On our second day at Aswan we visit the famous Abu Simbel Temple. It is a 3 hour drive in an escorted convoy through the desert (from Aswan) but I had purchased a plane ticket when I booked this trip so I fly down there for the day. On the way I chat to a lovely American couple spending a 2 week holiday in Egypt. They are quite amazed at the length of my travels as they tend to see the world in bite sized bits and couldn’t imagine being away from the comforts of home for such a long time.
I get on a bus from the airport and arrive at the temple. The Temple at Abu Simbel was built by Ramses II and dedicated to a few gods as well as himself. Four majestic statues of Ramses II, more than 20 m tall, herald the visitor into the temple. The temple was hewn out of the rock and then moved when the High Dam was constructed and the waters of Lake Nasser threatened to swallow it up. The art work inside is stunning but unfortunately, no cameras are allowed inside.
Adjacent to this temple is the smaller Temple of Hathor, built for his first wife Nefertari. Women certainly came of second best in those times, but it is still an amazing piece of work! 
I have been amazed at the crowds of tourists in Egypt and Abu Simbel is no different. People from all over the world converge here by plane and bus to visit these majestic temples, the sheer size of 
which I have not seen anywhere else.
I find my way back to the airport via a shuttle bus and fly back to Aswan. My transfer vehicle is waiting me on arrival and takes me directly to the Philae Temple.
As the rest of my group travelled by bus to Abu Simbel I am on my own today. I hire a boat to take me to the island on which the temple is situated. The temple is dedicated to god Isis and the approach to it quite scenic.
This is another one of the temples that were relocated and rebuilt stone by stone with the construction of the High Dam.
It is another majestic work of art and an amazing engineering feat. The temple takes my breath away and I wonder around trying to imagine what life must have been like all those thousands of years ago.
“If you want to move people, you look for a point of sensitivity and in Egypt nothing moves people as much as religion.” Naguib Mahfouz
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