Egypt

Thursday, 29 July We were very sad to leave Aswan but we had to get to Luxor at some point. The minibus that would take us was also going to make two stops on the way. One in Kom Ombo and the other in Edfu. There were also the three Portuguese, a couple with their friend (not surprisingly I forgot their names and cannot find the piece of paper where I had written them down - note to myself: need to remember names) and Saeko in the bus. Saeko, a medical student from Japan, we had met the day before in the bus from Abu Simbel back to Aswan and she surprised us now when we saw her again sitting there. First was the city of Kom Ombo. The city was important during the Ptolemaic period, meaning from 305-30 BC ending with the Roman conquest. The Temple itself was built in the second century BC and made the city famous. Kom Ombo was an important military base and a trading centre between Egypt and Nubia. Next we stopped ad Edfu. The temple is the second largest temple after Karnak Temple in Luxor and was build during the Ptolemaic period. It is dedicated to the Falcon God of Horus and is famous for its inscriptions. Once in Luxor the others in the bus had no idea where to stay and tagged along when I asked to be dropped off at the Oasis Hostel. So we all ended up in the same place. In the evening just before sunset we made it to the Luxor Temple which was open until 10.00 pm. It was the best idea to see it with all the lightning which gave the whole area an eerie atmosphere. Luxor was the capital of Egypt in the New Kingdom with the name Thebes and was the city of the glorious god Amon-Ra who was supposed to have lived here on earth. It is considered the biggest open air museum because of its concentration of monuments.