This was my fourth visit to Abu Simbel (Linda has made the trip several more times) but the first time to really explore it in different lighting conditions. The typical visit consists of a very long early morning bus ride from Aswan or a flight into the airport with arrival in the morning, a couple of hours on the ground and then a return trip to Aswan.
This time I had a chance to photograph the two temples in a variety of lighting. I caught the large temple in the morning sun while arriving by air:
The small temple in the afternoon sun while we walked the grounds.
The small temple in the pre-dawn light as our cruise boat pulled away from its mooring.
And the large temple in the bright orange dawn sunshine as the boat began heading north on the lake.
The subtle contrasts in the exterior carvings present a photographic challenge. My digital photography gear is fifteen to twenty years out of date at this point. I'll need to invest in a major upgrade before our next visit.
While the two large temples at Abu Simbel are the best known beneficiaries of the 1960s UNESCO campaign to save the flooded landmarks behind the high dam, several other temples were also salvaged. We will visit a total of four clusters of temples before returning to Aswan on the cruise. The map below shows the locations of our stops along the way. (moving from the bottom to the top as we head north)
The Steigenberger's Omar El Khayam proved to be a good choice for our
cruise. Departure from Abu Simbel was timed to give us a great view of
the sunrise as we cast off and drifted ever so slowly past the
two temples as the sun rose slowly above the horizon changing the colors
from pre-dawn purple to blaze orange. The many photographers on the
sun deck were greatly pleased. The ship carried about a hundred
passengers and probably half made it to the sun deck for the early morning show.
As dawn was breaking, numerous visitors on shore had their cameras pointed east to record the sunrise.
We drifted quite silently away from the temples and departed the area at about 6:50 (sunrise had been at 6:25) as a flock of geese passed overhead.
It was only as I was assembling the pictures for this post that I realized that the Movenpick ship apparently remained moored at its landing during the sunrise. We had apparently chosen the right tour for the best show.
We retreated to the dining room for breakfast. We had been paired up at a table with a couple from Spain, Carlos and Concha, for our meals. Fortunately, they were English speakers. After our initial visit to the Abu Simbel temples on our own, we joined a group of English speaking tourists led by our guide, Saladin. Saladin maintained a printed schedule on the ship's bulletin board which helped us meet for our shore excursions. Our English language tour group consisted of a British couple, the aforementioned Spanish couple, two Russians, two Brazilians, a small family of Egyptians and us.
After breakfast, we returned to the sun deck where Linda, who thoughtfully brought along a pair of binoculars, kept an eye peeled for our first stop at the archeological island site of Qasr Ibrim.
This island is the only archeological site of Egyptian Nubia that is not under water. A delicate treasure, tourists are not permitted on the island and the tour boats simply pull up close and drift by. Surviving through 3500 years of use for various religious and military purposes, the island is now the tip of a massive stone outcropping that was depicted by the famed watercolor artist, David Roberts around 1849.
A fairly complete history of this small, isolated outpost throughout the ages can be found here. Several notable archeological finds from ancient times that have been extracted from the site include a large stele of Seti I (the father of Ramses II) dating from around 1500 B.C. that has been moved to the Kalabasha site where we will encounter it on Day Six of the cruise.
Another discovery from the site is the oldest surviving manuscript of Latin poetry, originating from the Roman poet, orator and politician Gaius Cornellus Gallus, prefect of Egypt from 30 to 26 B.C., preserved in the Cairo Museum.
The ruins remaining atop the island now are remnants of a Christian cathedral. Jocelyn Gohary's book tells us:
"The precise date of the cathedral is unknown, but it was founded some time during the seventh or eighth century. ... There were also crypts below the church, in one of which was found the reused stele of Amenophis I, as well as the intact burial of the Nubian bishop Timotheos, who was buried with his letters of appointment dated 1372. The roof of the cathedral was probably made of wood and was largely destroyed by fire during the siege in 1173."
Our captain gave us about twenty minutes time near the island as we gently drifted past. The satellite view of the island from Google that I extracted for the map at the top of this post captures a tour boat near Qasr Ibrim.
**** UPDATE 5/18/2025 ****
I located a nice view of Qasr Ibrim from 1904 in the form of a stereogram. Compare this view from the top of the mountain with the David Roberts painting above as well as my current views of the ruins.
Here's the scan of the full stereogram:
Later in the afternoon, we pulled up to a cluster of two temples and a tomb at New Amada.
The temple of Amada is the oldest surviving monument on Lake Nasser dating from around 1500 B.C. Most of the
temple was slowly moved by French engineers on railroad flatcars about
one and a half miles uphill over the course of three months during 1964 to save it from the rising waters.
This 1822 painting of the temple at its original location includes the dome that had been added during its conversion to a church.
We departed the ship on the second of two launches carried on board for our shore landings. As we came into the small dock area, the group on board the first launch was exiting their launch. A narrow (and sometimes steep) gang plank was provided to reach the shore with a sturdy rail held in place by two crew members offering (mostly) steady support. Our group leader, Saladin, offered encouragement to the reluctant. We all survived the several landings and boardings.
After disembarking, we moved up the path to the temple where a group of local dignitaries, including our security guard, met us.
Inside, Saladin pointed out the temple highlights.
Outside in the sunshine, we found both scorpions and crocodiles for inspection and sale. Linda favored the carefully muzzled crocodile while our security man stood by watching for any dangerous movements.
Moving up the path, we quickly reached our second stop, the temple of al-Derr.
Dimly lit in most places, but illuminated by multiple cellphones, the colorful wall paintings are well preserved.
Although not mentioned specifically by Saladin, the ceilings in the rear of the building were well worth a good look upward.
The wall paintings here might be the best of any on the lake.
There was one more stop to make here at New Amada, the tomb of Pennut.
The paintings are the key highlight of this tomb.
After viewing the Pennut tomb, we returned to the ship and couldn't help but notice the attractive surrounding setting. It is surprising to see so little development along the shore of Lake Nasser. This bit of green agricultural land would seem to invite residences as well but we saw almost none.
We sailed on toward our next day's stop at New Subua and concluded the day by watching the sunset from the top deck.
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