Egypt
Abū Sunbul

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    • Day 105

      Abou Simbel & Ile Éléphantine

      November 17, 2019 in Egypt ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

      Lever dans la nuit pour se rendre aux temples d'Abou Simbel, à cause des horaires des checkpoints (on douille) mais ce matin nous sommes dans les premiers sur place. Yay!

      Retour à Assouan où on se fait un KFC avec VUE SUR LE NIL siouplé. Ici le bucket se fait romantique. Sur l'Ile Eléphantine, visite du musée d'Assouan où un policier ne nous lâche pas d'une semelle tout en nous en donnant des explications (qui nous saoûlent) pour qu'on lui file un bifton. Mais comme il a une kalach qui pendouille sous le bras on ne moufte pas et on s'exécute. Ici la police touristique c'est pas les gendarmes à St Tropez. Retour à la guesthouse où on prend le thé sur le toit (en chantier) pour profiter des derniers rayons de soleil.Read more

    • Day 6

      Abou Simbel

      February 9, 2023 in Egypt

      🇫🇷 Abou Simbel est à peu près aussi loin de Assuan que Luxour. Impossible d’y aller en bateau. Pour ménager notre compte CO2, nous renonçons à l’avion et lui préférons le bus.
      Départ du bus à 4h du matin (Bernard va protester…).
      Pourquoi y aller ? Mon ami Uwe disait que sans Abou Simbel, cette croisière ne sera pas complète.
      Il a raison.
      Ce magnifique temple (construit il y a 3800 ans par Ramses II) avec ses statues énormes devant a été sauvé de la disparition par une large coalition international sous l’égide de l’Unesco, son emplacement originel se trouve désormais quelques dizaines de mètres sous le lac Nasser.

      Ps : le policier qui voulait se laisser prendre en photo avec nous, à son initiative, nous a demandé juste après un pourboire.

      🇩🇪 Abu Simbel ist ungefähr so weit von Assuan entfernt wie Luxour. Es ist unmöglich, mit dem Boot dorthin zu gelangen. Um unser CO2-Konto zu schonen, verzichten wir auf das Flugzeug und ziehen den Bus vor.
      Der Bus fährt um 4 Uhr morgens ab (Bernard wird protestieren...).
      Warum gehen wir dorthin? Mein Freund Uwe sagte, dass diese Kreuzfahrt ohne Abu Simbel nicht vollständig wäre.
      Er hat Recht.
      Dieser wunderschöne Tempel (vor 3800 Jahren von Ramses II. erbaut) mit seinen riesigen Statuen davor wurde von einer breiten internationalen Koalition unter der Schirmherrschaft der UNESCO vor dem Verschwinden gerettet, sein ursprünglicher Standort befindet sich nun einige Dutzend Meter unter dem Nassersee.

      Ps: Der Polizist, der sich auf eigene Initiative mit uns fotografieren lassen wollte, bat uns kurz darauf um ein Trinkgeld.
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    • Day 5

      Abu Simbel

      April 28, 2023 in Egypt ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

      Après un réveil difficile un petit bateau à moteur nous ramène à assouan où nous sautons dans une voiture pour 3h de route dans le désert en direction de la frontière Soudanaise. On arrive sur site à 9h et franchement le soleil cogne déjà fort.
      2 min de marche plus tard on est face au grand temple taille à même la pierre en hommage au pharaon un brin mégalomane ramses II. C'est juste immense... à l'intérieur on retrouve encore 8 statues de ramses II dans la première salle 2 grandes fresques dans la seconde salle pour arriver sur le sanctuaire et sur le côté quelques salles aux fresques bien conservée.

      Mais ce n'est pas tout... Ramses II a aussi gentiment fait un (plus modeste) temple à sa femme Nefertari. A l'intérieur une seule salle avec des colonnes et le sanctuaire.

      Quand on sort de là on prend un petit coup de chaud en regagnant la voiture. 3h30 plus tard nous voilà de retour à Assouan pour prendre notre cabine !
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    • Day 14

      Abu Simbel Large Temple

      September 18, 2023 in Egypt ⋅ ☀️ 95 °F

      The temple of Ramesses ll and a smaller temple for his Queen Nefertiti. Archeologists believe that she was considered his equal in his eyes, as well as the people, because all of the paintings show her never bowing and always equal in size. The fact that she has a temple built next to Ramesses ll shows the love he had for her over all the other wives.Read more

    • Day 81 - Abu Simbel Temple, Egypt

      September 28, 2023 in Egypt ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

      Today we woke up at 3:50am, we were taking a bus at 4:15am to get to Abu Simbel Temple, close to the Sudan border.

      The drive takes 3-4 hours to get there roughly (remember to adjust for Egyptian time). The Accomadation had sorted breakfast packs for us to take that were a very interesting mix of foods that should of been chilled, but weren’t. We stuck to eating the bread and didn’t touch the cheeses, yogurt or the selection of meats no one recognised.

      We arrived in-front of Abu Simbel Temple at 9:15am, Mohamed explained that during the reign of Egyptian King Ramses II, he built the Temple at Abu Simbel to intimidate his enemies and seat himself amongst the gods.
      He also had a second temple constructed for his favourite wife, Queen Nefertari. It took 20 years to carve these temples into the mountain.

      Prior to 1964 these temples used to be 60metres lower than its current position. Thanks to the Great Dam project the temples were going to be submerged in water and lost. Egypt asked UNESCO for help and 50 countries came to the aid of Egypt and financed the moving of the temples. The structures were cut into logistical pieces of up to 20tonne blocks, transported and stored. They made sure they took the front of the whole mountain and had to recreate this on the new site.
      They reposition the temples exactly directing the same way and put the jigsaw that was back together. They then made a concrete dome behind & over the temples, and covered it with sand and rocks to replicate the hill it was carved into previously.

      The only down side to these temples was the amount of tourists here, it had no order and the tombs were very hot and not enjoyable with the amount of people there. Coming out of the tombs the 40 degrees outside felt cold!

      After an hour and a half of checking the temples we headed back to the bus, unlike a gift shop you need to exit through a market. This is where Katie got called a yellow haired girl and then I got asked how many camels would I sell her for! I asked Mohamed and a camel goes for 1500USD so would need a lot to recoup the trip so far!

      We drove back to Aswan which turned into a near 5 hour drive. Once back at the hotel we went to find some food, google maps sent Katie, our new NZ friends Kelsey and Pip and I to a falafel place that didn’t exist where it said. Later that night we found it further up the road but we figured ordering would of been interesting! We ended up getting McDonalds as it was too hot and none of us knew Arabic to try anywhere else!
      This McDonald’s was a treat though as there was no screens to order from, no McCafe and the McFlurrys used the old school McFlurry mixer!! Also if you order a McFlurry, they serve it to you after your meal!

      We went back to the Accomadation and had a swim in the pool with a beer, in the hot weather it was bliss!

      For dinner Mohamed took us to a local eatery which we had to walk through the local Bazaar to get too.
      Again at dinner Katie got asked her name by the waiter and he asked no one else’s… it’s the blond hair!
      Dinner was a a Kofte Kebab, I tried to order the stuffed Pigeon but they had none unfortunately.
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    • Day 7

      Abu Simbel

      October 1, 2024 in Egypt ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

      Up at 3.30am for a 4.15am departure to see Abu Simbel which is only 50Km from the Sudanese border, travelling through a real life desert. As we drove, we also passed acres and acres of crops growing in the middle of the Western Sahara!! This is apparently due to them having to use some of the water from the dam when there’s too much, so rather than just “opening the flood gates”, the water is diverted to literally the middle of nowhere to grow crops. The intention is that by 2030, Egypt will not only be self sufficient with grains, corn, potatoes etc but they will have enough to export.
      At about 8.15am we arrived. Fortunately we all
      slept most of the way.
      Abu Simbel is the site of two ginormous temples built by Ramses II around 3500 years ago. The four colossal statues of Ramses II in front of the main temple are absolutely spectacular with each one being about 25m high. In yet another example of engineering brilliance , the temples were relocated from the rising waters of the Nile River caused by erection of the Aswan High Dam. There was apparently 50 counties involved in dismantling and re-erecting the temples on higher ground. It’s amazing what can happen when people work together.
      I reckon the process of relocating the statues, the entire temple labyrinth and the actual mountain itself is almost as impressive as the construction of the original temples.
      It was moved 200m and 65m higher than the original location. Inside each temple there are loads of rooms all decorated with amazing hieroglyphics showing battle scenes and offerings to The Gods as well as massive statues and all this is inside a mountain - an actual mountain that was moved, bit by bit by bit over 5 years. Wow!
      Next to Ramses II Temple is one he built for his favourite wife, Nefatari.
      Man am I learning a LOT!
      I’m also feeling a lot better after being quite out of sorts yesterday which is a relief.
      On the way home we requested a stop at a perfume factory which is something Aswan is famous for……….yes we bought some delectable scents; Lotus flower, Papyrus, Amber Night and Ramses II beauuuutiful!!
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    • Day 9

      Abu Simbel in a Sandstorm

      March 12, 2020 in Egypt ⋅ 🌬 27 °C

      Will this trip is proving to be a challenge for the poor tour guide. We had a morning flight from Aswan to the world heritage site of Abu Simbel. The flight was quite bumpy the visibility poor when we landed but we thought nothing of it.

      Abu Simbel to Rameses II and the smaller temple to Nefertarti (Ramases favourite wife and also Nubian, very dark skinned African Egyptians known for their beauty) is set on the shores of Lake Nassar. This temple complex was moved piece by piece by UNESCO in the 1960's to its current site because it was in danger of being flooded by the newly raised Aswan Dam. Quite a remarkable engineering feat.

      Abu Simbel is remarkable outside and just as incredible inside . The ancient freizes are just so detailed and beautiful, I can understand why UNESCO thought it important enough to spend $40 million to save it from being flooded. Little Abu Simbel was not quite as impressive but was still good.

      A short visit to Abu Simbel and we headed back to the airport for the return flight. By this time, the sandstorm was getting worse and the flight was cancelled. The 40 minute flight will now be replaced by a 3+ hour bus ride back to Aswan. We head off and about 20 minutes into the journey the buses are stopped.... The road is blocked by sand and we cannot continue.

      Can't fly out, can't drive out... looks like we are staying in Abu Simbel until the storm passes, whenever that will be. Hotel is fine located on the lake and would look beautiful on a nice clear day... but the view out the window today is awful. Anyway, it is just an inconvenience for us - bit of an adventure really, but must be a nightmare for the tour guides. Will let you know what happens next installment.
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    • Day 6

      Fata Morgana in der Wüste und Abu Simbel

      October 18, 2019 in Egypt ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

      Unsere Fahrt ging wieder am frühen Morgen los - diesmal quer durch die Wüste. Es war noch dunkel und die Gäste auf dem Schiff schliefen noch, als wir uns auf dem Weg machten. Es war unheimlich und eigentlich nicht erlaubt. Ich war sehr erleichtert, als die Sonne aufging. Dann wurde es aber gleich so heiss, dass wir an mehreren Stellen eine Fata Morgana erleben durften. Diese Luftspiegelungen gaukeln einem riesige Wasserflächen vor.

      Die Tempelanlage Abu Simbel wurde in den Jahren zwischen 1963 und 1968 in einer spektakulären Rettungsaktion von einer deutschen Firma abgetragen und 64 Meter höher auf der Hochebene von Abu Simbel wieder aufgebaut. Ziel war es, die Tempel vor dem durch den Bau des Assuan-Staudammes ansteigenden Wasser des Nassersees zu schützen.

      Abu Simbel liegt rund 280 KM südlich von Assuan in einer Landschaft, die Nubien genannt wird. Hier lebten früher die Nubier, ein Volk mit dunkler Hautfarbe und einer Sprache, die nicht mit dem Ägyptischen verwandt ist. Nubier und Ägypter haben viele Jahrtausende als Nachbarn gelebt. Es gab friedliche Zeiten und Zeiten des Krieges. Die großen Tempel von Abu Simbel wurden vor 3.200 Jahren gebaut, zu einer Zeit, als Nubien Teil Ägyptens war. Die Ägypter beherrschten das Land und die Nubier mussten ihren ägyptischen Herren Tribut zollen, Abgaben zahlen und den ägyptischen Göttern Opfergaben liefern. Abu Simbel war somit nicht nur ein Heiligtum, sondern auch ein Symbol ägyptischer Macht in einem fremden Territorium.

      Die zwei geheimnisvollen Felsentempel von Abu Simbel gehören zu den bedeutendsten Bauten aus der Zeit der Pharaonen. Felstempel gibt es viele in Ägypten. Doch nirgendwo sind sie so groß und so gewaltig wie in Abu Simbel. Schon von weitem erkennt man die thronenden Riesenstatuen des Pharao Ramses, der vor mehr als dreitausend Jahren die Tempel aus dem Fels schlagen ließ.
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    • Day 3

      Abu Simbel - Ramses II

      April 3, 2023 in Egypt ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

      Was für ein Horror - in der Nacht zuvor werden wir von einem Partyschiff beschallt. Kaum einer hat geschlafen, obwohl die Nacht ohnehin nur kurz ist. 03.30 Uhr aufstehen, kurzes Frühstück und dann 04.30 Uhr Abfahrt durch die Wüste nach Abu Simbel.
      Die Tempelanlage direkt am Nasser Stausee ist beeindruckend. Allerdings ist es da auch beeindruckend heiss 🥵 und man zahlt freiwillig beeindruckend viel Geld um auf Toilette gehen zu können 😅
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    • Day 8

      Tag 7

      April 5, 2023 in Egypt ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

      Am Mittwoch ging es endlich früh um 4 Uhr mit dem Bus nach Abu Simbel, einer der größten und bedeutendsten Kunstwerke des alten Ägypten, erbaut unter Ramses II. Obwohl die Busfahrt durch die trostlose Wüste fast 4 Stunden dauerte, hat sich der Tripp definitiv gelohnt.
      Abends unternahmen wir noch eine entspannte Flussfahrt mit einer Segelfelukke.
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    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Abū Sunbul, Abu Sunbul, Abu Simbel, Abou Simbel, ABS, Абу-Симбел

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