Aswan

We got to our hotel and had a two hour nap and a shower! Then we set out on foot to explore a bit of the city. The hotel was right on the Nile River, with a great view, so we saw how the river wound through the desert, with green on each side, before extending into limitless sand desert. We visited the Coptic Church, which is the second largest Christian Church in Egypt and is massive, holding 3,000 people. We had a brief tour, finding out that men sit on the left, and women on the right. Women cover their heads while in the church as a sign of respect and tradition. It will take another ten years to be fully finished inside, with many stained glass windows being planned and made in Aswan, so it will be stunning when completed. We then tried 6 ATMs before we found one that worked! We met the group at 3pm and went to the Nile River and rode a boat around Elephantine Island, where about 3,000 Nubians live. They are descended from one family, 7 generations ago, and have homes and agriculture on the island and some adults take the boat over to Aswan for work, and the teens for high school. They walked us around the maze of homes and then to a home with an open air deck, where they fed us dinner of: lentil soup, chicken, eggplant dish, zucchini and potato dish, bread, and an olive, Filo and cheese dish. It really was excellent, and great to have a local, traditional meal that was so fresh, healthy and delicious. Tired, we rolled into bed by 8:30pm! Tomorrow evening’s photos are going here a day early where there is room...we took a bus and then boat to the Phelae Temple, built in the 4th century BC, it was being flooded by the Nile, so international efforts in the 1970’s moved the temple piece by piece, about 500m. We saw a one hour spectacular light show; it was a bit hard to get photos but I will include a few for the memory of this event.Read more