Besides
the Pyramids, a must-see in Egypt are
the temples of Abu Simbel, situated 280
km from Aswan. The two temples built by
Ramesses II are dedicated to Re-Harakhte,
and that of his wife, Nefertari
dedicated to Hathor. Built 3000 years
ago, they were discovered by J. L.
Burckhardt in 1813.
The
statues rise to 67 feet and are a
majestic sight but the site is also
famous for another reason. The original
temples were built in a valley that was
going to be submerged in Lake Naser with
the waters from the new High Dam. In
1964 the Egyptian Govt., with the
support of UNSECO shifted the temples,
stone by stone; to the present site and
took four years to complete.
The road from Aswan to the temples
passes through dessert areas and for
security reasons one has to go in a
convoy. Cars, vans and buses have to
gather at a point at a fixed time and
the whole convoy starts together. We had
opted for morning time and left at 04:30
am. The roads were in superb condition
and we made the distance in just 3
hours. It was worth getting up early and
traveling the distance as you can see
from the pictures:
Abu Simbel pictures
More details can be found at
http://www.touregypt.net/abusimbel.htm
http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/abusimbel.htm