I had not been to Aswan before. I wanted to see the two huge Abu Simbel temples that were moved before the Nile Valley flooded and created Lake Nasser. Nubians were forced to abandon their homes when the valley flooded, so I thought I would stay at a Nubian Guesthouse. It was certainly the most colourful place I have stayed. Abu Simbel is located 230 km. south of Aswan, and is close to the border of Sudan. Vans and tour buses travel in convoys across the desert, and there are numerous police checkpoints along the way.
The desert is pretty flat and desolate most of the way. We did pass one area where there were rocky hills. We also saw one oasis – a lovely patch of green trees and flowers in the middle of nowhere.
The temples of Abu Simbel were built in 1260 BC. In 1968 they were relocated to avoid them being submerged when the high dam was built. They were simply cut into blocks, the blocks were numbered, and they were relocated and reconstructed. Each block weighed about 20 tons. There is not a lot to see inside either of the temples, but the outside of each of them is very impressive. It is incredible how well the hieroglyphics have withstood the test of time.