Great Temple of Abu Simbel

Abu Simbel. When I was a kid I remember watching a couple of documentaries about the moving of the great temples at Abu Simbel and also the temples at Philae and vowed one day when I grew up I would visit these places. Fortunately for me I have realised my dream. I recently visited the wonderful and fantastic UNESCO world heritage site at Abu Simbel in Egypt. The cost of this trip was £65 by coach and included a very early start getting up at the ungodly hour of 3AM to board a coach for the four hour coach trip to ensure you arrived just before sunrise and before the heat of the day made the visit and journey uncomfortable. On reaching ...  Read the complete review

The Temple of Abu Simbel was built by the great pharaoh Ramses II in the 13th century BC. While officially dedicated to three of the Egyptian gods, it was essentially a monument to his own greatness. It is truly astonishing: the temple is built into the rock and four giant statues of Ramses II sit either side of the entrance - a truly impressive sight. Inside the temple the artistry is really beautiful. The temple was designed so that twice a year sun rays enter the inner sanctuary and light first on a statue of Ramses, then the gods Amun-Ra, Ra-Horakhty, leaving the god of darkness, Ptah, appropriately in the dark. Implication: Ramses is a god himself, ...  Read the complete review

The light and sound show in Abu Simbel was fascinating. Does anybody know the title of the music in that show and its composer?
izzet inal

The Nubians call it 'The Nubian Sea' while the rest of Egypt named it Lake Nasser. Not surprising the Nubians call it that as in order to create the Lake in the 1960s the Nasser government penned up the Nile behind the High Dam and the dammed waters flooded the Nubian Desert area in Upper Egypt to create a 300 mile long inland sea. This meant that forty Nubian villages and towns and forty thousand Nubians had to be re-housed as their homes vanished beneath the rising waters. But it wasn't just the Nubian people who were in danger of being submerged -but many of the ...  Read the complete review

I have been to Abu Simbel three times. It is an extraordinary place, and I am writing this opinion to explain why you should make the effort and find the money to get there if you are in the area. The Temple: The first thing that hits you is that there is nothing to see! There is just a big hill, with a rock-strewn path leading around it. The path is rough enough that you watch your feet as you walk. After a couple of minutes I looked up to see something unforgettable. The four colossal statues of Ramses II are set back in to the rock so you are almost in front of them before you see them. They are about 20m tall, seated and perfect. The majesty ...  Read the complete review