Our assigned Visit time at the Edfu Temple is 5:45 AM – so clearly we are going to get an early start.

At least we don’t have to pack first. We just need to get up, get dressed, and get down to the lobby.

I’ll admit that I’m wondering why the rush. I never even heard of the Edfu Temple – and we don’t even have time to grab breakfast first.

Well – it turns out that there are several reasons for our very early start.

One – your group leader must pick a time to go to the temple – this is done to try to cut down on over-crowding. I will admit that it’s a great idea – but there are an awful lot of folks getting up really really early to check this place out.

Two – The Amwaj Livingstone needs to get on it’s way early to meet our designated time to get thru the locks at the first Cataract. The plan is for the boat to sail at 7:30 AM to make our assigned time at the locks, and we will actually get an easy morning and afternoon after we return from the Edfu Temple.

Three – this is a really really cool Temple. So suck it up lady – you are going.

Ok – now that I understand – I’m willing to go with the flow and get up and downstairs on time. 5:15 AM. You have to be kidding me.

It’s dark when we leave the ship – and yes – we’re not the first ship here either, we must cross thru 2 other ships on our way off. And Hassien has been warned that the ship might move. He’ll have to check when we get back.

There are scores of horses and buggys waiting to pick up guests from the different ‘floating hotels’ – but Odyessy has decided not to use the horse and carriages – we are told that they are worried about the way the horses are treated, so we board a bus to get to the Edfu Temple.

Along the way – Victor and I check out the horses – and we really don’t see signs of abuse. The horses actually look quite happy to be out at this early hour – and it is clear that they are well fed. I suspect the issues arise when a horse can no longer fulfil his carriage pulling job – but there’s no one to ask.

They do have sunshades for the horses – lots and lots of them are located near the temple. And most of the carriages have an alfalfa supply under the feet of the driver for ‘horse munching’ when it needs a fresh treat. I’m told that Alfalfa is a major crop here in Egypt, although I’m sure it’s not just for the horses in Edfu.

Surprisingly – despite the early hour – there are lots of folks at the temple, and Hassien tells us that we’re lucky it’s not very crowded. Right.

One advantage of our early start is that we get to watch the sun rise over the Temple of Edfu – a stunning sight. The colors of the sky here, well above the pollution further down stream are simply stunning.

Edfu is famous because it is very very large – and almost completely intact. It was saved because it got used by more than just the Egyptians. There’s evidence of it’s use by the Greeks and the Christians.

Unfortunately the Christians decided that some of the images were inappropriate – and ‘removed’ them by chiping away at the offending parts – generally the faces, arms and legs. Apparently looking at carved bodies distracted from serious worship. I think the priests might have been bored. But again – no one around to ask. Fortunately – the carved images were left intact in the Storerooms, so not surprisingly – Hassien hussles us in that direction.

His plan is simple – hit the highlights that will get seriously crowded first, then double back to see the larger parts of the temple when the crowds are less of an issue. And I can see his point. We get to take our time admiring the glorious carvings in the relatively tiny storerooms – and can still easily enjoy the large columned mid Temple and peacefully admire the huge front Courtyard. Good planning Hassien.

This is a temple built by Ramses II – and to make sure that no one repurposed it easily – He had his name carved in huge Hieroglyics – about 4 times the normal size and depth. This worked because his name is still visible all over the place!

Many of the carvings are in excellent condition (we are talking 4000 years) – and Hassien loves to point out the most interesting ones – like the one of the ‘sky’ bending over the world. She is portrayed with her feet on the ground, her torso bent to be the sky, and then her arms extending down back to the earth. We will see other examples of the sky lady – particularly in the Valley of the Kings! She is quite beautiful.

One of the prime locations is the central courtyard – huge with giagantic pillars on three sides creating a space for the worshipers to wait for the priests to bring out the golden statue of the God from the inner santurary. There is also a 18’ high statue of the Falcon God wearing the double crown of Egypt that is a focal point for folks to stand infront of and have a photo taken! Who can resist that option!

We are given about 20 minutes of free time to wander on our own – and I go back into the storeroom area – I love how the entrance is hidden to the far side of the santuary and then runs all the way behind it. So reminds of Catholic Churches I’ve been in where hidden behind the main altar is a series of smaller chapels.

I’m again impressed by the quality difference between the High Relief and the Low Relief carvings. Apparently Temples are carved, but Tombs are painted. Low Relief is more common and easier to create – High Relief is saved for the most ‘important’ images, and more commonly found in Lower Egypt. It’s the High Relief Carvings that look so alive to me, although even Low Relief ones carry more movement than the paintings, despite the coloring.

We re-group, and head back to our bus and our ship. As predicted – it has moved – and is now about 5 ships out from the shoreline. We count carefully – get on board – and as predicted – the ship sets sail for the locks. We definitely need to be there on time.

This gives us ample time to enjoy the scenery on the sides of the river (mostly green with the very occasional building), breakfast (yum), and then lunch (yum).

From my comfy seat on the Sundeck I can admire the scenery, chat with fellow Odyssey guests, meet some of the other folks traveling on our ship – and of course we compare notes on our different tours.

I’m very happy with Odyssey – Hassien has taken great care of us – and while the ships aren’t the newest on the river – I think they are quite lovely and the service is wonderful. I’m comfortable – what more can one ask?

I also contemplate the advantage of including the section on Lake Nasser. Because we started at Abu Simbel and then floated down to a series of oher smaller Nubian Temples – our visits seemed intimate and private. We rarely saw other folks, and got to spend as much time as we wanted in the temples. There were no glass panes to prevent us getting close to the carvings, few vendors trying to sell us random books/scarves/alabastor whatevers – and it felt like a private adventure.

Now that we are within spitting range of Luxor – for many tourists the end of the line – we are seeing the impact of so many people keen to have their chance to see the Temples. It’s a very very different feeling.

As we get close to Esna – we run into the predictable waiting line for our turn at the lock. So we join several other ships that have ‘parked’ by heading bow first into the shore of the Nile on the Eastern side – away from the town of Esna and upstream of the two sets of locks that provide passage over the first Cataract. Keeping the engine running, keeps the ship stationary – but we now become a target for vendors. They row out on boats and yell at folks on the sun deck to buy their wares.

Our group ignores them, but we have on board a large group of Japanese tourists who are completely intrigued.

The vendors hold up table cloths – shouting prices. If a buyer seems interested – the action intensifies. The men on the boats 40’ or more below us toss up table cloths in plastic bags – and the tourists put their money in the bag to toss it back! I think that generally there are two table cloths in each bag – the expectation being that one will be ‘bought’ and the other – with the money inside – will be tossed back to the vendor.

I must say – I’m not a fan of this kind of shopping – but the Japanese seem to love it – and a lot of table cloths end up being purchased!

Eventually – the ship’s ‘lock’ time comes – and we back off the shore. The vendors are disappointed to lose so many buyers – but thank goodness another ship arrives and they get distracted.

We head into the locks.

The first lock is really just a bottle neck. It’s the original lock, and it took an hour per ship. Now – it’s not in use – but because of the Catarat – every ship must be pulled thru manually before getting to the proper locks just a bit downstream. This makes us again a target for vendors – although they are not allowed too close to the lock itself. I did watch with great interest when one boat pulled infront of our ship. There was a man with his son inside, and the man put out his prayer rug, the son use the oars to orient the bow of the boat towards Mecca – and the man began to pray.

Hmm.

We are fairly quickly into the lake between the two locks (new and old). The new lock is actually a double lock – with room for 3 or 4 ‘floating hotels’ on each side. It takes about 20 minutes to close the doors hehind our ship, open the doors infront of the first ship in line – and allow the water to spill out – lowering the ships 8’ to the new level of the Nile. We then move out of the locks, and if there are ships going up stream, they motor in and the process is reversed.

So old timing – 1 per hour. New timing 6 per 20 minutes or 18 per hour. It’s probably still a bottle neck – but at least it’s not an insane bottleneck!

Next stop – Luxor.

First a word about the word Catarat. The white build up in eyes losing vision reminded the Egyptian Priets of the bubbling white water of the Nile when it hits the granite rocks in the Catarats. Hence the term – Catarats in the eyes! Hassien is just a fountain of information.

As soon as we tie up at Luxor – and the number of ‘floating hotels’ goes up drastically – we immediately re-group in the lobby – exit the ship – and head for a bus. We are going to be touring Luxor and then going to the Luxor Museum.

The program has planned for a total of 2 hours for both visits, but I think we go a bit slower. In any rate – there is plenty of time to both get a guided tour of the Luxor Temple, and to have private time to do a tiny bit of exploring on our own.

The Temple completely lives up to it’s hype. It’s amazing. Not nearly as huge as Karnak of course – it was built for a Queen not a King – but lovely. The carvings are glorious, the heights of the columns incredible, and the courtyards both inspiring and daunting. My ownly complaint – and it’s predictable – is the crowding. And I’m reminded again why I’m so glad we did Lake Nasser’s Nubian Temples first. I spend more time saying sorry and getting out of the way of other people than I do enjoying the beauty of the carvings.

The avenue of the Sphinxs is stunning – just the fact that the Egyptian government could commit and execute such a project, with a lot of help by foreign interests including USAid – is special. over a mile long, over 1000 platforms for Sphinxs – wow. Unfortunately they haven’t found most of the Sphinxs – but the planners carefully put the best ones into the best positions for Photos.

This avenue was used twice a year, when the statue of the God Orisis in the Karnak Temple went to visit his wife – Isis – in her temple at Luxor. There was a huge parade there – carrying the statue of the God. And then 10 days later – an equaly huge parade brought the God Orisis back to his own temple.

Next stop – the Luxor Museum. Hassien tells us that this is his favorite museum – to his mind better than the GEM – and I have to agree it is right up there.

His highlight are the two mummies on view, carefully displayed in very dark rooms and in glass ‘cases’ – to keep them intact. He is also intrigued by the pieces of painted tiles found under the collasping wall at the Temple of Karnak.

After the death of the Pharoah Aton – who tried to convert the Egyptians to mono-thesism – the next Pharoahs with the help of the priests who lost their jobs because of his actions tried to erase his memory. They buried these Tiles under the wall at Karnak. But when the wall was destroyed by accident in the mid 1800’s – the tiles were found and it was a gigantic jig-saw puzzle to put them back. The result is displayed along a huge long wall in the Luxor Museum. The result is – as so many things are here in Egypt – quite stunning.

But now it’s time to return to our ship – just walking distance from the Luxor Museum – dinner – and for Victor and I – Bed!

Tomorrow is another LONG day!

Signing off – the Soup Lady.