Abu Simbel

We took an optional trip to Abu Simbel the site of King Ramesses II's temples. The bigger of the two temples was dedicated to himself and the second smaller temple was made for his wife Queen Nefertari, with 4 out of the 6 statues depicting himself instead of his wife. King Ramesses II ruled Egypt for 67 years and was probably the most influential, arrogant and self-centered ruler in Egyptian history.

The site of Abu Simbel, close to the boarder of Sudan, was actually not the original site of the temples. The original temples which were carved into mountainous rock were threatened to be flooded due to a large dam being built and were physically moved to where they sit now in a valley which was excavated to relocate the temples in 1968. This was the most impressive part as its hard to imagine with the scale and massive size of the temples how they were originally built in the 13th century BC and then moved with most of its original architecture intact.Read more