Namrin in Egypt: Kom Ombo-Edfu-(Esna) 25 Dec

I've been busy with work for a while. This is the 3rd of 5. And we were at the middle of the trip as well.

For the persons who are interested in cruising the Nile, taking a cabin cruiser is a very good choice but quite expensive. The most popular and shortest programs are cruising for 3 days 3 nights and 3 days 4 nights. We took 3 days 3 nights by starting from Aswan, then, Kom Ombo, Edfu, Esna, and finish at Luxor. The 3 days 4 nights is just the opposite route. It takes longer time because you cruise against the current. Aswan is south of Luxor but southern land is in higher than northern land. This means you go up North if you cruise along with the current.

Kom Ombo is the first stop today. The temple of Kom Ombo is special because it was built for 2 gods, god of crocodile or Sobek and god of falcon or Horus. Normally, one temple will feature one god. Therefore, the temple of Kom Ombo has 2 main entrances. You and me, foreigners, may not notice 2 entrances except you are good at Egyptian history. I asked the guide where Pharaoh stayed because it doesn’t make sense that Pharaoh only built just a temple on the Nile River bank which is a great location. He said behind the temple it used to have a palace but the palace was built with different type of stone. Thus, after thousand years, the palace has gone. Only the temple is still left. The temple was built to pray for gods so Egyptians used a very durable type of stone such as granite to construct this sacred place.

After an intensive explanation of Kom Ombo and Pharaoh history, time was up.

In a few hours, we arrived at Edfu. We visited the Temple of Edfu or so called Temple of Horus. Apparently it was built to offer for god of Falcon. The proof is a few giant Horus statues in the temple. This temple is bigger than Kom Ombo temple. Make sure you have more than 1.30 hr. to see the whole temple.

Actually, that's all for today. We didn't stop at the Temple of Esna. We just passed it. The interesting bit was when the ship got into the Lock. Err..it's a bit difficult to explain. The lock is built for transit the ship when the level of water is very different. I suppose Esna is the end of Aswan Dam. Imagine the water in the dam is higher than the water in (normal) Nile River. So the ship goes to the lock and the lock will block the water and adjust the level of water in the lock for the ship to cruise into the (normal) Nile River. Unfortunately, we were having dinner at the time when we got into the lock so I didn't take a picture. Anyway, it's not going to help much if I couldn't explain you well by writing, hahaha :-D

Oh, we were a bit in Egyptian costume...don't forget that it was Christmas Day... yeah we need sth special.

Next we will visit the former capital city of Egypt, Thebes or today, we call Luxor ;-)

Nam

http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd191/namrinb/Photo%202007/Egypt%20Trip%2020-29%20Dec07/Kom%20Ombo-Edfu%2025%20Dec/