Nile Cruise: Abu Simbel

An early morning wake up call 3.45am was all we needed but today we flew Egypt Air from Aswan to Abu Simbel on the southern shores of Lake Nasser about 25km from Egypt's border with Sudan. Abu Simbel is IMPRESSIVE!!! The original construction, monuments to Rameses II and his favourite wife Nefertari, were carved out of the rock of the hills, but because they were going to be drowned by the rising waters of Lake Nasser, the structures were removed and built 90 metre higher up. Two artificial hills were constructed and the saved artefacts were reassembled in an exact replica of the original monuments. The rock-cut Temple of Abu Simbel is up there with Ankor Wat in Cambodia. The Pharoah Ramses II is shown at four different stages of his life while in the Temple of Hathor alongside (dedicated to Nefertari)the 10m high statues step out of the wall, their left feet forward, symbolic in Ancient Egypt of walking into the afterlife. After a 90 minute tour we were shuttled back to the plane for the flight back to Aswan. And lunch!! And a rest!! That night we sailed back towards Luxor, stopping at Edfu during the day and arriving at Luxor about midnight.