Our journey to Abu Simbel was like a journey into the very heart of Egypt. Abu Simbel is the southernmost tip of Egypt that we visited and quite a bit out of way from the regular tourist route.Abu Simbel is also very close to Sudan – Egypt’s beautiful but troubled neighbor.
While trip planning, there was a lot of advice on the web indicating that Abu Simbel might not be the safest place to visit. But Abu Simbel was probably the top destination I wanted to visit in Egypt, and so after a bit of hesitation I went ahead with the travel agenda.
And I am so glad I did. This was one of the most memorable experiences in Egypt – second only to the Pyramids.
Getting there
You can reach Abu Simbel in three different ways:
- Take a train from Cairo – Egypt has an excellent rail system
- Fly from Cairo to Abu Simbel – check out flights from EgyptAir
- Take a flight from Cairo to Aswan (again check out EgyptAir) and then take a 3-hour bus ride to Abu Simbel
The third option was the one that worked best considering our short action-packed itinerary.
Eventually, I was glad of the bus from Aswan. The road was a straight one from the airport into Abu Simbel cutting through the great Sahara desert. The three-hour journey is remarkable only in the harshness of the landscape and the excellence of the road. Stark yellow wasteland, everything I imagine a desert to be—endless arid plains of nothingness, a few dark mounds, and then suddenly an army checkpoint with men living in extremely harsh conditions.
We also saw possibly the largest mirage ever. In the landscape shown in the photo above, I could see a shimmering lake in the distance dotted with small islands. The photo captures the reality of what was there – nothing but a sea of sand everywhere.
I didn’t particularly see any kind of dangerous activity throughout our visit to Abu Simbel and back, although the guide did warn me that there was a lot of drug smuggling and other nefarious activity that took place near the Sudanese border.
Overall if you are worried about safety, check for the latest travel advisories. If you are still concernedn take a direct flight to Abu Simbel instead of driving down. The temples are just a 10 min drive from the airport and you could do a quick in and out of the place pretty safely.
The Sights of Abu Simbel
The walk to Abu Simbel from the bus stop is lovely. You go up a small hill-top seeing beautiful views of Lake Nasser – a lovely Cerulean blue, which I was unable to capture in photos as it was midday under a harsh sun.
As we climbed up the hill (not a long walk), we took a turn to the left and suddenly these massive structures loomed in front of us. It really took some time for it to sink in. I was here, actually here, seeing these massive monuments I’ve always dreamed of visiting.
A bit about the history of these temples
Rameses II the king who is deified in this temple was one of the most famous kings of Egypt. He ruled from 1279-1213 B.C and was famous for his statesmanship, architecture, military leadership, administrative abilities, and building activity. He set the benchmark by which subsequent rulers of Egypt measured themselves.
This temple was built to commemorate his victory over the Hittites at the Battle of Qadesh (also spelled Kadesh) in Syria. Abu Simbel contains a record of this victory. One image carved in the great temple at Abu Simbel shows the king firing arrows from his war chariot and supposedly winning the battle for the Egyptians. Later, Rameses II would make a peace treaty with the Hittites and cement it by marrying a Hittite princess.
The chambers of Rameses’ temple run 185 feet into the cliff. He is portrayed as a god among gods. On only two days of the year the rays of the sun travel into the innermost sacred chamber where a statue of Ramses sits with the sun gods Re-Horakhty and Amun-Re. In the same chamber only Ptah, god of darkness or the underworld, is never lit up by light coming in. These two days are the best days to visit Abu Simbel.
I wish I had inside photos of Abu Simbel to share with you. Unfortunately, they don’t allow photography inside the temple.
The second temple, the temple of Nefertari is located adjacent to his, and was built to honor his most favorite wife Nefertari (he had several).
The interior of the temple is simpler than that of the great temple of Rameses. It contains six pillars that show depictions of the goddess Hathor. The reliefs also show Nefertari in the act of being crowned by the goddesses Hathor and Isis.
At some point the temples were abandoned and, in the period afterwards, were covered with sand, the great colossi gradually disappearing into the desert. In 1817, they were discovered again when a circus stronman uncovered the buried entrance to the great temple.
In the 1960s, the Egyptian government relocated these temples from their original site when the Aswan High Dam was being built, to prevent them getting flooded.
Some more photos
Just wanted to share these additional personal photos. Seeing our height against these structures brings back to me once more the massive size of these two monuments.
About staying the night at Abu Simbel
The Abu Simbel temple has a light and sound show at night. I saw these tempting glorious photos, but ultimately decided against staying the night.
For one, I wasn’t 100% sure about the safety angle and I didn’t want to push our luck. The road to Abu Simbel from Aswan closes by 4, so a late drive back to the city is impossible. If we had traveled by flight, we could have stayed for the light and sound show and then left by plane.
Do I now regret not staying the night? Not really. Abu Simbel just seemed so distant and lonely. I loved our short visit to the temple but I felt more at ease once we reached the bright lights of Aswan. I guess I am a scaredycat at heart after all. Abu Simbel while beautiful felt too remote for me to be entirely comfortable spending a night there.
I want to know: I am currently prepping the rest of my blog posts on Egypt and would like to know – Do you mind my peppering these posts with so much historical detail? Would you prefer shorter posts without all the history? Do let me know so I can write up my posts accordingly.
As always, any questions on Abu Simbel or our itinerary, leave a message in the comments or email me, I”ll get back with details.
