EGYPT – Nile Cruise, Day 3

We’d sailed on during the night and arrived at Edfu whilst I was soundly snoring, so I was delighted when I threw back the curtains and caught a glimpse of Edfu with it’s bazaar style shops and horse drawn carriages. I was slightly less delighted when I realised that there were loads of Egyptian men ogling me in my pyjamas! Ho-hum.



After breakfast, we set off again to visit the Edfu Temple. This is the Temple of Horus, the Falcon God and son of Isis. It was certainly a beautiful place and the the colours against the blue skies were amazing.



By now, I was already getting a little bit temple’d-out, so my attention turned to more modern interests and I decided to stalk a few locals for some real life photos





It was whilst I was sneaking around to get these photos without being asked for money as an appearance fee that I was approached by a bloke in an unfeasibly shiny suit (complete with gun) and lead off behind one of the smaller structures where the colourful decorations where still visible.



He seemed to be telling me that this was the birth house of a horse’s son, but I suppose it could also have been Horus’s son – it was a bit tricky to hear properly with his thick accent and my selective deafness.



I’d already had one marriage proposal on the boat so after getting dragged off at the temple, we still had to run the gauntlet of the sellers when we left – what joy. They are held back by barriers with armed police to enforce their confinement but it just means that they are even more pushy whilst you are trying to escape.



One of the highlights of my trip was actually just watching the world pass by whilst we were on the coach between the boat and various visits. We saw pavement cafes with patrons in a mix of traditional galabeyas sitting next to men in tracksuits and donkey carts travelling alongside sleek people carriers with blacked out windows.



The strangest sight was probably a bloke on a donkey cart with no shoes, chatting on his mobile phone. I think there is something wrong with his priorities there!



After an afternoon slowly drifting down the Nile, it was time for another illuminated night-time temple visit. This time it was Kom Ombo, which is unique because its 'double' design meant that there were courts, halls, sanctuaries and rooms duplicated for two sets of gods; Sobek & Horus.



For once, Yahya held my attention when he explained the healing powers of Horus and the use of his symbol as an indicator of measurements. Apparently, the rudimentary lines of the symbol of the eye are what lead to the modern Rx symbol used on prescriptions.



We were once again given free time to explore after our guided visit and as we were just a short walk from the quai, told to make out own way back to the boat so that those who wanted to do a spot of haggling with the sellers could indulge themselves.



Because there is never enough space for all the boats to park, they are often lined up 4 or 5 deep and you have to walk through to other boats to get to the shore. I was busy chatting as we crossed over the gang plank and through the first couple of boats, and it was only once we tried to cross from the last boat to ours that I realised it wasn’t there! Luckily I stopped short of walking straight into the Nile, but it was a close thing. Our boat had moved further down whilst we were our exploring and we’d missed the little bloke with the sign where we’d been chatting – d’Oh!