"LAKE NASSER - 550km long and 35km across at its widest point, the lake was the result of the construction of the Aswan High Dam on the Nile between 1958 and 1970. The Sudanese small part of the Lake is named Lake Nubia"
"RAMSES II - Abu Simbel in its splendour"
"RAMSES II wearing the double crown of Lower and Upper Egypt"
"MORE RAMSES II - According to Wikipedia, «The twin temples were originally carved out of the mountainside during the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II in the 13th century BC, as a lasting monument to himself and his queen Nefertari, to commemorate his alleged victory at the Battle of Kadesh, and to intimidate his Nubian neighbours. However, the complex was relocated in its entirety in the 1960s, on an artificial hill made from a domed structure, high above the Aswan High Dam reservoir»"
"GENERAL VIEW"
"INTERIORS - According to Wikipedia, «it is believed that the axis of the temple was positioned by the ancient Egyptian architects in such a way that on October 21 and February 21 (61 days before and 61 days after the Winter Solstice), the rays of the sun would penetrate the sanctuary and illuminate the sculptures on the back wall, except for the statue of Ptah, the god connected with the Underworld, who always remained in the dark.» This picture was taken on February 22nd, and Ptah on the left is in the shade..."
"NEFERTARI - The Great Royal Wife of Ramses II"
"NEFERTARI - Not to be confused with Nefertiti, the Great Royal Wife of Akhenaton"
"FROM ABU SIMBEL TO ASWAN"
"CAIRO AT NIGHT"
"CAIRO - ALEXANDRIA"
"MALTA, SICILY, TUNISIA AND BALEARIC ISLANDS"
Posts
49 comments:
Hi Folks! The Nile 2010 comes to an end with this post. But it ends in magnificent glory, with the most fabulous of the Ramses II monuments: Abu Simbel!! The flight from Aswan is definitely worth while taking to get to this incredible testimonial of power, pride and narcissism... Ramses II and his wife Nefertari (not to be confused with Nefertiti, wife of Pharaoh Akhenaton) have two fabulous temples there, which were saved from flooding when the Aswan Dam was built; they were moved stone by stone and even a fake hill was built to reproduce the former location! Enjoy, drop a line, and have a fabulous week... ;)
encore un endroit magique et j'aime bien les vues aeriennes
Wow the lake is so huge and the tombs magnificent. It must have been an amazing engineering feat to move them. Thanks for the virtual tour of Egypt, just wonderful.
Magnifique! Quel voyage. De bonnes explications et des belles images pour aider à les fixer dans la tête!
Lovely pics Trotter, as usual :)
But I especially like the images of the landscape from the plane, almost like a ma. Awesome!
Thanks for taking me to clouds!
mindblowing..I hope 2011 takes me there
splendor personified!
Aloha from Waikiki
Comfort Spiral
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Thank you for talking me through the expanses of Egypt, something that I enjoyed very much!
Appreciate sharing the pictures!
Great pictures of the ramses. They look amazing. I could use some of that sunshine and blue skies right now.
oh god, after seeing the images of "CAIRO - ALEXANDRIA" i am just going mad......thanks for sharing
regards
The entrance to the temple is very impressive. Great shots from the plane also!
Just one word - splendid.
Lovely. In fact I was searching for Abu Simbel in your last post. I knew about Akhenaten's wife Nefertiti and got confused when I came across Nefertari. Thanks.
beautiful photos. and i did confuse the queen as Nefertiti! have a wonderful weekend!
Great post again!
Greetings from snowy Helsinki, back to sunny Casa tomorrow! :)
The aerial shots are beautiful! Nice post, as usual.
Abu Simbel - vry impressing,
greetings, April
Never fail to impress me with these magnificient statues guarding the temples. Beautiful photos. Wish I was there.
grand!!!
wish i had a resources and time to indulge in a bit of the narcissism that they indulged in!!
Hello,
Fabulous photos and a very interesting write up.I could see from this post so many places which I will never be able to visit.
Best wishes,
Joseph
Sorry I've been absent, but it's been one of those times -- certainly not boredom with any of your posts! This one is fantastic! Another place I've always wanted to go. Love the history. Thanks for your visits/comments, always appreciated!
Sylvia
Magnificent photos! I've certainly enjoyed my "trip" to Egypt! Thanks for sharing!
Nice shots Trotter.The night shots of Cairo and the ones from the plane were amazing and of course the history of the place is over whelming.
Hello Gil, spectacular images indeed, great collages! Abu Simbel: amazing! Thanks for sharing these thrilling travels!
Have a very pleasant Sunday!
All good things come to an end. Where are we going now ?
Moving stone by stone was quite a feat in itself. As always Gil, fabulous. :)
ABU SIMBEL is amazing! You really did make a point to see all the historic ancient sights in Egypt, Gil. This was a fascinating series!
I like the shots of the lake - the sandscape is just so foriegn to me!
I guess that's why you are so lucky to be able to travel to so many places.
that was brilliant
Abu Simbel has really incredible interiors, I have always admired the great monumental sculptures of ancient Egypt!
Le Caire de nuit on dirait un tableau de Pierre Soulages : le noir est tout sauf vide et uni.
Mister et Mrs T. ne doivent pas être confondus non plus avec ce grand roi du haut et du bas Ramses II ainsi que son épouse Nefertari : ils sont beaucoup mieux conservés (M et Mrs T veux-je dire sont mieux conservés) !
Abu Simbel Temple is another marvel!!
It's magnificence makes one pause and wonder about times past and how the heck it was possibly built in that barren terrain.
Have a great week Gil! To you and Mrs. T too!
xox
Constance
long time no see, but now it's the time to take my usual trip around the world, through your photos! on my blog there are some great bucharest flavours awaiting ;)
I saw Mrs T preparing to dine with the gods and kings.
As for your question ref "the beer at LHR": I'm here; are you there? Ready when you are.
A new story awaits you at:
http://paliakara.blogspot.com
Have a nice day.
Hi Gil,
I've been to these magnificent temples in Abu Simbel too. You've captured their essence with these splendid pictures wonderfully.
I also loved your Philae post, thanks for rekindling some interesting memories.;)
Have a lovely day.
celine
Another great collection (and another place I missed while in Egypt :))
I still have a postcard I bought in Sharm which says "Greetings from Abu Simpel" - I had to buy it :D
Wow another awesome scenes!
Have a great weekend ahead.
Regards.
Beautiful shots of the place. Huge sculptures are magnificent.
These are beautiful and wonderful places I must visit one day.
It is like "it is there and you have not yet seen it Joe ?"
I especially enjoyed the shots of the Ramses II tomb. I've never read about the axis nor seen anything like your interior shots. Terrific!
Wow! Those carvings are amazing.
Hi Everybody! These posts on Egypt 2010 ended just as Egypt came to the front pages for completely different reasons. After Tunis, there was an uprising in Cairo also and the media say that people is fighting for democracy and the associated freedoms... Of course, with corrupt and authoritarian regimes, no wonder people will fight for freedom... But I’ll look forward to seeing what will be coming next... Meanwhile, we’ll be strolling around on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea for a while...
Olivier,
Abu Simbel est vraiment magnifique!! J’espère que Ramsès II et Néfertari seront là pour les siècles à venir; imagine que l’histoire des bouddhas de Bâmiyân se répète…
Diane,
Lake Nasser is immense, but these are not tombs; rather memorials or temples to the pharaoh... Both tombs are in the Valley of Kings, near Luxor, as we mentioned on an earlier post... It was certainly a fabulous achievement to move the temples from the original site!!
Thérèse,
Merci. J’espère que ça se passé mieux avec ta maman...
Siddhartha,
Thanks! I always love to take pictures from planes when the sky is clear; but I must confess that they are becoming very much the same... ;)
Susu,
It’s my great pleasure to take you to the clouds; furthermore when these clouds are quite unruffled... ;)
Lakshmi,
Oh dear, I’m not so sure that 2011 will be a good year to go there... Keep your fingers crossed, but I think I’ll be postponing Petra and Jordan...
Cloudia,
Absolutely magnificent!! The guy was not shy in creating his own image for the future generations... More than three thousand years later we’re still enjoying the monuments he ordered...
Rakesh,
My pleasure!!
Ron,
Surely that sun was a winter blessing...
I can imagine you’ll be nervous tomorrow with the Steelers in the Superbowl!!
Seema,
Great that you liked!!
Juka,
Ramses didn’t make it short! Just the most magnificent would be enough for him to leave as an image... ;)
Hélène,
Indeed!!
P.N. Subramanian,
There is always a lot of confusion between Nefertari and Nefertiti; even the silly Word processor corrector in UK English will mark Nefertari as an error and would suggest you substitute with Nefertiti... ;)
Mariposa,
You were far from being the first and surely you won’t be the last to make the traditional confusion between Nefertari and Nefertiti... ;))
Blogitse,
Snow in Helsinki, wind in Casa... everything is better than the storm in Cairo with Vodafone in the cross-fire... ;))
Eye,
But I definitely prefer the pictures from Abu Simbel on ground... The aerial photos are always much the same...
Ingrid,
Most impressive I would say!!
Alice,
I ‘m happy you are not there now... Anyhow, it seems to be a bit desert nowadays; everybody seems to be at Tahrir Square in Cairo...
Star,
Narcissism is the least one can say about Ramses II; but at least Narcissus was just looking at his own reflection on a pool. Much cheaper... ;))
Joseph,
My pleasure to take you on board to the virtual trip!!
Sylvia,
Welcome back!! My pleasure to drive you through Abu Simbel and also to comment your posts!!
Part Three:
Yvonne,
I hope this trip was not the «last train to Egypt» for many months, with all the mess that is going down up there nowadays...
Lady,
It’s amazing that you liked that dark picture of Cairo; it’s almost everything black except the Conrad Hotel... ;). The history of the place is indeed overwhelming, and it seems to keep going devastating nowadays...
Pietro,
My pleasure to bring you travelling along, furthermore now that trips to Egypt are somehow on hold...
Gattina,
I truly hope you had no reason ahead of time and that just my posts on Egypt 2010, not your trips to Egypt, had come to an end... Anyhow, we are heading to the other side of the Mediterranean Sea...
Lynn,
That was a huge achievement I remember to hear about in the sixties... Amazing! It’s probably as challenging as it was building a pyramid some four thousand years ago... ;)
Pat,
Abu Simbel was a must, even if you had to wake up very early to catch the flight in and were on the verge of losing the flight back... ;)
Paul,
Probably desert sand landscapes are not easy to find in the United States, but that is why we travel... ;)
Magic,
Thanks!
Ola,
I must confess that I’m much more impressed with the external part of the monument, though the interiors also have some amazing treasures worth to be seen... ;)
Lucie,
Tu as très bien nommé le Caire de nuit comme le noir-lumière de Pierre Soulages… Maintenant la nuit semble être toute autre; on verra si le jour chantera l’avenir ou la désillusion… ;)
En ce qui concerne la conservation, je doute… il semble que Ramsès est beaucoup mieux conservé que moi ; peut-être pas en ce qui touche Néfertari… ;)
Constance,
Magnificent is the perfect word for what we could see there… and it will always be a mystery the way they managed to build all that in those times...
Part Four and final, for the time being...
Lara,
Welcome back!! I wouldn’t mind to go to Bucharest again; it must have been changing lately, I believe...
Stuart,
OK! I’ll try to get through LHR next time I fly, but things are getting difficult these days...
P.N.,
Thanks! I’ve checked your new interesting post! Amazing!!
Celine,
Welcome back!! Now that you’re always travelling it’s not easy to catch you here... ;). Great to bring good memories back to you!!
Nicole,
How is it possible that you missed Abu Simbel while in Egypt; it’s a must!! ;)) Your postcard looks like the T-shirt «I hiked the [Great] Canyon», which is bought only by people who didn’t... ;))
Regina,
Thanks!
Rajesh,
Something comparable to the incredible monuments and temples you are always showing us in your blog!!
Joe,
Unfortunately, this time I’m not telling you to start packing immediately; maybe better wait a bit till you get to Egypt...
Ted,
That’s not the tomb; just a memorial... ;) The tomb is in the Valley of Kings. According to Wikipedia, «Ramesses II was originally buried in the tomb KV7 in the Valley of the Kings, but because of looting, Ancient Egyptian priests later transferred the body to a holding area, re-wrapped it, and placed it inside the tomb of queen Inhapy. 72 hours later, it was again moved to the tomb of the high priest Pinudjem II. All of this is recorded in hieroglyphics on the linen covering the body. His mummy can be found today in Cairo's Egyptian Museum.» Hopefully it will still be there and hopefully not damaged... ;)
Barb,
Incredible, I would say!!
Un magnifique voyage que j'ai fait avec ma maman en 1993,les mêmes photos,un souvenir magnifique.
Lyliane,
Il semble être comme ça depuis deux mille ans; exception faite au déménagement des pierres...
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