October 23 - Sunday

On the boat for breakfast. Movie.

Drove to the unfinished obelisk. On the way we glimpsed a large Coptic church and a Coptic cemetery.

We watched a brief video. It's a granite quarry. Obviously it was cracked and the project was abandoned. Looking good. Deb scrambled underneath and saw how they were working to free the stone.

On to the Aswan High Dam. Quite impressive. Lots of security.

Onto a small boat for a trip to the Temple of Isis at Philae. The boat guys entertained us and sold us jewelry.

This amazing temple was rescued from being covered by Lake Nassar when the Low Aswan dam was built. It was surrounded by a coffer dam to hold out the water. It was then cut into chunks and transported here and reassembled.
Extras

It has served many purposes over the ages. Graffiti.

Back on the boat and more sales. Back on the bus.

We stopped at a papyrus place where we saw an explanation of how it is made in the ancient way. There were many beautiful pieces. Many folks bought items including us.

Back to the boat for lunch. Then off to the Nubian Village

Another small boat ride up the river with entertainment and sales. The river had wonderful sights.

A tricky dismount at the Village. Movie. Then a hike up to a school where a teacher greeted us. We were led into a classroom where the teacher treated us like children and tried to teach us some Arabic. He emphasized counting. If you got it wrong you had to stand facing the wall. Such fun. A small donation was given by all.

I was accosted by a couple women trying to sell me some trinkets. I finally reached in my pocket and gave one of them a 50 pound note (~$.50). You'd think I gave her $100. She was so happy she showed it around to her friends. Obviously they are making next to nothing selling their stuff.

We visited what was supposed to be a typical Nubian home. It was pretty crude but painted and decorated. Deb had a henna painting done on her hand. I drank their tea and gawked.

Back to the boat and a rather long trip home in the dark. It's still amazing how many Nile cruisers are parked and rusting.

Dinner. Then a Nubian evening - dancing. Movie. then a crazy guy in native garb hassling folks for fun. Movie. Then a horse came out - two guys in costume, and entertained us.

To bed.