Edfu and Kom Ombo

We travelled south overnight from Luxor and as the sun rose we were treated to scenes of life along the Nile.

We moored at Edfu this morning along with about 20 other river boats. We were immediately shuttled onto a horse driven carriage. Our driver’s name was Mustafa but he was potentially related to Mario Andretti. He drove the horse hard and we zoomed through the streets of Edfu. If any photos appear a little hazy today it’s because they appear to be burning a lot of the leaves of sugar cane.

We were deposited at the temple of Edfu and told to be sure to find carriage number 95 for our return trip. Each day it is getting hotter and it is actually 32° today - March 4. I don’t even want to think about what the temperatures might be here in the summer.

This temple was built by the Romans in 200BC. The main entrance was very similar to Karnak and Luxor so clearly they were emulating the Pharoahs.

The Temple of Edfu is the best example of a Temple in its original form with minimal rebuilding. We are finding that we are already starting to overdose on the hieroglyphics written everywhere. I hate to be blasé about this fabulously historic place but at this point one temple is pretty much blurring into another.

You cannot get in or out of any of these attractions without passing through the gauntlet of merchants trying to sell their wares and I’m telling you, once you make eye contact with them they do not want you to continue on without buying something. On our visits we are hearing every manner of language with a domination of Italian. If you thought that people might be worried about travelling in Egypt you might be wrong. Following the Temple , we were treated to another life threatening carriage ride from Mustafa and horse Adam. It might appear as if these horses are being mistreated but who are we to judge?

Then Tamed came up to the bar to hawk his unique Egyptian jewelry. Our moorage in Edfu was adjacent to the first bridge over the Nile we’ve seen since Cairo.

For lunch today , after we set sail, we had an Egyptian specialty called koshari. They had a big wok and started with garlic, then chick peas, lentils, rice (precooked), noodles (precooked) and carmelized onions. Then you add lemon juice and a hot or mild sauce. Yummy!

For the rest of the afternoon we sailed towards Kim Ombo, our next excursion point. Before that, however, we were treated to a lot more Nile scenery.

Our final excursion today was one where we finally just walked from the boat. Once again there is an absolute flotilla of boats docked here.

Kom Ombo is a Greco Roman site, on a much smaller scale than previous temples we have seen. Before the temple visit we encountered the snake charmer with three cobras.

So on that note I will sign off for today.