Miss Slayton in Egypt

Last Saturday we visited the islands of Philae and Elephantine.

The island of Philae was also part of the UNESCO project of temples moved during the construction of the Aswan High Damn. The island is situated between the old Aswan Dam and the Aswan High Dam. We were told by our guide that the water inside this area is not considered to be the river Nile or lake Nasser, it’s simply a reservoir.

The temple was moved from its original island called Philae and placed on a new island called Agilkia. This Temple is Greek and was originally in Nubia, just like Abu Simbel, which is now under lake Nasser. The temple was built to honor the goddess Isis. The island is also said to be one of the places Osiris was buried, making it a well regarded temple both during ancient Egyptian time and Greek rule.

The obelisk from this site is very important for scholarly reasons. William John Banks took the Philae oblelisk to England and compared the hieroglyphics to the Rosetta Stone, which in return helped to assist him in the translation of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.

The site itself is incredible! You have to take a boat out to the island, as you coast along the water you see Nubian villages and Nubian style motels, and the island itself, off in the distance. When you arrive at the island you are greeted by the most adorable island cats. The island is full of temple cats! This site quickly became one of my favorites! I loved how well preserved it was. All the beautiful reliefs of Isis and her husband Osiris. They even had a small Hathor shrine on one side of the island.

After we visited this island we moved on to another. This time we sailed on a traditional felucca sailboat to the island of Elephantine. In ancient Egypt this was the border between Egypt and Nubia. There are a lot of ruins on the island and they have active archeological excavations happening on the island, which were visible everywhere by the stacks of columns waiting to be sorted. There’s a Temple complex to the god Khnum, which is still undergoing preservation, as well as, a temple to the goddess Satet.

The island was very different from Philae. Philae simply housed the temple and a small cafe for visitors, where as the island of Elephantine is larger and divided into the thirds. Part one is hotels, part two is a Nubian village, and part three is all the ancient ruins. The ruins are literally in the backyards of the Nubian villages homes. It was quite an experiencing seeing how close these people live to these ancient ruins. Children were playing in them.

We are now in Alexandria. We’ve traveled the entire country along the river Nile. Starting in Cairo (lower Egypt) and going all the way up to Aswan/Abu Simbel (upper Egypt), which is 30 minutes away from the Sudan border. Now we are back in lower Egypt. We leave tomorrow and head back to California by way of Frankfurt, Germany. To say this has been a trip of a life time is an understatement! This trip has opened our eyes in so many ways. We’ve learned so much about the ancient culture, as well as the Egyptian society today. The people here are honest and kind. At the end of every stay in a city the people we’ve connected with have called us their friends. My love for Egypt has only grown!

This will be my last post until we get home state side. I plan to try and upload videos I couldn’t while in Egypt.