January 14, 2026

Esna, Egypt > sail down the Nile to Edfu > Sail on to Kim Ombo, Egypt

We were under way again this morning at 05:30. On our way to Edfu and the Temple of Horus. Breakfast started at 08:00 which made waiting a bit long for some of us. We meet our guide in the reception area and walk off the boat. The street is about twenty feet above us, so it is up some stairs to get to it. Here our guide has arranged a horse and carriage to take us to Edfu.

Edfu was one of several temples built during the Ptolemaic Kingdom, including the Temple of Kom Ombo, which we will visit this afternoon. The size of the Edfu temple reflects the relative prosperity of the time it was built. The Edfu temple, which was begun "on 23 August 237 BC, initially consisted of a pillared hall, two transverse halls, and a barque sanctuary surrounded by chapels." The building was started during the reign of Ptolemy III Euergetes and completed in 57 BC under Ptolemy XII Auletes. That is one-hundred-and-eighty years of building. 

Over the centuries, the temple became buried to a depth of 12 metres (39 ft) beneath drifting desert sand and layers of river silt deposited by the Nile. Once it was buried the local inhabitants built homes directly over the former temple grounds. When the temple was identified by a French expedition in 1798, only the upper reaches of the temple pylons were visibl. In 1860 Auguste Mariette, a French Egyptologist, began the work of excavating the temple from the sands. Because it was almost completely buried in the sand it is nearly intact and a good example of an ancient Egyptian temple. Its archaeological significance and high state of preservation have made it a center for tourism in Egypt.

Our guide insisted that when Cleopatra, the 7th, took Julius Caesar on a tour of Egypt they stopped here. There are cartouches indicating a Cleopatra was here at one point. The guide would also have us believe that Cleopatra built a super fancy boat to sail down the Nile with Julius Caesar about 48 BC. Somewhere along the way she conceived Caesarion the son of Julius Caesar, although Caesar never publically acknowledged Caesarion as his heir. Of course, after Caesar’s assassination in Rome in 44 BC, Cleopatra turned to Mark Antony for comfort.

Our guide also tried to convince us that Caesarion was born by c-section. The truth will probably never be known, but we do know that c-sections at the time were only preformed on dead or dying women to save the baby. The c-section procedure wasn’t successful until much later.  Also, Cleopatra had three children after Caesarion; twins Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene II, and the younger so Ptolemy Philadelphus. Which helps to deny the thought she had had a c-section.

After Cleopatra’s death, the three surviving children were taken to Rome by Octavian, where they were raised by Octavia, Antony's Roman wife. Alexander Helios was made king of Armenia, Parthia and Media. He disappeared from the historical records as a child, so he probably died young. His twin sister, Cleopatra Selene II, survived into adulthood and was married to King Juba II of Numidia and ruled with him over Mauritania. She was an influential queen in her own right. The youngest, Ptolemy Philadelphia was named king of Syria, Phoenicia and Cilicia. H elike his older brother disappears from the records as a child so he too probably died young. So much for the Ptolemy line of succession. It ended with Cleopatra.

It is getting to the point of “another Egyptian temple”. Yes, they all have the same elements, they are all incredibly large. They all have significant meaning and tons of information recorded on the walls. The colors, which are 2,000 or 5,000 years old are amazing. Oh, they all have an avenue of the sphinxes. This one does too, although very little of it is see today, most of it is still buried. I would guess when my great grand children visit in another thirty or so years, it will be substantially more restored that it is today.

The “fun” part of today’s tour is the carriage ride from the boat to the temple through the streets of Edfu. Edfu has about sixty-thousand people. Like most of Egypt is consists of houses or apartment buildings with a small store on the ground floor. Some of the stores, if you took them off the street here and planted it in Italy or the United States, wouldn’t seem out of place. Some of them appear probably has they did one-funded years ago, maybe selling cell phones now, but the store front looks the same. It is interesting riding through the streets seeing everything in Arabic with an occasional familiar word, even if it is iPhone repair here.

We got back to the boat just before it has gone noon. We retired to our room to rest. Mary isn’t feeling too well today and was struggling a little on the tour. Lunch will be up on the Sun Deck at 13:00, and we sail on to Kom Ombo at 12:30. Sometime after dinner we will sail on to Aswan where we will spend the night. However, before we sail to Aswan we have another temple tour of the Kom Ombo temple.

Ok, some observations. Religion, or probably most all modern religions, seem to contain elements of Egyptian religions. Anointing with oil. This is a cross-cultural spiritual practice, especially in Christianity and Judaism. People and objects are anointed with oil to symbolize purification, consecration, healing, etc.. Quess what! The Egyptians did this as well. Oil and perfume were used in anciet Egypt to show the presence of a devine spirit or god. Hey, the catholic church still burn incence.  All that we may believe is unique to our religious ceremonies probably can be traced back in some form to the Egyptians, who by the probably got it from someelse.

The Kom Ombo temple is famous because it is a “double temple.” A temple dedicated to two gods: the crocodile god Sobek and the falcon god Horus the Elder. This is a newer temple built during the Ptolemaic (323 – 30 BC) and the Roman (30 BC to 643 AD) periods.  The temple is located at a strategic bend in the Nile River and was an important trade center for gold from Nubia. In fact, Kom means hill. Ombo probably stands for means combination or the combining for Lower and Upper Egypt. The temple features twin sanctuaries, a crocodile museum and intricate reliefs detailing ancient Egyptian medicine and daily life. The site of the temple was settled in prehistoric times, and during the Greco-Roman era was serving as a capital city.

This is a popular overnight spot for river cruise ships. There are probably 20 or more here. We are actually “docked” as the fifth ship from the actual shore. So when we get off to go on our tour, we walk through four other ships to get to the actual dock. The river is probably 7 to 10 meters below the level of the “land” above. So, we climb more stairs. Looking back at the dock you can see all the boats lined up at the dock. Again, there maybe a few more than 20, and they are all parked five or six deep.

Walking through the other ships you can see that they are all of the same basic size and design. They are all roughly the same size, 72-75 meters (236 – 246 feet) long, and apparently all 14.4 meters (47 ft) wide. They length and width probably has to do with locks on the Nile somewhere, although we aren’t going through any that I am aware. They are also the height, five decks. The top deck on all of them appears to be a pool deck.

One website indicates that this is the newest ship in the Sonesta line. Another says our ship was built in 2011 but refurbished in 2024. Physically on the outside they pretty much all look the same. However, they all look a little shop worn, but some look quite a bit more so.

Anyway, once we get to the top of the stairs we can see the temple. It isn’t very far from the Nile, which only makes sense. The Nile is life. You are worshipping the crocodile god, who is by-the-way also the god of fertility. The temple is all bathed in light which only makes it look more spectacular.  Because this is a later temple instead of cutting images deep into the stone, the images are presented more in the Greek manner of relief. Meaning the background is cut out not the images. It is an interesting change in the construction of the temples.

We get to see crocodiles which have been mummified. The huge pools where they kept the crocodiles. Now, because of the Aswan Dams there are no longer crocodiles in this part of the river. This temple seems really well preserved, but it is probably because it so new compared to the other we have seen.

When we return to the ship, it is nearly time for dinner. We go down to the lounge for a drink before dinner. The place is empty. The competition for guests must be fierce. Maybe too many boats? This is the “high” season for tourism and out boat is only about half filled. There are lots of people on shore but with 70 passengers per boat on the average and 25 boats, you still get nearly 2,000 people.

Dinner is the dinning room, there is a quartet of men playing traditional Egyptian instruments. Dinner is buffet style. They had Falafels, Kofta (similar to Italian arrosticini but it is made from minced or ground meat (probably a mixture of lamb and beef) mixed with herbs and spices, then molded around a skewer into a sausage or long shape before grilling), turkey (they try to tell us that this is an Egyptian dish, however we know that the turkey is not native to Egypt. They are indigenous to North America, not africa. The guide even tried to point out turkeys carved into the temple walls, but they looked more like geese than turkeys. Turkeys wouldn’t have been known here 2,000 plus years ago), and there was also shawarma (shawarma looks a lot like a Greek gyro. Apparently they both evolved from the Turkish döner kebab. Shawarma focuses on garlic, yogurt and spices like cinnamon and cumin.).

There was a table with salads, another with breads, another with soups, and another with desserts. There was a lot of food. And everything we tried was very good. The dishes are all good but the food seems a little bland. There were a number of sauces and spices. I tried to ask and follow what to put on what, but it still seemed to make little difference. One popular sauce is Tahini which they seem to put on nearly everything. It is creamy, nutty and a little savory, but still not “spicy”. It is made from ground sesame seeds, lemon juice, garlic and water, so it should have some flavor but sorry not much.

After dinner it is straight off to bed. Tomorrow and the next day will be long days. We are almost done with the cruise. Tomorrow will be our last night aboard, then we return to Cairo for a night before heading back to Jordan and Amman and Petra.

Buonanotte e ciao

Enrico e Maria