Trip duration: 1 day, Dec 2023
Never heard of these places? Nah.. me neither. Yet if you happen to take a cruise down the Nile (which I highly recommend) these little towns will feature in your itinerary en route from Luxor to Aswan. After spending several hours overnight navigating the Esna lock, we woke up to the ship being docked at Edfu.
Side note: We actually crossed the locks at around 1.30 am and the noise woke me up.. it was fun watching the ship go through the gates and all the hustle bustle around the locks.
After breakfast we headed out to explore the temple. Horse drawn carriages picked us up from the dock and transported us to the temple.. and that was certainly the highlight of the day for my kid.
Edfu Temple
This was one of several temples built during the Ptolemaic kingdom and dates back to 230 BC and surprisingly on the western bank of the Nile. Preserved by desert sand, which filled the place after the pagan cult was banned, the temple is dedicated to Horus, the avenging son of Isis and Osiris.
The Temple of Edfu was buried under centuries of sand and silt until the nineteenth century, when French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette rediscovered the site. The complex is one of the most well-preserved sites in Egypt today; its architecture is very much intact, and the building contains a wealth of legible inscriptions on its walls.
Beyond the Roman mammisi (birth house), the massive 36m-high pylon is guarded by two huge but splendid granite statues of Horus as a falcon. After that we reached the Court of offerings with its 32 columns with varying floral capitals, representing the 32 nights of festivities after Horus married Hathor of Dendara.
Following this we arrived at the Outer Hypostyle hall with its 12 columns representing the 12 hours of daytime. There are antechambers on both sides with beautiful carvings. Likewise the Inner Hypostyle hall also has 12 columns, representing the 12 hours of night.
The most fascinating room here was the antechamber deemed the "temple laboratory". Here, all the necessary perfumes and incense recipes were carefully brewed and stored, their ingredients listed on the walls.
We then came upon the spiral staircase leading up to the roof (which is closed off) - representing how a falcon soars up into the sky.. and then a straight staircase going down - again mimicking a falcon's dive... for a total of 365 steps. Both staircases are lined with carvings which help indicate the direction.
The sanctuary was the most sacred and important portion of the temple. It contained the sacred barks of Horus and Hathor, used in processions, as well as the permanent shrine for the sacred image of the god which was likely a wooden falcon statue. The shrine, made of black granite, is located at the rear of the sanctuary and is one of the few remnants of an older temple of Horus.
We were incredibly impressed with the level of detail in the carvings that adorned every single wall.. both inside and outside the temple... which had both types of relief work.. "in" and "out".
After a wonderful morning at Edfu, we went back to our respective carriages and made our back back to the boat. As we ate lunch, our ship set sail towards the next destination.
We reached around sunset and docked for the evening.
Kom Ombo Temple
Also built by the Ptolemaic dynasty from 180-47 BC, this unusual double temple sits right on the banks of river Nile and is dedicated to not one but two gods.. namely Horus and Sobek, the crocodile god. This means that the sanctuary, courts, halls etc were in fact duplicated for two gods.
The most impressive feature of the Kom Ombo Temple is its double entrance hall, which leads into two separate sanctuaries dedicated to Sobek and Horus. The walls are decorated with reliefs depicting various scenes from ancient Egyptian mythology, such as battles between gods and goddesses or depictions of gods offering offerings to their worshippers. There are also several statues of Sobek and Horus throughout the temple complex.
The Kom Ombo Temple also contains several other features, such as a Nilometer for measuring water levels in the Nile River; an obelisk; a sacred lake; an offering table; several stelae; and numerous statues depicting various gods and goddesses from ancient Egyptian mythology. In addition, several mummified crocodiles are found throughout the temple complex, which was believed to be sacred animals associated with Sobek.
We arrived at the village of Kom Ombo well after sunset and after disembarking, walked the short distance to the temple complex. It was beautifully lit up and we spent a fantastic 1.5 hours exploring the temple with our guide. Similar to Edfu, this temple also boasts of beautiful relief work both "in" and "out" styles.
Crocodile Museum
After exiting the temple we explored the small Crocodile museum practically next door, which had several mummies of crocodiles and various fact sheets about the sacred crocodiles from back in the day.
We then went back to the boat and set sail for Aswan.
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