of Osiris, puts all 14 pieces together, magically couples with Osiris and conceives their son, the god Horus.
I took a liking to this little guy, the god Bes.
Bathrooms were very clean here on the island. People nearby the facilities were having a picnic shaded by this beautiful tree. (It was pretty warm that day - I wore only a t-shirt.)
Leaving Angilkia Island, we looked at the wares being sold by the local Nubian people.
What I found amazing was the same style of art we found in Australia by the Aborigines (as well as other countries) was also here in Egypt. This is the style I'm talking about.
At the dock, there was a Nubian man asking to exchange $1 bills for larger bills. (We only used U.S. dollars throughout Egypt, except, of course, when we used our credit card.) He had a handful of dollars and wanted larger bills because there was a better exchange rate for larger bills at the banks.
As mentioned, at Ahmed's suggestion, we all decided to take the felluca ride after our visit to Philae and then return to the Sanctuary Sun Boat IV in order to have the afternoon to ourselves. Timing worked out perfectly and we were on our way to the dock to pick up our little boat.
The felluca - a typical Egyptian sailboat - took us around Elephantine Island, Lord Kitchener's Botanical Gardens and the Agha Khan Mausoleum. We couldn't ask for better weather. What I enjoyed most was the Nubian music and dancing with our host!
These little boys floated up to our felluca on a surfboard to sing to us in English and French - including the Macarena - in order to elicit a few dollars from us.
Driving back to the Sanctuary Sun Boat IV, we passed the local McDonald's.
Of course, Whirling Dervishes are a religious sect and are dressed all in white. They're "whirling" puts them into a trance-like state ... and, of course, they're not covered in lights. But this was a lot of fun!
I have to say something about how fantastic the Boat's personnel were to us. It was during dinner that I realized I had lost my pendant. I left the table and went to the lost and found at the front desk and reported losing my pendant and asked if anyone turned it in. The person took me back to my cabin to be sure it hadn't fallen off while I was getting dressing. I missed this part of the dinner though:
Sometime during dessert, the Boat's Manager came to the dining room and gave me the pendant. The pendant had been lodged in the cushion of the sofa I was sitting on while watching the earlier performances. BUT, amazingly, they also found the chain when they emptied the vacuum cleaner bag! (Someone had actually vacuumed the lounge area after the performance and the Manager tracked down that particular vacuum and found the chain in the bag.) Could you ever have expected that kind of care?
Big day tomorrow - we fly to Abu Simbel!
So glad you didn't loose your pendant!
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