Egypt Trip Report
At this point,
we'd had it with our tour guide. We were supposed to be taken to the Unfinished
Obelisk, the High Dam, and Philae Temple. However, these three things could be
easily combined with a trip to Abu Simbel which we knew we were doing the next
day. We unfortunately had already pre-arranged a trip to Abu Simbel with Hamis
Travel (which didn't include these 3 side-trips). We took a flier on being able
to re-arrange things, and fired our second tour guide and were out on our own
once again. We called Hamis Travel, and fortunately we were able to re-arrange
our day trip to Abu Simbel to include these 3 side trips. So, we had the rest of
the day to ourselves. We wandered down the corniche and took a local ferry
(where finally we were the only tourists) across to the Tombs of the Nobles, up
on a hill overlooking the town. Although nowhere near as impressive as the tombs
that we saw on the West Bank in Luxor, we were the only ones (apart from a not
pushy guard/tour guide) I climbed the hill for a beautiful look over the town
and surrounding countryside.
Back down on the island, we wandered through the Nubian Village. There are two
different Nubian Villages that can be visited around Aswan. It sounds like the
main one has been turned into a tourist trap. This one was a little more
'genuine'. Apart from one small tour group we saw ahead of us, we were only with
the locals. Although most of our encounters with locals were friendly, at one
point some women were shouting something at us and we decided to clear out and
head back to Aswan.
We spent the rest of the day shopping in the market, and headed back to the
cruise boat for our final night/dinner on board.
Early the next morning, we left for Abu Simbel. Abu
Simbel borders Sudan, and there is heavy security. Tourists from Aswan are
forced to join an early morning motor convoy to the site, several sleepy hours
away. All manner of tour buses jostle for position as they race to the site.
Once there, we only had an hour and a half to enjoy the site.
Since all the tourists from Aswan arrive at the same time, it's a zoo. There are
long lines to get into the tombs, and security guards shouting at you if you
dawdle. It's very difficult to get any good photos since the site is crawling
with people. It's still beautiful, however, and we did enjoy it.
The other way to get there is to take a cruise boat and make a couple of days of
it. I'm sure these lucky people have the site to themselves and can enjoy it at
a much less hurried pace.
There wasn't really enough time to see the sites, but we had to rush back before
our mini-van left. On the way back, we first stopped at the High Dam, which is
definitely not worth visiting. It's a not-very-impressive dam in a
not-very-impressive location. However, it was still a lot more impressive than
the next site, the Unfinished Obelisk, which as far as we could tell, was just a
hunk of big rock lying on the ground with streams of tourists paying $6 US
apiece to see this glorious hunk of rock.
Finally, we headed to Philae Temple, the only side-trip that was worthwhile. Our
mini-bus group joined together to get a good price on the ferry to the island
($1 apiece). The temple is very well preserved, and there are lots of good photo
opportunities. (including an interesting sign outside the cafe!)
The mini-bus dropped us off at the hotel where Hamis Travel had arranged to
leave our stuff for the day (finally, something that worked well!). We spent
some more time exploring Aswan, and then got the evening train back up north to
Luxor.
This is part of a larger trip report from a backpacker's trip to Egypt.
You can also look at our Pictures from Egypt or select from the sections below.
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