30.01.07 -
6th Day -
in Aswan,
Philae, Unfinished Obelisk, Hochsta udamm
Philae, Unfinished Obelisk, Hochsta udamm
For today I had booked a ride. As I already knew I was alone with the guide and driver. That certainly has advantages and disadvantages. Disadvantage is that higher expected gratuities be. Advantages are that you are the leader has, he can ask many questions to ask him, can skip familiar with the stories and, above all, that the pace of the journey is as big as you want it yourself. First we drove
the unfinished obelisk. Past it was a huge Moslem cemetery, where you can find graves that are over 300 years. Only 2 to 3 km from the hotel's ferry is an old, fenced quarry from the Pharaonic period. The place Aswan has long developed around this quarry all around. Here you can see many traces of the age when stone blocks, obelisks, columns, etc. has broken out. This was made back then with stones, are to be harder than granite (some of which were lying around, they are black / green. But I always thought that granite is one of the hardest stones?), and wooden wedges, which can be swollen by water.
The most famous is at the quarry of course, the "unfinished obelisk of Hatshepsut. It is not clear whether he has been ordered by Hatshepsut really clear is that it must have been in roughly this time and that the obelisk would have been 42 meters, the longest that has ever been produced. But unfortunately there was a crack in the rock and thus the stone was unusable. Later they tried to cut out the long block is a smaller obelisk, but also the failed, as can be seen clearly.
drove After visiting the quarry, we continue the dam. Actually, yes there are 2 dams in Aswan: first, which was built in 1900 by the English and the famous Nasser dam. This has no concrete walls but is built up. He is about 4 km long and up to 800 m wide. By the dam, a huge lake has formed, which reaches up to 150 km in Sudan. By the lake accounts for the Nilhochwasser. The dam has both advantages and disadvantages: (?) Advantages are that nothing will be flooded, that does not happen more years of drought that the lake by up to 60% of electric energy that Egypt needs can be generated that The number of precipitation in the region increased from Aswan. The disadvantage is that the fertile Nile mud (the culture in Egypt allowed only just) does not reach the fields. The sludge accumulates in Lake Nasser. Disadvantage is that many villages of Nubians and many historic temples, tombs, facilities ... have disappeared in Lake Nasser. The disadvantage is that the insects, rats and mosquitoes that transmit serious diseases, have risen sharply.
When the lake had been moved many temples (eg Abu Simpel was set 25 m above and on the neighboring island of Philae was rebuilt), 4 stamps were given away to foreign countries. A temple was moved as by the German high-low group (?). But Germany was given a goal that I have seen in Berlin-Charlottenburg in the former Egyptian Museum.
The dam was built with Soviet engineers and Soviet money, because the World Bank to finance this project does not want to. Over 400 people died during the construction of the lake.
The view from the dam on Lake Nasser is interesting, they can see far to many small islands. Now we
went to Philae. This is a temple, which stands today on the island Agilkia. One can see from there small piles of stones, the rest of what was once the island of Philae. To get to the island only by motorboat. Of course, my guide and I had a boat to ourselves (otherwise there are always groups 20 to 30 people on it, but alone it is much more convenient.)
located on the island as the main temple is a temple of Isis (the Isis-cult has been preserved here until 300 years after Ch. Only then could the Copts, the use buildings for their own purposes. Too bad, because wherever the Copts had their church facilities, the old reliefs scraped, sanded, defaced, destroyed. Nevertheless, many beautiful murals are available.
There are also other temples, Horus, Hathor, Osiris, are dedicated to Bes .... Here, Pharaohs of the Middle Empire, Black Pharaohs, Greeks, Romans, etc. built. You can see the different types of images at different Columns etc.
went after 1 ½ hours on the island by boat and car and boat back to the hotel.
Again such a day as I had imagined before the holidays!
At 15 I went to the Clock Hotel Investors, where feluccas waiting for me. With the two ships we went down to the Nile to the tombs of nobles on the west side. These tombs are located about 100 m away from the Nile, in a mountain. Here it should give 110 graves, of which 5 or 6 are accessible.
at 15.40 I was at the ticket booth. Since it opened to me that the system includes a 16 clock. In return I got a guide who led me to two of the graves. One was for an "ivory importer ' a pharaoh of the Middle Empire created. The grave was found, therefore, images of elephants (the first time I see such animals in Egypt on walls) and pictures of the deceased, which show that he (because of an accident?) Had a broken leg and wrong are grown together.
Another very large grave with only sporadic grave decoration was created for a manager and his son. I also saw many baskets of bones and mummy parts that are not well classified. (The leader said: "What name is in the museum, which has no name, will be here ..")
I could also look into a sealed grave, where large piles of bones lying around. Suddenly
said the guide: "It is 16 clock .. now is the end" I tried to convince him to tip of further visits. But that did not work. Sure, at the entrance waiting yes even the many difficult Kalashnikov-armed guards on our grave.
Too bad it was a great investment ...
at 16.45 I was back at the hotel. Since the trip was organized by Alltours, it was quite cheap (5 € + £ 10 + entry)
the evening, I am relaxed ....
The whole day I really liked, was full of interesting things. Toll!
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