After a wonderfully relaxing cruise up (south) the Nile, we watched with interest as our ship negotiated the locks of the Esna Barrage. Our huge ship (173′ long and 30-40′ wide) sailed into the lock with inches to spare on either side. This was made even more impressive when later in the cruise we visited the bridge and saw that the captain navigated the ship with no electronics at all. No GPS, no auto-pilot - just manual controls. Apparently cruise boat captains have to have 20+ years experience on the River in smaller craft and have memorised every islet, every curve and sandbank.

After Esna we reached Edfu, a small town on the river and the site of one of the best preserved temples in all of Egypt. As you can see from the photos, Edfu Temple has an intact ceiling atop its hypostyle hall. Contrast this indoor hallway with the open ones at Luxor and Karnak. Also, by now you should notice the familiar entrance gate to Middle Kingdom Temples (or pylons as they are called).

Edfu is the temple to Horus, the falcon god, and Hathor, God of the Sky, son of Isis and Osiris.

Enough of the history lesson, on to the Edfu photos!

Monday, April 13th, 2009 at 9:05 pm : Travel, Egypt.
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