This morning , we got off the ship at Edfu to visit the temple of Horus. We rode in horsedrawn carriages to get to the temple. Visiting this town was like stepping back in time about 150 years or more.
This is one of the carriages that took us to the temple.
This is a home in Edfu, the decorations and writings on the wall are of the "hajj", the pilgrimage to mecca, which is in Saudi Arabia. It usually tells of the journey they took, how and when they got there, etc. This person or family went by boat and plane (usually pictured on the wall) and there are two dates written(1977 and 1987). They are probably the dates of when they went....I don't read much Arabic, so I don't know much else about the story they have told. Muslims are supposed to make the journey at least once in their lives. It is carried out during the period of the 8th to 13th day of the 12th month of the Islamic lunar calendar. Last year, 2 million people from over 100 countries made the journey.
This Horus temple was built by Ptolemy The Third (Evergetes) in 327 bc. It replaced a much older one built by the great architect and priest Imhotep over a thousand years previous.
(To see photos of this temple, click on the photo below)
(To see photos of the day's cruise, click on the photo below)
We cruised for the rest of the day, until we reached our final stop at the city of Luxor. This is a very modern city and is very beautiful. Luxor is the site of the ancient capital of Thebes. It is also near the famous Valley Of The Kings, and many other temples and tombs. One of the most unexpected highlights of the trip was following the Olympic flame down a street in Luxor. It must have been even more of a highlight for the Australians on our tour because the games are in Sydney this summer, and most of them are from there.
(To see more of Karnak, click on the photo below)
Later on that night, we walked through the streets of Luxor, stopping at a small bazaar. Vicki, Grant, Erica and I went on our own through part of it and were harassed pretty bad. Everyone wanted us to buy their stuff and weren't going to let us go until we did. It was kinda fun and I bought a couple of galabayas (caftans), which are the traditional robes that muslims wear. when we got back to the boat for the final night, we watched belly dancers performing for us. It was pretty cool....and of course I was picked to go up and dance. That was fun....and embarrassing at the same time.
