EGYPT – Edfu, Kom Ombo, Aswan & Abu Simbel

12:26 Travel Bunny 0 Comments

For the next few days, I journeyed South along the Nile River from Luxor up to Aswan, visiting some of the ancient cities on the way.



I travelled by river cruise on Nile River. Many of Egypt city lies on the bank of Nile River.


The cruise is comfortable and you can sun bath on the sun lounges.


The Nile River, regarded as the longest river in the world at 6,853km long is shared by 11 countries and is the primary water source of Egypt.


I also enjoyed a felucca sailing trip along the Nile River.


Temple of Edfu is the best preserved ancient temple in Egypt, as well as the second largest temple after Karnak. It was found completely submerged underneath the desert sands except the top of the entrance pylon thus preserving the temple. Other than a small amount of stone that had been removed from the exposed part, it was found to be in perfect condition upon excavation.


This temple is dedicated to the falcon god Horus.


Construction of this temple begun in 237 BC and completed in 57 BC.


The inner sanctuary in the centre of the temple.


Our tour guide explaining the meaning of the drawings.


Carvings on the walls is in almost perfect condition.




After visiting the temple of Edfu, we continued our cruise down Nile River to Kom Ombo.


One of the cruise ship docked by the side of the river.


The Temple of Kom Ombo is unusual because it is a double temple which were meant for two sets of gods. The southern half of the temple was dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek.


Crocodile mummies that was being discovered here.


The eye of Horus. The northern part of the temple was dedicated to the falcon god Horus.


It was getting dark when I left the Temple of Kom Ombo. Lights were lit up to illuminate the temple. With that, I called it a night.


We reached Aswan in the next morning and visited the Aswan Dam or commonly known as High Dam. The High Dam was constructed between 1960 and 1970.


The High Dam was built to control floods, provide water for irrigation and generate hydroelectricity.


The mighty High Dam took 35,000 people to build and when completed, the water collected behind the dam became  Lake Nasser which holds 132 cubic kilometres of water and is the world’s largest artificial lake.


A small garden near the High Dam.


This monument of Arab-Soviet Friendship (Lotus Flower) is designed by architects Piotr Pavlov, Juri Omeltchenko and sculptor Nikolay Vechkanov. It is built to commemorate the completion of High Dam.


This is Lake Nasser in the background. Taking a boat to visit the Temple of Isis.


The original location of Temple of Isis is on Philea Island. The complex was dismantled and relocated to nearby Agilkia Island because the construction of Aswan Dam.


Temple of Isis is dedicated to the goddess Isis.





Trajan Kiosk of Philea.





Next I visited a stone quarry in Aswan to view the largest know unfinished ancient obelisk. If finished, it would have measured 42m length.



The workers carved it directly out of bedrock.


But cracks appeared in the granite which forced the project to be abandoned.


The Nile Beauty is the cruise ship that I was on for the past few days. Docked here for a trip to Abu Simbel. Followed a convoy of busses escorted by police through the desert. No trip to Egypt is complete without visiting Abu Simbel.


Abu Simbel temples are situated on the western bank of Lake Nasser. It is a monument to commemorate Pharaoh Ramesses II’s victory at the Battle of Kadesh.


The twin temple was relocated to avoid being submerged during the creation of Lake Nasser.


The Great Temple of Ramses II was dedicated to the gods of Amun, Ra-Horakhty and Ptah. Guarding the entrance to the temple, the four famous colossal statues of Ramses II sit majestically staring out across the desert.


The rock cut temple of King Ramses II at Abu Simbel is possibly the most awe inspiring temple of ancient Egypt. Created to revere the mighty Pharaoh ruler, Ramses II.


There are other statues at the leg of the pharaoh which depicts pharaoh’s family member.


The small temple of Hathor and Nefertari. Photos are not allowed to be taken inside both temples. But I did buy some postcards that show the interior of the temple.


View of the Small Temple of Nefertari.


The back of the artificial hill.


I didn’t bother mentioning that the complex is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as most of the buildings in Egypt are inscribed as a World Heritage Site.


Next, we left the cruise and board the overnight train to Cairo.

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