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After arriving by air to Aswan, we were taken to our hotel--the Aswan Oberoi. The Oberoi is situated on Elephantine Island. We waited on shore for the ferry to take us across. |
The ride to Elephantine Island was not long. The Oberoi is a beautiful hotel, with a very friendly and attentive staff. |
Did I say the hotel was beautiful? What about this view from the balcony of our room? Soon we would be taking a ride on a felucca just like the one in this photo. |
Our felucca ride lasted about two and a half hours. Here we are sailing past the Old Cataract Hotel. |
In this photo, Jason is seen in silhouette against the ruins of the ancient Egyptian settlement on Elephantine Island. |
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Here we are sailing past the mausoleum of the Aga Khan. It is situated on a hill overlooking the Nile. When the Begum visits, she stays in the white palace in the lower right of the photograph. |
Sailing past another felucca. The rocks along the shore are very striking. |
The felucca stopped at a small Island planted as a botanical garden. Here Deborah holds the flower of a "cannonball" tree. |
The garden had a great variety of trees. |
The main walkway of the garden is lined with Royal Palms. They are distinguished by their smooth tall trunks. |
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This is a view of the desert cliff on the west bank. Ancient tombs can be seen about midway down the slope. |
The next day we went to the new Nubian Museum. The focus of the museum is on Nubian culture. |
Estelle took this photo of the kids and I and our guide Abdul outside the museum. |
Next stop after lunch was the granite quarry and the unfinished obelisk. |
It was easy to see the method used to separate chunks of granite from the bedrock.
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We next drove to see the Aswan High Dam. On the way the view was of the beginning of the Sahara Desert. |
This is a view of Lake Nassar from the top of the Aswan High Dam. |
After leaving the dam we hired a boat to take us to the temples of Isis of Philae. |
The Philae temples proved to be one of the most impressive sites we visited. |
Colonnades like this one were built during Greek rule of Egypt. |
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Isis was worshipped here at Philae long after the advent of Christianity. |
Coptic authorities defaced most of the carvings in an attempt to discourage worship of Isis. |
The temples were finally abandoned during Muslim ascendancy. |
After leaving Philae we went to the Old Cataract Hotel to have tea on the veranda. We then returned to our hotel for a Thanksgiving buffet. |
One last fond look at the view from our balcony before leaving to catch a plane to Cairo. |
