Egypt

Wednesday, 28 July Long awaited but finally there. With great excitement today was the day to drive to Abu Simbel. We had to get up at 3.00 am though what was highly disturbing. The reason is that buses from Aswan to Abu Simbel have to go in a convoy with military presence due to attacks from rebels in the southern area. Abu Simbel is only 15 km away from the border of Sudan and therefore protection was needed for the 3-hour-ride. If the High Dam of Aswan would have not been built Abu Simbel would be still at its original place near the Nile. Because of rising water the UNESCO fought long and hard for the whole temple to be dismantled and built up again in its new location, stone by stone exactly the same way. Otherwise it would have been submerged in water and probably completely destroyed. Gelal had told me that the dam rose the water level of the Nile for about 6-7 meters. Once there I was almost running and was very close to pull out my New York attitude and push people to the side with my purse by shouting: "EXCUSE ME!!!!!!" As a New Yorker (at least for the last 10 years) it's hard to waddle behind people when you are in a rush. But no worries I behaved although I couldn't help a little annoyed huffing and puffing here and there. At first glimpse of the monument I held my breath and was utterly speechless. I was blown away and completely flabbergasted. This temple is so impressive that I cannot imagine how people must have felt during his life time. Here as well cameras were not allowed inside the temple. Great!! That means I have to try to soak everything into my memory at my age. Ramses II had build the two temples (the other one was for his favorite wife Nefertari) to commemorate battle of Kadesh against the Hittites. He demonstrated himself as one of the gods what was unheard of 3000 years ago and to this day would be mere blasphemy. Ramses II reigned for 66 years and died when he was around 90. Anyway, inside the temple which took 20 years to build he depicts the battle as won by him. Clearly his ego had no boundaries. Historians are not really sure who actually won and therefore assume that it was a draw. Either way in the end both sides signed the Treaty of Kadesh which is considered the earliest international peace treaty known to historians. This treaty was carved into the Temple of Karnak and a clay copy of it is on display in the Archeology Museum in Istanbul. An enlarged replica is supposed to hang on a wall at the Headquarters of the UN. Good to know. On our way back we stopped at Philae Temple, dedicated to Isis and the burial place of Osiris. Isis was the goddess of motherhood, magic and fertility and Osiris was the god of the afterlife, the underworld and the dead. This temple was also dismantled and moved to its new place on the island thanks to UNESCO, escaping the same fate as Abu Simbel. After a very long and hot day we had dinner close by in a restaurant called Al Masry and apparently the most popular with locals. It was great food and rejuvenated us immediately. Since the street market named "Saad Zaglol" was just around the corner I insisted on doing the shopping now. My argument that I would rather die than do it in Cairo convinced Nille and Burcu at once and so we headed off to buy saffron, dried lotus flowers, mint tea, hibiscus tea for Karkade and a few bottles of black cumin oil. The Prophet Mohammad declared black cumin as a remedy for all kinds of aches and pains. It is therefore called "habt al baraka," the seed of all blessings.