THE TEMPLE OF EDFU
From Esna we traveled on down the Nile to the Edfu Temple. I got up in the morning and had breakfast and then we assembled in the lobby of the ship then went outside and up the stairs to street level where horses and carriages with their handlers were lined up. This would be our transportation to Edfu Temple. The temple is several miles from the ship so it took about twenty minutes to get there. It was interesting to go through the city and see all the sights and see the people who lived in that part of the world so different from the way we live in the west. This temple is dedicated to Horus, who is the falcon headed god.
On the Way to Edfu In olden times the people of Egypt worshipped the animals they saw in nature around the places where they lived. After awhile they wanted to talk to them and communicate with them. Later they were able to do this when they made masks of their gods, and later costumes of them and then establish elaborate rituals around them. This was the beginning of an intricate religion that lasted for thousands of years inwhich their art and symbolism evolved into something that is rarely seen on this earth.

Ptolomy III, who was a Greek governor started building this temple in 237 BCE, and it took two hundred years to complete. It is actually a replica of a temple that stood there two thousand years earlier.
Edfu Temple When you go into the courtyard you first see the many columns that were built along the walls. There are fifty-two of them. They are covered with reliefs. Two granite falcon statues stand at the enrance of the temple. When you enter the ante chamber you see eighteen more huge columns covered with depictions of Egyptian art. The temple contains various halls and a sanctuary.

On that particular day the place was crowded with tourists from many lands. The guide was taking us from one place to another at a very fast pace and talking in a very low voice. Many times I couldn't hear what he had to say because of all the noise around from so many people. As we were swiftly going from one place to another I was trying to follow some members of our group. I looked away for a second and then looked back and couldn't see any one from our group. I searched all over the immediate area but couldn't find them. There were just crowds and crowds of people speaking English, French, Italian and every other language under the sun. I walked around trying to find someone I could recognize. I couldn't find anyone. I went into one of the outer halls thinking I would find someone. Nothing. I then decided to just forget about finding them. I will look at this place on my own, so I started walking around and looking at everything. I felt that if there was anything important to see here I will try to look at everything and take as many pictures as I could, then I can read about it when I go t back to the States.

Finally after I had gone through the whole temple I decided to go to the entrance thinking maybe now I would find someone from the group. Half way there I spotted one of our party from New York City. She had gotten separated from everyone too. We walked back to the carriages and then everyone else started to appear and we were all together again. We found our driver and got in the carriage and went back to the ship the same way we came.

Back where the ship was moored I got off the carriage and had to fight my way back to the ship among the wave of persistant hawkers. It was terrible the way these people throw themselves at the tourists trying to make a living. When the dust settled and everyone was safely back the ship set sail and we were on our way to a temple called Kim Ombo. I spent much of the time sitting in a chair in my cabin with the curtains open watching life outside on the Nile go by from my window.

Hieroglyphs