Abu Simbel
Sunday, October 20, 2002
This the Temple of Hathor, a monument to Nefertari, the wife of Ramses II, one of the two temples at Abu Simbel. The interior contains several large rooms carved out of the sandstone hill.
Not only is this temple well worth a visit, the visitor’s center nearby has a detailed and interesting exhibit about moving the temple more than 500 feet away from the reservoir.
Sudan is about 25 miles to the south. The temperature when this photograph was taken was over 95° F.
This is the main temple and is dedicated to Ramses II, husband of Nefertari. Ramses II was the longest reigning pharaoh, from 1279 BC to 1213 BC. The head of one of the statues fell during an earthquake while Ramses was living. The large interior is designed to allow the rising sun on two important days each year to shine into a religious sanctuary. Very impressive and well worth a visit.
Here is a map showing our route, from Cairo in the north to Abu Simbel in the south. Clicking will enlarge, and there is also a satellite view.
After flying 150 miles from Aswan to Abu Simbel, we took a short bus ride to the two monumental temples. These two temples were going to be submerged by the reservoir created by the high dam at Aswan, and were moved to a higher spot in the mid 1960s by Unesco. Abu Simbel is a World Heritage site.
Next—back to Cairo for the night so we can catch an early morning flight to London Heathrow, and from there we fly on to San Francisco, about 6,500 nautical miles/12,100 kilometers.
