Aswan - Day 2

Our second day in Aswan we went to Abu Simbel, an ancient temple built by Ramses II. Like the temple at Philae, this one had to be taken apart and reconstructed when the High Dam was built. We flew there from Aswan (45 minutes or so) and then took a taxi from the airport to the temple. We had to walk quite a way to get to the temples themselves. We walked around a big hill by Lake Nassar.



Then we saw this, which is the part of the temple dedicated to Ramses II's wife, Nefertari.


The front door of the temple has a golden key, which features prominently in the Little Einsteins episode where they go to Egypt. Luke was THRILLED to see a REAL golden key!



For some perspective, I was standing right under the statue looking up while taking this picture.


Here is the temple dedicated to Ramses and three other gods.



See the pieces of stone lying on the ground next to the second statue on the left? They're part of that statue's missing head.

Here are Luke and Jason standing next to them. Look at the size of ear on the stone next to Jason, and how massive the statues are in comparison next to him! (Jason is 6 feet tall.)





These statues are situated in the temple so that the sun shines directly on them twice a year - on Ramses' birthday and coronation day.



It took about an hour to see both temples and get back to the place our cab driver picked us up.
It was super hot at Abu Simbel. We were glad to be back in the airport and on our way back to Aswan, which was a little cooler.