Egypt Journal III (3/16-4/1/2008)

Day 5 - Today we flew to Abu Simbel in upper Nile regions of Egypt.. In the 1960s, one of the great multi-national effort led by the US and UNESCO is the salvage of many of the ancient Egyptian temples from the rising waters of the Lake Nasser created by the Aswan high dam. The most famous is the moving of the temples at Abu Simbul 63 meters higher and re-creating the original setting (the engineering and artistic efforts involved rivals that of the original creation some 3500 years ago and the effort to save archeological treasures of the three Gorges Dam area)

 

 

In the evening we boarded a cruise ship to tour Lake Nasser/created as a result of the Aswan high dam.

 

Day 6 – Overnight the ship sailed to Amada, site of another archeological salvation effort by the French and UNESCO on Lake Nasser. These involve two temples built during 11^th and 12^th century BC. From the outside, the temples are unassuming. However, inside there are a treasure grove of Egyptian wall carvings (reminds me of the cave paintings of Dunhuang. But these were done two thousands years earlier). The pictures tell the whole story.

 

Picture sequence of last two days:

Temple at Abu Simbel

Another view of Abu Simbel

Landing at Amada with ship and tender in background

Temple of Amada

Temple Dar on Amada

Inside the temple

View from the Ship on Lake Nasser