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When I woke up this morning I drew back the curtains of our train compartment and saw scenery not unlike that of Queensland drifting past. This was mainly due to the number of palm trees that followed the route of the train tracks.

Egypt - Felucca on the Nile

Matthew
2004-03-05 23:43:07

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A Hasty Tour of Aswān [Apr 15th 1995]

When I woke up this morning I drew back the curtains of our train compartment and saw scenery not unlike that of Queensland drifting past. This was mainly due to the number of palm trees that followed the route of the train tracks. We had our breakfast and soon arrived at Aswan where another representative from Misr Travel immediately met us. We were whisked off to their offices then taken by car to the Philae Temple. We took a boat out to Philae Island where the temple was located and started our tour. The stone carvings remain incredibly detailed even after all these years. Our guide was a wealth of information making the tour something of an educational visit. We learnt a hell of a lot about the place – or rather Jayne probably did as I must admit I wasn’t paying much attention due to the surroundings being so fascinating. The island became the centre of the cult goddess Isis in the 4th century with the temple being built in her honour.

The whole day turned into a bit of a whirlwind tourist tour. Once we’d walked round the temple we were taken to the Aswān High Dam. This was a huge feat of engineering! Once its construction was completed in 1968 it also created the world's largest man made lake. As well as supplying a huge amount of power to Egypt it also provides farmers with three growing periods which has effectively doubled agricultural production. However, there are always environmental downsides to dams; in this case one of the major issues was the increase in soil salinity.

In keeping with our whirlwind theme we next went to the Unfinished Obelisk in the Northern Quarry. Now this was one big piece of rock! It’s called the Unfinished Obelisk after the great Pharaoh King Unfinished… er, no… not quite. It is so called because basically it’s unfinished – due to a couple of major flaws being found in the stone. Had they managed ...