Dylan on the Nile

We’ve arrived in Aswan, where we have explored temples and took a trip down the river Nile. 

After disembarking the night train to Aswan in the morning, we headed straight to the Unfinished Obelisk. It’s unfinished because they never even got to lift it off the ground. They chisel them out of granite lying down, then would normally lift them out, somehow. This one got cracked in production, so never made it. If it had, it would have been the biggest obelisk in the world. 

We then headed to Philae Island, home of the Philae Temple, on a boat. 

We then went to a local “spice” shop to sample some Egyptian spices. While all very good, it turns out the shop was a big scam and those who bought spices found they’d been overcharged or the spices weren’t actually real. Fortunately, I didn’t buy anything. This is the main problem in Egypt, everyone is out to scam you. 

We headed to the hotel and had an early night, as the next morning we were up at 4am for the long drive to Abu Simbel. 

Abu Simbel is a huge temple built thousands of years ago, that then had to be moved uphill due to rising water levels in the lake it was situated on. 

Following the long drive back to Aswan, we boarded our felucca, a traditional Egyptian sailing boat used on the river Nile. We would spend two nights on the boat sailing up the Nile towards Luxor. Sleeping on the Nile wasn’t actually half bad, and we were promised there were no crocodiles in this section due to the dam behind us. 

After leaving the felucca, we were ready to go and explore Luxor.