So after a nice rest in Qena we took the early morning train down further south to one of the southernmost cities in Egypt called Aswan. Aswan is a great place all the cities further south are much calmer than the craziness that is Cairo. Aswan however is really not as much of an open air museum as Luxor is it still has tons of history to it but mostly a stop for the temple of Abu Simbel and a great place to see the Nile since it is actually clean (well cleaner compared to Cairo) down in Aswan. The hostel again was very close to the train station in the middle of the market but it was a great place we planned to go to Abu Simbel the following day but the bus left at 4 in the morning to arrive at the temple close to 8. That however was later in the mean time we decide to get on a faluka (a single sail boat) and just enjoy the sunset on the Nile.
The next day we took the early bus and arrived at Abu Simbel where Ramses the 2nd decided the best way to show how important he was, was by making four massive statues of himself to cover his tomb. Which i do think did the job very well. Apparently the only name of a pharaoh still known before the finding of the Rosetta stone and the translation of egyptian hieroglyphics was the name Ramses the 2nd. So he accomplished what he wanted was remembered and his mummy is now in the Egyptian museum. Although im sure he did not want for his body to be on display but hopefully he does not mind now it has been almost 3000 years so maybe he does not care so much anymore. One cool thing during the trip to Abu Simbel was the fact that the other 5 people on the bus to the temple were actually in fact egyptoligts from no where else other than Poland. So i got to practice my polish with Piotr and the rest of the Egyptologists and thankfully they gave us some great information about all the sites we ended up visiting that day.
Aswan was a great place to visit and im glad we enjoyed our time there. But we still had the long train ride back to Cairo filled with even more awkward meetings and stressful times.
The next day we took the early bus and arrived at Abu Simbel where Ramses the 2nd decided the best way to show how important he was, was by making four massive statues of himself to cover his tomb. Which i do think did the job very well. Apparently the only name of a pharaoh still known before the finding of the Rosetta stone and the translation of egyptian hieroglyphics was the name Ramses the 2nd. So he accomplished what he wanted was remembered and his mummy is now in the Egyptian museum. Although im sure he did not want for his body to be on display but hopefully he does not mind now it has been almost 3000 years so maybe he does not care so much anymore. One cool thing during the trip to Abu Simbel was the fact that the other 5 people on the bus to the temple were actually in fact egyptoligts from no where else other than Poland. So i got to practice my polish with Piotr and the rest of the Egyptologists and thankfully they gave us some great information about all the sites we ended up visiting that day.
Piotr accidentaly hit record instead of taking a photo.
Later that day we decided to meet back up with the captain of our Feluka from the day before and he managed to procure us some very special fish made in egypt for Easter. I am not exactly sure what it is called but apparently its never cooked but just placed with spices and salt underground for a couple of weeks. The salt and peppers cure the fish and well since im still here today the fish was edible. I dont think i would eat it again it was so incredibly salty but it was an interesting experience.
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