How many wonders can one cavern hold?
The next morning, we went to visit the temple at Edfu. We had an earlier than usual wake up call and we sorta complained about it, especially since breakfast wasn't going to be after the tour (there was a tea & coffee service before), but in the end we really appreciated why it was done. Sherif told us he wanted us to be one of the first groups through the gate. When we got to the temple, it wasn't open yet and there was another group standing around, but he pushed it so that we were blocking the entrance and were the first ones through. As soon as the gates opened, we were practically running through a huge stretch between the gates and the temple. He said, "We have to hurry because the Germans are chasing us!" I thought this was hilarious. (He meant the other tour group).
Our pictures were taken kind of in a hurry and so maybe a little off center, but still it was really beautiful being there first and getting to see the place without it being clogged by the other tourists. Our first look at the temple:
The main courtyard:
A statue of Horus just outside the main entrance:
At the end of the main entrance is this room:
(It was a little darkish without the flash and an off-color with it, so I hope that doesn't show up too dark). Anyway, that boat is used to carry a sacred statue out to parade in front of the public once a year. Before that the priests would wash the statue in a room off to the side of the main area, which they knew because of this carving on the wall:
On the ceiling was a picture of this:
It was hard to tell what it was and none of us saw it until Sherif pointed out the features. It's the sky/earth goddess. From this angle, she's at the bottom of the picture, lying on her back with her legs and arms embracing the sky.
Along the perimeter of the main temple were these hallways (I don't remember if they were originally indoors or not with ceilings) that had these canals that opened up to the Nile:
The priests would measure the water level every year and they did this to 1) learn the flood patterns and 2) to know how much to charge in taxes, which was directly proportional to the flood. If you didn't pay your taxes, you got your leg cut off:
No, seriously, you got your leg cut off.
The Nile was very fertile.
Yeah, that's a penis and symbol of fertility. Also, in the bottom right of the corner, the pair of legs meant "to do." It's a verb!
In case you needed a place to tie up your animal, all you had to do was punch a hole in the wall:
You could see holes like this all along this particular wall.
The sacred scarab beetle pushing up the sun, which the baboons are worshiping.
Every year they performed a play at this temple. It was about the king (good) and wrestling with the crocodile (evil). The script was written on this wall:
I only thought of this just now--it's too bad I didn't get to ask, but I wonder if the picture of the person on the left indicated the part and who had what lines.
Several scenes were also carved in on the adjacent wall. I wish I had the time/space to take a picture of every scene to show the progression of the story, but here it is:
Sherif had told us why the faces were scratched out, but I didn't hear because I was hanging back trying to get pictures. In any case, yes, it was done on purpose.
I think this is the conclusion of the play:
The king is riding the crocodile since you can't ever completely conquer evil. There needs to be a balance.
He led us down the hallway and said, "Quick, no tourists, take a picture!" But I suck, because on the right side I just noticed there's a face in the dark. Oh well.
The ceiling blackened by the fires from the inhabitants.
More pictures of the temple:
The goddesses of upper and lower Egypt giving power to the king, hence the double crown.
There was a pharmacy there, but it was a tiny, dark room and by the time I got there it was already filled with other tourists. I had a hard time getting back far enough away to get a decent picture of the wall without it being too bright or too dark, but here it is:
There were prescriptions and plants all over.
I took this as we were leaving:
It was like an outside gate around the main temple. You can see the main temple from here:
The previously empty courtyard had filled up very quickly and it was a sea of people milling about. When we got back on the bus, we actually thanked Sherif for making us get there earlier. It was worth it to see the place without anyone there, at least for a little while. In any case we were sailing for the next eight hours so we were free to go back to bed as the next site tour didn't start until much later that afternoon. We were headed to Luxor. On the way there, I saw this from my room:
and took the picture so I could ask what it was later. For the most part, there hadn't been much except farms and just the regular green stuff on the banks. This popped out of nowhere and seemed so important looking. Apparently though I knew what it was, I just didn't know I knew. All along the river are dams and levees and for the ships to get through, they have to be pulled along into a canal where the water level is raised and lowered until the ship crosses through. (I'm not really sure of the exact mechanics of it, but that was the idea). I had actually watched this process, which took about thirty minutes as another ship was pulled in along with ours. There use to be so much traffic that boats would have to dock for the night while waiting. This place was built to ease the traffic and a temporary stop for the tourists so they'd have something to do while waiting. Okay, rereading that, it wasn't that interesting. Maybe you had to be there to watch as they pulled the ships in.
We weren't allowed to take pictures at the Valley of the Kings except for a couple of statues on the edge of the place, so this is the only one I have from across the river:
There's a bunch of kings buried there!
We were then taken to a family business that sold papyrus prints. They did a short demo of how to make papyrus that unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of. I bought a couple of prints for people, all of which have a story behind them. One of them had a picture of the ancient Egyptians performing circumcision. I thought it was hilarious and bought it thinking I was going to give it to someone and say, "Hey, you're circumcised aren't you? I got you something!" Incidentally, I'm planning on giving it to my friend Suzanne. I don't know if she has a preference or not, but I thought it'd be amusing. By now it was getting dark, which was just fine since Luxor is spectacular at night.
Does it look off-balance? There was another obelisk there, but the Egyptian government gave it to the French as a thank you gift.
The main entrance is lined with two miles worth of sphinxes:
There are so many of these sphinxes that people were taking them and putting them outside their front doors, using them for coffee tables, etc. I guess the government's trying to recover all of them.
A closer picture of the obelisk:
At the base are a bunch of baboons:
At the top--which I thought I'd gotten a picture of but can't seem to find--is a picture of Ramses making an offering to the gods.
Ramses' head.
Behind one of the statues at the main entrance was this obelisk--the Egyptians gave up on making pyramids. It was put behind the king to help ascend to heaven faster.
The main courtyard:
You know that saying about how behind every great man is a woman? I guess the ancient Egyptians really believed it. See the queen at the bottom right corner lending her support to the king by holding him up?
This wall originally had a bunch of the Egyptian pictures and hieroglyphs. The Romans had plastered over it and painted their own pictures. See the upper left corner? Then you can see where the plaster was chipped away to reveal the original picture.
An offering of wine and flowers for romancing.
The temple was about 3000 years old and covered under mud for a looooong time. A mosque was built on top of it about 1000 years ago:
I kind of liked how it had become part of the temple's history.
See, I told you, spectacular! In the late 80s, Aida was performed here. I was so jealous. I would've loved to see that and in such a setting--I can't imagine how crazy amazing it would've been.
It was our last night on the boat and after dinner, the four of us headed to the sun deck, where Mike dozed off and Joakim occasionally chimed in, but mostly he listened as Jackie and I sat around giggling and gossiping and having some ridiculous conversation. It was a beautiful night and the perfect end to such a great day.
Our pictures were taken kind of in a hurry and so maybe a little off center, but still it was really beautiful being there first and getting to see the place without it being clogged by the other tourists. Our first look at the temple:
The main courtyard:
A statue of Horus just outside the main entrance:
At the end of the main entrance is this room:
(It was a little darkish without the flash and an off-color with it, so I hope that doesn't show up too dark). Anyway, that boat is used to carry a sacred statue out to parade in front of the public once a year. Before that the priests would wash the statue in a room off to the side of the main area, which they knew because of this carving on the wall:
On the ceiling was a picture of this:
It was hard to tell what it was and none of us saw it until Sherif pointed out the features. It's the sky/earth goddess. From this angle, she's at the bottom of the picture, lying on her back with her legs and arms embracing the sky.
Along the perimeter of the main temple were these hallways (I don't remember if they were originally indoors or not with ceilings) that had these canals that opened up to the Nile:
The priests would measure the water level every year and they did this to 1) learn the flood patterns and 2) to know how much to charge in taxes, which was directly proportional to the flood. If you didn't pay your taxes, you got your leg cut off:
No, seriously, you got your leg cut off.
The Nile was very fertile.
Yeah, that's a penis and symbol of fertility. Also, in the bottom right of the corner, the pair of legs meant "to do." It's a verb!
In case you needed a place to tie up your animal, all you had to do was punch a hole in the wall:
You could see holes like this all along this particular wall.
The sacred scarab beetle pushing up the sun, which the baboons are worshiping.
Every year they performed a play at this temple. It was about the king (good) and wrestling with the crocodile (evil). The script was written on this wall:
I only thought of this just now--it's too bad I didn't get to ask, but I wonder if the picture of the person on the left indicated the part and who had what lines.
Several scenes were also carved in on the adjacent wall. I wish I had the time/space to take a picture of every scene to show the progression of the story, but here it is:
Sherif had told us why the faces were scratched out, but I didn't hear because I was hanging back trying to get pictures. In any case, yes, it was done on purpose.
I think this is the conclusion of the play:
The king is riding the crocodile since you can't ever completely conquer evil. There needs to be a balance.
He led us down the hallway and said, "Quick, no tourists, take a picture!" But I suck, because on the right side I just noticed there's a face in the dark. Oh well.
The ceiling blackened by the fires from the inhabitants.
More pictures of the temple:
The goddesses of upper and lower Egypt giving power to the king, hence the double crown.
There was a pharmacy there, but it was a tiny, dark room and by the time I got there it was already filled with other tourists. I had a hard time getting back far enough away to get a decent picture of the wall without it being too bright or too dark, but here it is:
There were prescriptions and plants all over.
I took this as we were leaving:
It was like an outside gate around the main temple. You can see the main temple from here:
The previously empty courtyard had filled up very quickly and it was a sea of people milling about. When we got back on the bus, we actually thanked Sherif for making us get there earlier. It was worth it to see the place without anyone there, at least for a little while. In any case we were sailing for the next eight hours so we were free to go back to bed as the next site tour didn't start until much later that afternoon. We were headed to Luxor. On the way there, I saw this from my room:
and took the picture so I could ask what it was later. For the most part, there hadn't been much except farms and just the regular green stuff on the banks. This popped out of nowhere and seemed so important looking. Apparently though I knew what it was, I just didn't know I knew. All along the river are dams and levees and for the ships to get through, they have to be pulled along into a canal where the water level is raised and lowered until the ship crosses through. (I'm not really sure of the exact mechanics of it, but that was the idea). I had actually watched this process, which took about thirty minutes as another ship was pulled in along with ours. There use to be so much traffic that boats would have to dock for the night while waiting. This place was built to ease the traffic and a temporary stop for the tourists so they'd have something to do while waiting. Okay, rereading that, it wasn't that interesting. Maybe you had to be there to watch as they pulled the ships in.
We weren't allowed to take pictures at the Valley of the Kings except for a couple of statues on the edge of the place, so this is the only one I have from across the river:
There's a bunch of kings buried there!
We were then taken to a family business that sold papyrus prints. They did a short demo of how to make papyrus that unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of. I bought a couple of prints for people, all of which have a story behind them. One of them had a picture of the ancient Egyptians performing circumcision. I thought it was hilarious and bought it thinking I was going to give it to someone and say, "Hey, you're circumcised aren't you? I got you something!" Incidentally, I'm planning on giving it to my friend Suzanne. I don't know if she has a preference or not, but I thought it'd be amusing. By now it was getting dark, which was just fine since Luxor is spectacular at night.
Does it look off-balance? There was another obelisk there, but the Egyptian government gave it to the French as a thank you gift.
The main entrance is lined with two miles worth of sphinxes:
There are so many of these sphinxes that people were taking them and putting them outside their front doors, using them for coffee tables, etc. I guess the government's trying to recover all of them.
A closer picture of the obelisk:
At the base are a bunch of baboons:
At the top--which I thought I'd gotten a picture of but can't seem to find--is a picture of Ramses making an offering to the gods.
Ramses' head.
Behind one of the statues at the main entrance was this obelisk--the Egyptians gave up on making pyramids. It was put behind the king to help ascend to heaven faster.
The main courtyard:
You know that saying about how behind every great man is a woman? I guess the ancient Egyptians really believed it. See the queen at the bottom right corner lending her support to the king by holding him up?
This wall originally had a bunch of the Egyptian pictures and hieroglyphs. The Romans had plastered over it and painted their own pictures. See the upper left corner? Then you can see where the plaster was chipped away to reveal the original picture.
An offering of wine and flowers for romancing.
The temple was about 3000 years old and covered under mud for a looooong time. A mosque was built on top of it about 1000 years ago:
I kind of liked how it had become part of the temple's history.
See, I told you, spectacular! In the late 80s, Aida was performed here. I was so jealous. I would've loved to see that and in such a setting--I can't imagine how crazy amazing it would've been.
It was our last night on the boat and after dinner, the four of us headed to the sun deck, where Mike dozed off and Joakim occasionally chimed in, but mostly he listened as Jackie and I sat around giggling and gossiping and having some ridiculous conversation. It was a beautiful night and the perfect end to such a great day.