This is a depiction of the alphabet, if memory serves
The afternoon took us to Edfu, and the Temple f Horus, purportedly the most competely reserved Ptolemaic temple in Egypt, and one of the last great Egyptian attempts at monument building on a grand scal. It was dedicated to Osiris, and took 200 years to complete.
We were taken to the temple by horse cart...
and we are accompanied...
And, lucky for you guys, my camera got tired at this point, so no more pictures today.
We had time for a brief rest when we got back to the boat and then were invited to a tour of the bridge by the Ship Manager. It was really very interesting in and of itself, but I was so thinking of David, who, as those of you who knew him will realize, would have loved it. The ship has 3 captains; the first captain has to have 25 years of experience. Trust me, he needs it. This is not a sophisticated bridge, folks; if there was a depth sounder, a sonar, a radar or, god help us, a GPS, it was not readily visible. (The Nile is apparently now only from 2 to 10 meters deep.)
Apparently all the ship captains on the Nile come from 7 to 10 Egyptian families. Most of them have been sailing the Nile since they were kids. There are about 273 cruise ships on the Nile between Luxor and Abu Simbel. Because of the drop in tourism, of course, a large number of them are not functioning right now.
As for our ship, it is about 73 meters long, 14 meters wide, and 11 meters high. The draft is 1.5 meters. It runs on three 500 horsepower engines, and travels 20 km per hour max. It carries 110 passengers with over 60 crew. There are only 53 rooms, which explains why the rooms are bigger than normal.
We've started to move, and a sugar refinery and a steel factory mar the otherwise idylic scenery
The "captain's dinner" that night consisted of a barbeque on deck, and after a chilly start, was quite pleasant on deck. It always amazes me how quickly the rhythm of a boat develops. In spite of all the heavy duty touring during the day, it has got to be the most relaxing way to travel!
By the time we are at breakfast, Sunday, March 31, we have docked a Luxor, and our day today is on the West Bank. Don't get excited guys, not THAT West Bank, but the West Bank of the Nile at Luxor, home of the infamous Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens.
I should note here that this temples we have seen till now have been sandstone. The temples in Luxor and Limestone, which was , down the Nile from Aswan. (aside from the temples, Luxor is apparently know for growing and processing sugar and farming of produce of all sorts.
Our first stop was the Temple of Hatshepsut (and yes, I had to look up the spelling!), followed by the Valley of the Kings.
Some statistics: the Valley of the Kings contains 62 tombs, six are opened to the public, and we saw three. (And - trust me on this one, I could not have managed another one!) And, most interesting to me, they lighted the tombs so they could be worked on by reflecting sunlight from one piece of bronze to another! I thought that was terribly clever!
Templed out though I might have been, we headed for the Valley of the Queens, where there were a combination of 81 tombs and shafts where both queens and childrenwere buried. Only three were open to the public, and there were no pictures allowed. The most recognizable of these tombs - Queen Nefertari - is still closed to the public (although it can, apparently, by opened for private showings - for a fee, of course.
We finished the day at a carving shop, where men - and it is only men - carve in the old way....
I am about to lose power, so enough for today. Tomorrow, the East Bank of Luxor, and back to Cairo - already!
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