Edfu Temple
The second largest temple in Egypt, after Karnack, is Edfu which also happens to be one of the best preserved in terms of sculptures and paintings. Construction began in 237 B.C. and was completed at about 60 B.C. by various monarchs with inscriptions suggesting contributions by Ramses I, Seta I and Ramses II.
Damage from wind, sun and sand is apparent as is graffiti (by archeologists!) as is defacing of sculpted walls. According to Wikipedia: “As elsewhere, many of the temple’s carved reliefs were razed by followers of the Christian faith which came to dominate Egypt. The blackened ceiling of the hypostyle hall, visible today, is believed to be the result of arson intended to destroy religious imagery that was now considered pagan.”
The Nilemeter, an instrument to measure the height of the Nile, was an underground well which filled with water during the annual flooding. The importance of this instrument to the pharaohs is that in years when the water was high more silt would be deposited on the agricultural land, better crops would result and the government could collect higher taxes.
Temple of Haroeris and Sobek
It is amazing that colors painted on such a long time ago still survive in many of these temples. Many of these structures were buried in sand over hundreds of years and thus were protected from the wind and sun. The best preserved paintings are often on ceilings as these could not be bleached by the sun. The temple to Horus, the first god of the Ancient Egyptian religion, shows many depictions of a man with the head of a falcon.
Galaban Party
A galaban is the long shirt/dress that Egyptian men wear and is seen everywhere in cities and the countryside. The men in our group bought cheap versions for the party while women dressed in female versions or found other type of appropriate wear. We had traditional music and dancers and, of course, we were made to take part. The next day, at a Nubian Village on the Nile we swam in the great life-giving river, made a visit to a local elementary school and had (temporary) henna tattoos applied to our bodies.
Abu Simbel Temple
To get to Abu Simbel, travelers must rise from bed long before dawn for a three hour trip through the desert. At the meeting point, their buses will be met by armed escorts and only then can the caravan of some 30 buses leave together. The protection, travelers are told, is because you wouldn’t want to be alone if your bus broke down in the middle of the desert. The reality is that Egypt now takes many precautions to safeguard travelers because of bombings in the last few years at tourist destinations.
Two temples — one for Ramses II and one for his Queen, Nefertiti — were constructed by carving them out of a mountain. The 13th century BC temples feature many representations of the great pharaoh as well as of his queen.
When the Aswan dam was constructed, the resulting reservoir was to be located where the temples and two Nubian villages stood. So, in a second amazing feat of engineering, the entire complex was relocated in the 1960s to its present site and the people of the villages moved to higher locations. The temple itself as well as the history of its moving are incredible.