When our summer finally comes and we’re hiding from the noonday sun, it is hard to imagine ever being able to wear jeans, let alone woolly jumpers, hats, scarves & gloves. When the frost stays on the ground all day long, the opposite is true, it’s hard to ever imagine being warm enough to walk outside in sandals, or to need to hide from the heat of the sun.
At the temple of Abu Simbel, Upper Egypt
For our honeymoon last year we went on a 17 day tour of Egypt. Our wedding day was the first warm day in England that year, so arriving in temperatures of 25°C in Cairo the next day was not such a shock to our system. Visiting the temples on the banks of Lake Nassir from Aswan on the Tropic of Cancer was however a different story.
The first temple we visited was The Temple of Isis a short drive from our hotel in Aswan, and then a boat trip out to the island of Agilkia where the temple was moved by UNESCO and the Egyptian Antiquities Organisation the 1970’s when the high Aswan Dam threatened to flood the old site completely.
Sheltering from the searing sun at the temple of Isis
The temple of Abu Simbel is a lot further south, and just getting there involved a four hour bus journey starting out in the middle of the night so as to arrive at the temple before the heat of the middle of the day. Disembarking from the air conditioned bus at 8am into the 40°C dry heat of the desert was something it is impossible to prepare for.
The temples of Abu Simbel, Upper Egypt
There was no shade anywhere, and even inside the temples were warm, so we just moved very slowly. We were very relieved our tour guide had insisted on leaving so early, I can not imagine what it would have been like there later in the day! I remember as a child watching the incredible rescue and stone by stone removal of this impressive monument 65m higher, 200m back and safe from the rising waters of Lake Nassir. I had never imagined that I would actually be able to walk around these huge monuments that took King Ramses II 30 years to build!
At the feet of Ramses II
To find out more about this weeks Travel Theme, hop over to ‘Where’s My Backpack?‘
This week’s Travel Theme is Hot
Day One 
You have me melting here, just thinking about that heat! Wonderful photos yet again.
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I wasn’t very well prepared for that holiday at all, I just hadn’t thought about it!! All our planning was about the wedding and I really packed the craziest clothes! I had a few lovely lightweight dresses with me but they were far too strappy for Egypt, so ended up having to cover up constantly, which was difficult in the heat!
I have a few lovely outfits I bought in India made of silk that would have been perfect, but I didn’t think to bring them!
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The engravings in Isis are remarkable. Must be quite a feeling standing next to something that ancient (by our standards).
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It really is incredible. Hard to believe we actually made it, the whole time I felt like I was breathing in ancient Egypt (probably was with all the dust!) The buildings, tombs, images…are featured so much in our history books, in films, in Indiana Jones movies.. It almost feels familiar, but the intense heat seems to make it more real.
The beauty, the genius of such an ancient people, you can just imagine that this truly was the beginning of our civilisation, and with a river flooding fertile plains, it probably was the garden of Eden
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