Cruising South

Tuesday March 14
On Tuesday, we were in Edfu. After breakfast, we went out to the street, and in groups of four, took horse-drawn carriages to the Temple of Horus. I set about to wandering and soon found myself behind the inner sanctuary, listening to a French tour guide describing a wooden barque (ship). He said that this was a reproduction; the original was in the Louvre, in Paris. The tourists all murmured "Ah, Le Louvre," and then moved on. I found all sorts of stair cases and went exploring inside and out.

We continued our cruise to Kom Ombo. The temple is visible from way off -- it's on a promontory at a bend in the river, and the approach is impressive. There were beautiful gardens surrounding the temple, but apparently, there had been some terrorism there, so there were also lots of guns in evidence.

One of the emphases at this temple is the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt. Another is the cult of the crocodile. I patiently waited in line to go into a little building where I saw (with the help of my flashlight -- it was dark) decaying crocodile mummies in dusty glass cases. That done, I think I never have to see another mummy up close again.