The Nile Cruise - Final Day

The day of my birthday was the last day of my cruise. Having now understood exactly what the cruise involved, I would have set it up to return to Luxor on the boat today to have been actually cruising on my birthday. This is a lesson learned in hindsight. My excellent Travel Agent, Kim, and I discussed it, but I declined, thinking that four days of cruising would be sufficient. Of course, it wasn't four days of actual cruising, as it turns out. Never mind, I started my 51st year in d'nile, but I got over it!
I was met as arranged at 8am by Basim (from Emeco, rather than Basim from PNC) and driven to the airport at Aswan, which was quiet and clean. I waited till my flight departed and flew to Abu Simbel.
Abu Simbel is a small town (population 7000, according to Ahmed my guide) that exists pretty much to service the tourist trade that the Abu Simbel monument generates.
The only thing to talk about on this visit is the monuments.

Ramses II Monument at Abu Simbel

It was already hot when we arrived at the Abu Simbel monuments at about 11:15; bright, sunny, not a cloud in the sky. Ahmed talked me through the history and significance of the place in the shade of a tree as we stood at the foot of Ramses II’s finest work. It is genuinely awe-inspiring; the scale, the majesty and the suggestions of power built into the façade. This is perhaps doubly-so because the idea that it was all moved and yet looks precisely at home is a further feat of extraordinary engineering. I later got to see a video in a shop while waiting for the aircraft to depart that showed footage of the people actually working on the process of moving the monuments. Much of the really important stuff (e.g. cutting off the faces of the statues) was sawn by hand, continuously once started, all designed to keep the cuts small and vibration to a minimum.

The exterior of the monuments are easily the most impressive things about them. As you look at the sloping surrounds you realise how much rock was removed originally to create them and how much careful coordination must have been needed to ensure that the final carvings ended up in proportion and standing upright. The final effect is awe-inspiring, as I said.

Queen Nefratari's Monument at Abu Simbel

Inside the monument is a progression of three chambers; the first with square columns fronted with huge statues and all the walls and surfaces are inscribed. Off that first main chamber are several smaller rooms where offerings were stored, apparently. These too are all inscribed, except one, which shows how they followed lines painted on the bare stone to create the inscriptions. I’m disappointed that I could not photograph any of this. I bought a book of photos of the place; I hope that room is included.

In the second chamber there are more columns (no statues this time) and more inscriptions. Some of these are quite famous because of the extent to which Ramses II told stories of his conquests which are apparently the oldest existing example of propaganda. Ramses II claimed outright victory in the Sinai, largely single-handedly, against the overwhelming forces of the Hittites (from ancient Turkey). Egyptologists apparently now believe that he negotiated a truce rather than face defeat. He later married a Hittite Queen (one of some 108 wives) to formalise the arrangements. This allowed him to rule Egypt without threats from his North and yet claim victory as a conqueror. He was quite a politician as well as a rabid self-promoter, it seems.

The inner sanctum is very special because of the cunning design. It is a small room built to allow the sun to strike the face of Ramses II seated with his ‘brother’ Gods first then to illuminate Isis and Osiris, but not to illuminate the fourth statue, Ptah – God of Darkness. This occurs exactly twice a year (22 Feb and 22 Oct) on the days that are thought to be his birthday and his coronation day. Well, actually 21 Feb and 21 Oct were the original days. When the temple was moved, the trick was reinstated, but because it was higher, it had to be moved by one day. Getting that right is one of the key indicators of how challenging moving the monument was, and how well executed it was.

I looked at the room quite carefully. The best I can tell, the trick of illuminating three of the four statues only yet having the room appear square and symmetrical involved are proper alignment of the main monument axis, of course, but then having the inner sanctum built slightly off-square. That’s what I can work out just by inspection. It’s a great trick. We certainly do not build structures with these objectives in mind now and as I reflect upon it, that’s a real shame. It gives an interest to the building more than just its architecture.

Ramses II also built a smaller monument nearby for his favourite queen, Nefertari. This is smaller and less ornate altogether, but is still an amazing feat of engineering to build and inscribe a quite wonderful monument. Ahmed told me that it is believed that Ramses II built his queen’s monument first, as practice. Each monument took only 20 years to build; only, given they were carving the things from the ‘living rock’, but sandstone is soft and the Egyptians had developed some quite sophisticated techniques by the time of Ramses II. Modern industry may be able to repeat such a build in a shorter time, but I don’t believe that it could make something more magical.

The less-frequently photographed rear of the Abu Simbel monuments!

After a brief stop at a café for water and an ice cream, I headed back to the airport with Ahmed. There is only one thing to see in Abu Simbel, and once you’ve seen it, you’re done! The rest of the day was spent travelling: Abu Simbel to Aswan (stay on the plane!), Aswan to Cairo, meet Ray again, Cairo traffic for two hours to get to a camera store that might have a battery charger, then another 40mins of Cairo traffic to get to my hotel.

It was great to see Ray again. He is a fine man and has become a good friend. It is certainly always reassuring for me to have him around. He helped greatly with the battery charger, for example, putting up an active defence to me being sold a new camera instead. The shop keeper told me as we were leaving: “He acts like you are his brother. He’s always telling: no camera, no camera, no camera!” The charger looks like it works when tested in the store but it is certainly not made for my battery. At 40LE (~$6.50AUD), I buy it to try anyway; I mean, six bucks! (It transpires that while it looks like it’s working to charge my battery, it does not. I think my old camera is now so old that I have to rely only on the charger I already have. At home! … Or buy a new camera.)

The grounds of the Oasis Giza Hotel

I retire to my room at the Oasis Giza Hotel and start catching up with internet-based work. After a short while, I try out the La Terraza Restaurant (faux Italian) which serves a not bad homage to a Carbonara sauce on spaghetti. They have French Champagne on the menu and I’m tempted, it being my birthday and all, but ~$280AUD seems too much for just me so I stick with the local version of Stella beer, which is quite drinkable.

I watched Angels and Demons on the TV and went to sleep knowing I didn’t need to get up early in the morning!