Edfu, Kom Ombo & Aswan

 

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The Triton was their floating hotel and they were able to sail from one archaelogical site to another along the Nile.   They first went to Edfu where they visited the Temple of Horus, dedicated to the falcon god and is considered the best-preserved monument of the Ancient World. One of the advantages of traveling with Lindblad is that their Egyptologists accompany the visitors and explain to them the history of what they are seeing.  Then they sailed to Kom Ombo which is a temple to two gods - the hawk-headed Haroeris and the crocodile-headed Sobek.  Here they peered into a chamber that still contained mummified crocodiles.  The next morning they sailed to Aswan where they visited the famous pink granite quarries and viewed an unfinished obelisk and then traveled by boat to the Temple of Philae.   After that they had the experience of sailing on a felucca (a traditional sailboat).  Description provided by Lindblad Expeditions.       

Steve's photo of the Temple of Horus, the falcon god, which is located on the west bank of the Nile and is halfway between Luxor and Aswan.   After Karnak, it is the second largest temple in Egypt and one of the most well-preserved.   Right - Steve and Sally before the Horus, the falcon god.   

They then sailed to the Temple of Kom Ombo which is an usual double temple built during the Ptolemaic dynasty in the Egyptian town of Kom Ombo.  One side of the temple is dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek, god of fertility and creator of the world.  The other side is dedicated to the hawk-headed god Haroeris.  Below is one of the reliefs at the temple.     

Much of the temple was destroyed by the Nile and earthquakes, and above is a picture of the temple before it was restored.    Steve discovered information on David Roberts, a Scottish adventurer,  on the web and was quite fascinated by what David drew and painted in the 1800's when he visited the same places that Steve and Sally
visited  today.  

Steve and Sally took a ride on a felucca, Egypt's traditional sailboat,  at the First Cataract at Aswan.

  At Aswan they visited Aswan's famous quarries of pink granite where they viewed the massive 1,162 ton unfinished obelisk, abandoned when it cracked.  Above is Steve's photo of the Philae Temple, a monument to the Egyptian goddess, Isis.
 Description provided by Lindblad Expeditions

Our thanks to Steve for sharing his amazing photos with us.

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