The Pyramids at Giza

The sole survivors of the ancient Seven Wonders of the world.

Step Pyramid of Djoser

This Pyramid, at Saqqara, was built for Djoser in the 3rd Dynasty of the Old Kingdom in 2650 BC. This is  the very  first of any the  pyramids  built in Egypt.

The entrance

This pyramid has seven steps.

Excavation works are still  being carried on here

Memphis Museum

This museum contains a colossal limestone statue of Ramses II in a lying position (because of its truncated knees) enclosed in a viewing pavilion.

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You can see how big the statue is

An Alasbaster Sphinx of the New Kingdom

Statue of Ramses II

Overnight train to Cairo

We took an overnight train to Cairo. We slept all the way to Cairo after dinner as we were very tired from the early morning trip to Abu Simbel

Sunset in Aswan

Dinner on board

Coptic Orthodox Cathedral of Archangel Michael

Completed in 2006. It has some Islamic features such as the dome and 2 minarets.

Nilometer

Nilometer of  the Temple of Satet was built during the late Ptolemaic or early Roman period.

The walls were calibrated to record the height of the annual flood and so indicate the likely crop yield for the next year.

The markings showed the level of the water

Ruins of Abu

The excavation works are still being carried out by  the German and Swiss teams and many places are off limit to visitors. It is essentially an outdoor museum.

T

Aswan Museum

Aswan Museum is home to the collection of artifacts found in and around Aswan and Elephantine Island.

Mummy of a child

In the garden of the museum

Nubian Village on the Elephantine Island

 Elephantine Island  lies on the River Nile between Aswan and the West Bank

Aswan, view from the Elephantine Island.

It was very quiet. We saw only a few villagers here.

Elephantine Island

We crossed  the River Nile again to the Elephantine Island. We walked through the Nubian Village to the Aswan Museum. The garden beside the museum leads to the Ruins of Abu. The largest structures here are the Temple of Khnum and the Temple of Satet. The most impressive here is the Nilometer. 

Again she had to sit with the women in the front

Abu Simbel

Great Temple of Ramses II was carved out of the mountain on the West Bank on the Nile between 1274 and 1244 in honour of Ra-Harakhty, Amun, Ptah and Ramses II.

In the 1960s during the building of the High Dam, Lake Nasser threatened to engulf the temples and UNESCO cut them from the mountain and moved them to the present position.

The temple is aligned in such a way that on 22nd February and 22nd October every year, the first rays of the rising sun will enter the temple and into the Inner Sanctuary where Ramses II sits with Ra-Harakhty, Amun-Ra and Ptah.  

Statues of Ramses II

The Temple of Hathor

Dedicated to the goddess Hathor, the smaller temple at Abu Simbel was built by Ramses in honour of his wife, Nefertari.

Statues of Nefertari as goddess Hathor together with Ramses II

Sunrise on the way to Abu Simbel

We had to get up early as our coach must join the convoy to Abu Simbel at 4.30 am. The pictures below were taken on our way to Abu Simbel.