On Christmas Day we got to wake up at 6:45 which felt luxuriously late after the day before.
(I always bring a bag full of my own tea when I travel and every hotel room we stayed in had an electric kettle so my day started right no matter what time it was!)
After breakfast on the ship (a buffet in which Landon ate 4 omelettes and 8 pieces of banana bread), we disembarked for a 15 minute very crowded horse and buggy ride to Edfu Temple, the largest Pharaonic temple in Egypt.
Dedicated to the God Horus (hawk), Edfu is HUGE, complex, and unbelievably well preserved.
We were in awe as we explored.
(Not actually touching the walls, but I know with absolute certainty that as his hand hovered over the ancient stone he was thinking
"Can you just imagine what these walls have seen?"")
Our guide told us lots of stories about the various aspects of the structure and the meanings behind some of the heiroglyphs.
Like this one, which shows the test they did to see if someone had too much wine to drink to be able to enter the temple. Stand on one foot and wave your arms. If you falter, you can't come in.
Also the first WiFi signal!
Truly one of my favorite temples of the trip. The structure is so enormous- you can't see it in pictures, but all the rooms and hallways and outer rooms... it was so cool to explore. And every inch is covered in glyphs. The detail is just incredible.
We took our same horse and carriage back, though there was a bit of a horse and buggy traffic jam for a while.
Once back on the boat we enjoyed a bbq lunch on the upper boat deck, followed by massages for James and me (we've never done that on vacation before and it was GREAT), and much lounging and napping in the sun as we sailed to Kom Ombo. It was a perfect afternoon. I took zero pictures. We did partake in another attempt at tea time and Landon could almost drink it without a face.
We docked again about 5 pm and walked a short way to Kom Ombo, a unique double temple originally dedicated to Sobek, the crocodile-headed God.
But the people didn’t like worshipping Sobek because he ate their animals and people, so the Pharaohs decided to make it a double temple and added one to Haroeris, God of the Sky. However both gods shared a single altar in the center of the temple entryway so all sacrifices counted for both.
The interior is covered in hieroglyphs, including original images of surgical tools, medicine, calendars, and more.
The sun set while we were there and it was so beautiful.
We saw a deep well built into the ground with steps that allowed the ancient Egyptians to measure the height of the Nile through a tunnel that led to the river. By seeing where the water hit the stairs the Egyptians could tell whether it was going to be a fruitful harvest or not and therefore what level of taxes they might expect that Spring.
On the way out we walked through the crocodile museum with dozens of mummified crocodiles and other artifacts. The Egyptians may not have liked Sobek but they clearly tried to keep him happy!
We ate a tasty dinner back on the boat and slept as we sailed to Aswan, alarms set for 3:30 am and Abu Simbel in the morning!
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