Abu Simbel, Egypt

Thursday 5th January 2006
Day 383

What a long day... A power cut overnight caused a wakeup at 2.30 am as the power was restored; as the wakeup was early anyway for a 3.30 (yes you read that right...) am start for Abu Simbel, again in a police convoy. Catch up with sleep? Yeah right! A tyre burst on the coach about halfway there put paid to that idea!... the headline – 25 perish in Desert Coach drama – crossed my mind admittedly! But eventually, Abu Simbel was reached, somehow, about 30 minutes late, and as we were still in the convoy anyway.

Abu Simbel is a stupendous sight- the trouble with this though is that everyone wants to go there. Because a convoy system operates, everyone arrives at the same time, so it is very crowded. The story of the saving of the temple from the rising waters of Lake Nasser in the 1960's is as fascinating as the temples themselves.

This is a temple constructed to the self-glorification of one Pharaoh, Ramses II (“the Great”). Although large and famous, this is one of many scattered throughout Egypt. This man had a serious self-image problem. Or maybe the problem was deeper rooted than that. Who is to say! It is difficult to move anywhere in Egypt without seeing his image, usually on some ancient site!

Of course, Plenty of images are available – although sadly, this is another site that has banned photography inside the temple. I thought I would concentrate on a close up of the Great One.