Temple of Edfu

We awoke the next morning finding that we'd sailed south from Luxor to Aswan and our first outing of the day was a horse cart ride to the Temple of Horus at Edfu. I got a chuckle as Horus is the falcon headed god of the sky, which reminded me of Folsom Lake College. The Temple had a very ingenious layout which took advantage of the position of the sun at various times of the day, strategically positioned skylights as it were.

It was also designed so that the pharaohs could sit on their thrones deep inside the temple and watch the commoners outside in the quad. The idea was that gods were all-seeing but the commoners could not see them.

Horse Cart Ride, just say no

The joy of this magnificent temple was tempered, however, by the way the locals treated the horses who pulled the horse carts back and forth between the Nile and the Temple. We had been warned by our guide, but seeing it in person was disconcerting. Although the horses are the local's livelihood, they have continued to mistreat the horses even though the government has tried to intervene and free vet care is provided. It was difficult to ride in the buggy and watch the dirty and thin horses slip and slide through the street on the cobblestones. Would not do that again.

street scenes

crazy boat ride out to Temple of philae with 13 year-old captain

Our boat captain. He's 13!

Our tour group

a surprising yet frequent, OCCURRENCE during the trip - group photo.

Next - Off the the Valley of the Kings...