Finally, we reached the southernmost point our cruise boat would travel -- Aswan. First thing in the morning, we headed out to the high dam. As you can imagine, we were expecting something like the Hoover Dam with a giant drop and massive power turbines. Well, it's a really important dam because it allows the country to control the annual Nile flooding and protect homes and farmland. Apparently, it just didn't need to be so massive to do that.
The dam is located at the first cataract -- place where the Nile gets too choppy to navigate and generally the southernmost reaches of the Upper Kingdom of Egypt. As the water pooled behind the dam to form Lake Naser, several temples, towns and other human development were at risk of being submerged. You may have heard of the rescued temple at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (see "Don't Eat the Pictures" starring Sesame Street gang). Someone else funded moving Abu Simbel temples to higher ground, but still in Egypt.
Our next stop in Aswan was Philae Temple. We arrived at a smoggy little cove filled with small motorized ferries. I was a little saddened by the quantity of exhaust being produced by having this be a touristy place.
The temple was really spectacular, though, sitting alone on its little island. The original island was submerged just a few yards away and you could still see the rocky tips of that island, plus some sticks rising from the water marking where the temple used to stand.
The location of this temple was threatened by the English dam installed before and just a little down river from the High Dam. There were mud marks on the temple and the nearby islands showing the flood levels after the English Dam was installed and before the temple was relocated.
Philae Temple had some fun history, including being a refuge for early Christians escaping Roman persecution. With such a southerly location, the temple was definitely a stretch for Roman control. So the Christians scraped the faces off the deities on the walls, modified altars, put crosses on entrances, even cooked and lived in parts of the temple.
Dan was impressed by this temple resident, who had assumed the classic Egyptian Sphynx pose for the photo.
During a tour of the Nile River in Aswan, we visited a botanic garden and noticed a lovely ficus tree. Dan wistfully recalled his beloved ficus, which we have entrusted to our sister-in-law Shirley's care in Atlanta. We wanted to share this picture of the ficus with Dan's tree to encourage it to continue to flourish in its new environs.
For our second day at Aswan, I rested because I was pretty darned tired. Dan got up way before the crack of dawn and took a bus to Abu Simbel. This temple kind of marked the southernmost point of the Upper Kingdom during the reign of Ramesses II. It's a temple deifying himself and another one deifying his favorite wife, Nefertari. Dan was fascinated on the three-hour ride back to Aswan through the Sahara as it was his first encounter with mirages. They're difficult to capture on film, but you can see here how the hills look like they have reflections in some water just in front of them. Luckily, Dan was in a nice air-conditioned bus with a cooler full of bottled water and a police escort for quick communication to help if the bus broke down.
Finally, we reached the southernmost point our cruise boat would travel -- Aswan. First thing in the morning, we headed out to the high dam. As you can imagine, we were expecting something like the Hoover Dam with a giant drop and massive power turbines. Well, it's a really important dam because it allows the country to control the annual Nile flooding and protect homes and farmland. Apparently, it just didn't need to be so massive to do that.
The dam is located at the first cataract -- place where the Nile gets too choppy to navigate and generally the southernmost reaches of the Upper Kingdom of Egypt. As the water pooled behind the dam to form Lake Naser, several temples, towns and other human development were at risk of being submerged. You may have heard of the rescued temple at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (see "Don't Eat the Pictures" starring Sesame Street gang). Someone else funded moving Abu Simbel temples to higher ground, but still in Egypt.
Our next stop in Aswan was Philae Temple. We arrived at a smoggy little cove filled with small motorized ferries. I was a little saddened by the quantity of exhaust being produced by having this be a touristy place.
The temple was really spectacular, though, sitting alone on its little island. The original island was submerged just a few yards away and you could still see the rocky tips of that island, plus some sticks rising from the water marking where the temple used to stand. 
The location of this temple was threatened by the English dam installed before and just a little down river from the High Dam. There were mud marks on the temple and the nearby islands showing the flood levels after the English Dam was installed and before the temple was relocated.
Philae Temple had some fun history, including being a refuge for early Christians escaping Roman persecution. With such a southerly location, the temple was definitely a stretch for Roman control. So the Christians scraped the faces off the deities on the walls, modified altars, put crosses on entrances, even cooked and lived in parts of the temple.
Dan was impressed by this temple resident, who had assumed the classic Egyptian Sphynx pose for the photo.
During a tour of the Nile River in Aswan, we visited a botanic garden and noticed a lovely ficus tree. Dan wistfully recalled his beloved ficus, which we have entrusted to our sister-in-law Shirley's care in Atlanta. We wanted to share this picture of the ficus with Dan's tree to encourage it to continue to flourish in its new environs.
For our second day at Aswan, I rested because I was pretty darned tired. Dan got up way before the crack of dawn and took a bus to Abu Simbel. This temple kind of marked the southernmost point of the Upper Kingdom during the reign of Ramesses II. It's a temple deifying himself and another one deifying his favorite wife, Nefertari. Dan was fascinated on the three-hour ride back to Aswan through the Sahara as it was his first encounter with mirages. They're difficult to capture on film, but you can see here how the hills look like they have reflections in some water just in front of them. Luckily, Dan was in a nice air-conditioned bus with a cooler full of bottled water and a police escort for quick communication to help if the bus broke down.
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