Why visit Egypt?
The Nile
The Temple of Horus
The Nile River is 6,650 km or 4,132
miles long. The only longer river is the
Amazon, which is 7,062 km or 4,400 miles
in length. An excellent way to travel
Egypt is to take a river trip down the
Nile. Take some binoculars to spot the
many birds that live on the river and
its banks. Egypt is also on the
migratory path of hundreds of bird
species, and millions of birds pass
through each winter on their way south,
and return each summer.
About half way between Luxor and
Aswan is Edfu and The Temple of Horus.
The main tourist spots are Cairo and
Luxor; fewer tourists come further south
to this part of Egypt. Crowds can be
avoided by visiting the temples and
monuments early in the morning. It's
best to be there as soon as the gates
open to visitors. It is a wonderful
experience to wander through the ancient
monuments with only a handful of fellow
tourists.
See a
video from Edfu.
The temple at Kom Ombo
The Temple of Horus is huge,
something akin to a large cathedral.
Buried under the sand for centuries the
temple is well preserved. It is a
magical place and its hieroglyphs and
statues seem like a giant newspaper
proclaiming ancient news to the world.
Every stone wall and pillar is covered
in pictures and writing. The Pharaoh
Ptolemy, who was Greek, built this vast
temple. He used it to convince his
subjects that he was the rightful ruler
descended from the god Horus. It seems
his strategy was to cover the place with
plenty of propaganda to assert his
dynasty.
A unique hieroglyphic
Ancient Egyptian cats
Just a little further south down the
Nile is Kom Ombo and its temple. The
temple at Kom Ombo is often quite empty
too. It is located right on the banks of
the Nile and in the afternoon light it
is simply beautiful. There is a very
unique hieroglyphic of a woman giving
birth in the temple; a must see. Feral
cats fill the place. It is easy to
imagine they were descendents of ancient
Egyptian cats. They still slink around
the stones much like their ancestors
must have thousands of years ago.
See a
video from Kom Ombo.
Join me in my next article as we
continue our travels down the Nile.
Fly from San
Francisco to Cairo from $1,258 to $1,532
and cruise from Cairo to Aswan for
$642.58.