Day 2 - Sailing Up The Nile

Being on a Dahabiya sailboat is a wonderful way to see the Nile. It is quiet and peaceful. Today started out wonderfully, warm and sunny - in contrast to yesterday.

Chris and I were up early as usual but the generator doesn’t come on until 7 a.m. I went out on deck and it was beautiful to watch the sun come up. We are hearing about a huge snowstorm in Ontario that is causing flight cancellations and closures. Pretty nasty for people wanting to travel to see family members right before Christmas.

This morning, a tug pulled us to the town of Edfu where we visited the temple of Horus (in Greece he was known as Apollo), one of the best preserved temples in Egypt. You would think that we would be tired of visiting temples but each one is quite different from the others and each one has its story.

According to myth, this site was where the falcon- headed god, Horus, fought a battle with his uncle, Seth, who had cruelly murdered Horus’ father, Osiris.

We have enjoyed having an Egyptologist with us to explain the history and stories that the temples are telling us.

The sandstone temple was built between 237 and 57 B.C. but abandoned in 391 when the Christians banned pagan worship and razed many of the temple’s carved reliefs. Over time, the temple became buried 12m (39’) beneath drifting desert sand and layers of river silt. Local people built their homes directly over the temple grounds. Only the tops of the temple gateways were visible in 1798 when the French identified it. In 1860, work began to free the temple from the sand. Because it had been buried, it is beautifully preserved.

.We returned to the boat for a lovely lunch and the sail was lifted so we could sail to a small island where the boat was moored for our second night.Read more