In spite of dark curtains, we all awoke around 06:30 again today. This is actually a good thing, as it gives you a chance of seeing something before the sun lays claim to all of your bodily fluids and energy.
We had breakfast and were out on the street before 08:00. By eight o’clock, the sweat was already dripping off us.
We took a taxi to the ferry landing and made the crossing to the island of جزيرة الفنتي (Elephantine), home to three Nubian villages that, despite their proximity to mass tourism, seem to have made relatively few concessions to the badly-dressed, purple-skinned, sweaty-browed white people who, like us, must find their way along these alleyways in drips and drabs throughout the winter.
After a visit to the Aswan Museum and the ruins of a temple built in honour of Khnum, we walked north, stopped off for much needed drinks at one of the few cafés on the island, and eventually made our way back to the mainland.
Next was a simple lunch of fiteer, served diagonally opposite the train station, on a corner that was somehow managing to catch just a vague hint of a breeze.
With that out of the way, a retreat to the hotel was the only viable option. Eloïse wanted to go to the swimming pool and there was nothing more that could be done in the 40°C heat.
Much later in the day, we ventured out once more, hailed a taxi and made our way 13 km out of Aswan to the south, to the site of the High Dam of Aswan. It wasn’t nearly as good as I’d hoped, with no visitor centre, no tour available and not even a view that I could describe as spectacular. If you’ve seen the Hoover Dam in Nevada, this doesn’t come close, in spite of its greater fame.
On the way back, we stopped at a café high above Aswan to watch the sun go down to a glass or five of karkady, a drink made from the dried calyces of the hibiscus flower. It’s mild, but very refreshing.
A very good tilapia dinner at Chef Khalil provided an ideal end to another blisteringly hot day.
Tomorrow promises to be a very long and tiring day. We have a 02:45 wake-up call mere hours away from now, to get us up for a 03:15 pick-up for the long drive south to the Abu Simbel temples.
The bus leaves in the middle of the night for two reasons. Firstly, to get you to the site at around 07:00, before the sun has had a chance to fully wake up. It’s just 40 km from the Sudanese border down there, although how it could possibly be any hotter than here is beyond me. Secondly, all vehicles making the trip must travel in a convoy with police escort to minimise the chance of a terrorist attack.
Egypt has had too many such incidents against tourists in the last few years, incidents that badly hurt the national economy, and the authorities are keen to avoid any repetition. I suppose this route must be considered particularly susceptible, because visiting other sites hasn’t required an escort (although one of our nights in the desert did, ostensibly to protect us from wolves).
It’s just turned nine o’clock. so it’s time for me to hit the sack.