Abu Simbul

The highlight of our cruise started at 2:45 AM with a wake up call and departure by bus. Last night we sailed to Aswan following dinner. We boarded a large 50 passenger bus for just our group. After a police check point we were joined by a secret policeman onboard. Lining up in a caravan with the other 50 or more full size busses, many completely full, we departed on our three hour drive further south past the Aswan High Dam and into to desert.

We didn't the shoreline of Lake Nasser for another two hours. We drove together, led and followed by military escort-serious security all the way to Abu Simbul City. The closer we got to the reservoir and the southern border of Egypt the more apparent a military presence there was with lookout posts and guard stations. Hmmm!

Our huge caravan unloaded several hundred people at the site. We couldn't imagine how many would be here today if tourism wasn't down 80%...yikes!

We walked to the site of the relocated temples. They were magnificent. It's hard to believe they were cut apart block by block, hoisted 300 feet up the cliff and put back together.

We toured both temples, that of Ramses II and Nefertari. Very cool. Amazing carved reliefs and massive statues. Note: No pictures were allowed in the temples-don't ask!

Heading back to Aswan, our bus was selected to be the last one since there were only 13 of us. In case one of the 59 busses in the caravan broke down (we counted them this time) we'd have room! It's gonna be a long three hour ride back. Thanks goodness the driver had a movie to play on the DVD. "Death Row II," a prison movie with lots of blood, fighting, and killing! Well, at least it had Gerard Butler in it!

Sure enough, a half hour out one of the busses broke down and we picked up six more passengers. We got back to the ship in time for lunch and some free time before heading out for our afternoon activity.