Close to the border of Egypt and Sudan is one of the most iconic sights in the world, the Abu Simbel temples. Ramses II (also known as Ramses the Great) expanded the borders of Egypt, often through military campaigns, into nearby countries. Ramses II wanted to show Egyptian power so he had two temples built facing Nubia (who lost territory to him) to discourage travelers on the Nile from visiting his kingdom. He also wanted himself to be viewed as a deity, no small ego here.
It took about 20 years for the two temples to be built, the largest of which has four large statues of Ramses flank the temple entrance each wearing the crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. One statue was damaged during an earthquake and its head lies at the feet of the statue. Inside this temple are decorations of Ramses and his wife honoring the gods plus depictions his victory at the Battle of Kadesh. Our guide said the battle was more of a draw but Ramses spun it the way he wanted so this is a (very) early example of fake news.
Ramses also had a second, smaller temple built dedicated to Hathor (goddess of love and beauty) as well as Ramses II’s primary wife Nefertari. This temple has six statues in the front, two of Nefertari and four of Ramses II which tells you somthing. Reminded me of a comment Katharine Hepburn said about Warren Beatty and his wife Annette Bening who seemed very much in love, Hepburn replied: ‘Hmmm. With the same man.’
The temples fell into disuse and were rediscovered in 1813 by Swiss researcher Johann Ludwig Burckhardt who found the small temple then the larger buried in sand. The temples were in peril again in the mid 20th century with the construction of the Aswan High Dam which would have flooded the site. A call to the international community went out and Abu Simbel was dismantled and rebuilt in an artificial hill 200 feet higher and 600 feet to the west. To reward countries that helped in this effort the Egyptian government gifted temples which is why The Met in New York City has the Temple of Dendur.
One concern we had for this particular part of the trip was our time there was limited to three hours (we flew Egyptair from Aswan), turns out this was more than enough time. The temples were a five minute drive from the airport and we were touring less than 20 minutes after landing. Our guide told us going through the airport for the return flight would be quick as well, which it was but not without its amusements. When you go to the airport in Egypt you are screened twice, once when you enter the airport and again in the gate area. The Abu Simbel airport is so small that these two screenings are about 15 feet apart. Well, at least we were prepared.
While waiting in the second line we were chatting with an Australian gent who told us that he took a taxi from his hotel in Aswan to the airport for the flight to Abu Simbel. He negotiated a fare of 300 EGP (just shy of 10 USD) and while enroute the taxi driver pulled over and said pay me 150 more EGP or I dump you here. The gent paid the increased fare but also texted his dad a map snapshot of his location in case somthing happened. Very different from our experiences here.
