I awoke in Aswan, ready to hop on a plane. No, the trip wasn’t over. We drove over the river and through the desert to the small Aswan airport. We had a short flight farther south to the remote site of Abu Simbel. Carved by Ramesses II, it demonstrated the extent of his kingdom, how far south he had exerted control.
Abu Simbel is actually a pair of monuments with one dedicated to Ramesses and the other to his favorite wife Nefertari. Besides the facades out front, each was carved back into the cliff-face, decorated from floor to ceiling.
When the Aswan High Dam was constructed, it created a lake behind it (as dams naturally do). Unfortunately, there were many archaeological remains situated on the banks of the Nile which would end up underwater. Archaeologists identified which ones they wanted to save. Abu Simbel was one of them. However, because this monument was carved into the rock, engineers carefully cut it into blocks and moved it uphill to an artificial mound where it stands today.
After a couple of hours, we were back at the tiny Abu Simbel airport, ready to fly back to Aswan along with dozens of others visiting the site like us. After landing, our next adventure was waiting…
It seems like riding a chariot or shooting a bow would require skill and concentration; how about doing both at once?