Wednesday 22 November 2006

This morning we had an early morning tour of the temple at Kom Ombo which was really cool because you can see it from its vantage point overlooking the Nile. Well… we saw it as we left because we were docked there overnight. This was a dual temple with Greek and Roman influences and was the first time we saw an image of Cleopatra. We were so early in fact that for a while we were the only people in the temple.

As we cruise further south we finally started getting into some desert scenery which is what we had envisioned it would be like.

This afternoon we dock in Aswan and are off for an afternoon of touring. We start with a visit to an ancient granite quarry site that still had an unfinished obelisk still embedded in the rock. After a quick stop at the High Dam of Aswan (which forms Lake Nasser) we take a small boat trip out to see the island temple at Philae.

Interesting Point: Tonight at dinner after talking with our tour guide, we found out that we (as a tour group) was under constant surveillance of the Egyptian military. We have at ALL times three armed guards on the boat, and when we leave we are “shadowed” by two other guards in a separate vehicle. Never, EVER did I notice this. Just goes to show you the environment we are travelling in. While assuring it was also eye-opening.