Magnificent Temple of Abu Simbel (Egypt)

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                    Majestic Egypt IX (Photo Blog IX : FINAL)

                            By Dr. Narasinha Kamath

(Author’s Note : This is the FINAL Blog IX of my Egypt Tour of Sept. 2007)

 

Isis Island Hotel on Isis Island (Photo 1)

After completing our sightseeing tour of Aswan Dam and Temple of Pilae in Aswan, we headed to our next hotel that was Isis Island Hotel in the middle of Aswan. This hotel is built on a small island and from mainland Aswan, guests have to take Hotel’s Air-conditioned shuttle motor boats to reach to the Hotel. These shuttle boats operate on 24-hours basis.

This hotel is a 5-star hotel and very luxurious. Just behind the hotel you can see legendary Nile River and also Sandstone mountains. The view at the back of the hotel is very breath-taking. Hotel has maintained lush greenery all around it where you can walk around and enjoy looking at bluish water of Nile River and also the peace and beautiful nature of Aswan.

 
Isis Island Hotel (Photo 2)


Backside Very Beautiful View if Isis Island Hotel (Photo 3)

This hotel has two outdoor swimming pools where the water temperature is maintained to about comfortable 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Hotel has fully equipped Gym and children playground.

This hotel has restaurants with wide range of international and oriental cuisine with the largest conference room with a capacity for 600 participants.

Once again, the peace and the view from this hotel were worth the stay. This hotel has 475 rooms located in 4 separate buildings. There is a small zoo in the vicinity of the hotel.

And at the dinner time, Nubian musicians came to our hotel to entertain the guests by playing Egyptian Melodic string instrument Rebab and the Egyptian style drums. There was also a flute player among them who was playing straight type bamboo flute (called also as Recorder). I also participated with them while playing my oblique Bamboo flute. When these musicians realized that I am an Indian, they played the age-old famous song “Mera Joota Hai Japani” from the Raj Kapoor’s Film : Shri 420 of 1955. Note that Raj Kapoor is very popular in Egypt even today. And it was lots of funs to listen to the song “Mera Joota Hai Japani” played on Rebab very accurately. Below, you can see my Photo Number 4 where I am playing my flute with those musicians and you cans also see that I am wearing a cap offered to me by those Egyptian Musicians while I was playing my flute.

 

I am playing Flute with Egyptian Musicians in the Hotel. I am 4th from the left (Photo 4) 

One of the evenings, we also took that unforgettable Felucca boat ride around the hotel (see below photos) and also visited a botanical garden built by late King Aga Khan. Felucca boat does not have an engine unlike a motor boat and sails in the direction of the wind and boatman has to manually guide it.

  

We took ride in Felucca above: A boat without engine (Photo 5)

We stayed in this hotel for 3 days. Next day we took one hour flight from Aswan to the location to see the most Magnificent Temples of Abu Simbel. This was really a finale of our Egypt tour. I and my wife were both very excited to see these 2 temples which were built by the Greatest Pharaoh King Ramases II as a dedication to himself and his most beautiful wife Nefertari.

These two Temples of Abu Simbel are considered to be among the most magnificent monuments of the world. Initially, these 2 temples were very close to Nile River at a different location but after Aswan’s High Dam was built in 1968, water level in Lake Nasser started to increase which threatened the existence of these 2 temples. So Egyptian Government with the help of UNESCO and help from almost the whole world moved these 2 temples brick by brick to another higher and safe location which was about 280 kilometers from the original location. The removal and reconstruction of these 2 temples is in itself a historic event.

These 2 temples were originally built about 3,000 years ago by King Ramases II. The two temples were reassembled in early 1970’s in the exact same relationship to each other and the sun, and covered with artificial mountain as was in original design. You can also visit an exhibition inside the temple where you can see different stages of the massive removal and reconstruction project.

Original temple was cut into the face of the cliff in a rock-cut terrace. At the front of this rock-cut temple, you will see 4 colossal statues King Ramases II in a seated position. This façade is 120 feet wide and 100 feet high and colossal statues are 67 feet in Height. So one can imagine how huge these statues are. Following photos will give you an idea about the magnificence of this temple. In below photo number 6, you can see that second statue of King Ramases II is damaged (there is no head on the statue). This was because of climatic wear and tear over many centuries. When Abu Simbel temple was reassembled again in early 1970’s at a different higher location, this second damaged statue was moved AS IS and was not fixed just to maintain its originality.

 

Magnificent Abu Simbel temple Entrance. See Statue No. 2 is damaged (Photo 6)

The actual interior of the temple is inside the cliff in the form of a man-made cave cut out of the living rock or a sacred cave. It consists of series of halls and rooms extending back a total of about 190 feet from the entrance. The first hall is very long about 55 feet wide and 58 feet deep and has 2 rows of statues of King Ramases II each 30 feet high on either side (see below photos to get an idea). From this room, a doorway leads to the vestibule and beyond the vestibule you can see innermost shrine with 4 seated statues of Gods Ptah, Amun-Ra, the deified Ramases II and Re-Horakhte.

The most remarkable feature of this temple site is that it is precisely oriented so that twice a year, on February 22^nd and October 22^nd, the first rays of the morning sunshine fall on the entire length of the temple cave to illuminate the back of the innermost shrine and statues of  4 seated Gods.

Next to temple of King Ramases II, few meters away, you can visit second temple which King Ramases II dedicated as a mark of exceptional respect to his beautiful wife Queen Nefertari. This second temple is also equally magnificent like the first temple (see below photos to enjoy the beauty of these 2 temples).

This second temple dedicated to Queen Nefertari which has 6 colossal statues at the entrance which are 10 meters high and all 6 statues show their left leg forward. Among these 6 statues, one can see once again statue of King Ramases II and that of Queen Nefertari next to him. The statue of Queen Nefertari is also in deified form. Out of these six statues, four are of King Ramses II and two are of Queen Nefertari. This second temple is dedicated to Goddess Hathor. Inside this temple, there are carvings depicting King Ramses II paying his homage to his wife Queen Nefertari who also lets her go with him to battle. Seetwo below Photos Number 7 and 8.



Magnificent Temple dedicated to Beautiful Queen Nefertari (Photo 7)

Magnificent Temple dedicated to Beautiful Queen Nefertari (Photo 8)
 

After the visit to temple of Abu Simbel, we returned to our Aswan Isis Island Hotel and next day we took 90 minutes flight to Cairo and after an overnight stay at Sheraton Hotel near Cairo Airport, we flew back to New York. And thus ended one our most memorable sightseeing tours of lifetime and I still cherish fond memories of my Egypt Tour of 2 weeks in September of 2007. Thanks to Globus Tour Company who organized this tour extremely well as usual and we got our money’s worth.

(Author’s Note : This is the concluding Blog of my Egypt Travelogue in Sulekha, please note that I have numbered the photos, you may comment as to which photos you liked the most).

Photographs: By Dr. Kamath and Lalita Kamath

Copyright © 2007 Dr. N.R.Kamath