Egypt – Aswan

Day 53
27-02-2011 Evening
Egypt, Aswan
10330 km since the beginning of the journey

The overnight place – Camping „Adam`s Home“. To be more precise – behind the camping in a higher place facing the Nile.
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The inside of the camping.



River view.



Yestarday I didn`t reach Abu Simbel. Because in the morning it was necessary to find the company of selling ship tickets. The company was „Nile River Valley Transportation Company“ but somehow finding it was not very successful. In the end I reached the right place an hour later of the right time. Since the reservation had been made earlier by phone - then the car was measured – to find out if it was less than five metres or more. Because those cars, more than five metres in length will be of more expensive price. Fortunately – Mazda is less than five metres in length when measured and also according to the passport.

Next I had to go to a place called „Traffic court„ and get the sertificate that while in Egypt there has been no traffic violations. By me. The institution was about a few kilometres away in the centre of the town. By the door on a box a young man was sitting and he filled out one more form in Arabic. Request to get the sertificate. Then it was necessary to make a copy of my passport and from the Egyptian car passport as well. So with the nicely set documents between plastic covers, I was shown to go towards the second floor. It meant that trusting your inner senses, You had to pick up the right person who would give the „non-breaking – the traffic rules-„ document. All the rooms were full of people, everybody was trying to explain something and arguing. And as many of the rooms had no doors so there were no door-signs either. Or they would have been written in Arabic anyway. In short – at last I managed my papers, which were between plastic covers, to give to someone who was going in and it took about half an hour . Then a superior handed me a small paper explaining that everything was now in order



Now back to the ticket office to prove that now there is the Certificate. By that time it was 11 and it meant that no more conveys towards Abu Simbel today. (there should be two convoys per day – one - in the morning at 4 and the other - at 11 pm).

One of Aswani`s sightseeings is the Unfinished Obelisk. – Unfinished Obelisk.
The height would have been 42 m and weight 1200 tons. But the construction was stopped because the granite broke.


If it had been completed it would have been the largest obelisk in Egypt.



Next – a view at Philae Temple.



From the boat.







And downstairs the garden house of Emperor Traianus built by Romans.



For a change





Tomorrow should be the last day in Egipt, making a total of 21 days and almost 2900 km. Experienced the Egyptian Revolution and traffic in Cairo.

In the morning it is necessary to go to the traffic police, give back the local number plates and after that to the port accompanied by police. A legend „Aswan-Wadi Halfa ferry“, is waiting there. It is something like „Aurora“ was once to the sixth of the world. If someone still remembers.

Unfortunately it is not possible to go to Sudan by land because the Red Sea Road .has been closed for a long time because of the border conflict between Egipt and Sudan. More reading here.

The ship leaves for Sudan once a week – on Mondays. It should take about 18 hours to reach Sudan.