The first thing we saw was the High Dam, which was completed in 1971. This dam is bloody huge as is the lake behind it, Lake Nasser. If it were to break (or be broken) the wall of water which would form would almost completely decimate Egypt and sweep the city of Cairo into the Mediterranean Sea. The dam supplies electricity to almost the entire country. Because of it's vital importance, there is a strong military presence around it and photos of it and it's approaches are completely forbidden.
On one side of the dam is a monument built to commemorate the friendship between Egypt and the Soviet Union, who supplied funds and engineers to build the dam after the Americans forced the World Bank to refuse a promised loan.
After the dam, we went to see the Unfinished Obelisk which was commissioned by Queen Hatchepsut, the only female pharaoh. A fault was found in the granite and it was abandoned. If it had been completed it would have stood 45m tall, and been the largest obelisk ever built.
We then went to the Philae temples, which are on an island between the old Aswan Dam (built in 1902) and the new High Dam. It also was moved during the 60s. Previously when the Nile flooded, the island would be half immersed and tourists would float around it in rowboats. When the temples were moved, the new island was reshaped so that it was exactly the same as the old one.
The final picture is of our group when we went to a Nubian village for dinner: Kelly (our leader), our host, Juan, Sebastian, Helen, Simon, Jen & Dan. Debbie took the picture, and Sharon was unable to attend due to illness. The food was really yummy!
Subfolders
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
