Friday, Nov. 20, 2009 – Aswan

Today, our cruise officially ends. By 8:00 AM we were up, fed breakfast, checked out and on the bus for our Aswan trip.

But first a few words about tips. As a traveler in a foreign country, knowing what to tip and when to tip or who to tip is always a confusing matter. Atef made this easy for us. We had a lot of different bus drivers. Go Ahead Tours sent us an envelope and suggests how much to tip, but how to handle it when you have different drivers every day or so is confusing. Atef simply sent an envelope around the bus with a suggested amount to contribute to the bus driver. The envelope was then given to the driver. This made it easy on us. When it came time to leave the tip for the cruise boat, he also suggested an amount for the tip and again passed around an envelope. The thought did occur to me (and several others) that the possibility did exist that Atef could have helped himself to some of it. But, there are times that you have to have trust. Atef’s tip method did made our lives easier and I believe that most of us appreciated it.

Our first stop of the day was the Unfinished Obelisk. This area of Aswan is rich in granite and much of the granite used in monuments in Egypt came from this area. The particular quarry that we visited was just one of several quarries in the area. The Unfinished Obelisk would have been the biggest of them all. The average weight of an obelisk is around 300 to 400 tons. This one is estimated to have been close to 1000 tons. It was completed on three sides when it cracked. What totally amazed us was how in the world they would have gotten the thing out of the quarry if they had of been able to complete it. From the quarry site, we had a good view of Fatimid Cemetery across the road. This cemetery has several mudbrick Islamic tombs built between the 8^th and 12^th century.

Egypt 2009 - Day 9

The next stop was at Philae Temple. This temple sits on an island in the Nile River and is dedicated to the goddess Isis. After the building of the Aswan Dam, this temple was partially under water. UNESCO took on the project of moving the temple to another island in the Nile in 1972. It took until 1980 to complete and about 40,000 pieces of the temple were moved. It was interesting; but quite frankly, several of us were wondering how many more temples we’ll tour. We were starting to get "templed" out.

Next it was onward to the Aswan High Dam. This huge dam was built between 1960 and 1971. Behind it lies Lake Nasser, the largest manmade lake in the world. We stopped at a small visitor pavilion which provided some information on the dam. We were all told that no zoom cameras or video cameras were allowed. Of course, we all had zoom cameras with video capability. Everyone was shooting pictures of all kinds and some were shooting video. The guards didn’t seem to care at all.

Now at this time, there is supposed to be a commercial break for a perfume “factory” that we visited. However, since I chose to remain on the bus, I can’t comment.

We went to our hotel in Aswan and had a lovely lunch on the veranda. The name of our hotel is the Basma Hotel and it is an absolutely beautiful hotel. The view from the veranda area of the Nile is impressive. Here the air is clear and Aswan is a very attractive part of Egypt. From the veranda, we have an excellent view of the Mausoleum of Aga Kahn. Aga Kahn III (1877 - 1957) was the 48th Imam or leader of the Ismaili sect of Shi'ite Muslims. Rumor is that his widow would spend part of each year in Aswan and would visit her husband's sarcophagus every day and leave a rose.

After lunch, I chose to work on my computer while some of my friends chose to visit a nearby Coptic Christian church. (Hey, I have to make sacrifices so you read this.) Early evening, we left for the Sound and Light Show at the Philae Temple then returned to the hotel for dinner and bed.

The Sound and Light show didn’t impress me too much and there was too much standing before they let us sit down. However, sitting outside under the stars watching the crescent moon set was absolutely delightful.

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