Page 46 - ParentsWorld March 2020 flipbuilder

nurturing 21st century children

leisure &

travel

aSWan daM and LaKE naSSEr
Aswan, Egypt’s southernmost city, is the country’s gateway
to Africa. The glorious Nile winds its way down from the
massive High Dam and lake Nasser. To be found in this
area is the famous Mausoleum of the Aga Khan leader
of Ismaili Muslims who died in 1957. However, its most
celebrated monument is Aswan Dam, Egypt’s “protection Luxor Temple
against hunger”. The dam built with soviet assistance was
completed on May 14, 1964 resulting in the formation of
lake Nasser with a storage capacity of 157,000,000,000 thus setting a precedent which was followed by all succes-
cubic metres of water, making it the second largest artificial sive pharaohs.
lake of the world. Close to Aswan is the beautiful Temple Despite this secrecy, pillaging and plundering of the
of Philae situated in the midst of an evocative panorama tombs continued. In the tomb of seti I, one of the most
of granite rocks, columns and pillars. noteworthy in the Thebes necropolis, was discovered
the pharaoh’s sarcophagus, carved out of a single massive
LuXor block of alabaster. About a kilometre and half from the
Back in Aswan we boarded our cruise ship Crocodilo. After Valley of Kings is the Valley of Queens, the ‘Biban-el-
overnight sailing we docked in the village of Kom Ombo Harini’, with 80 tombs embellished finely with frescoes and
an ancient city, home of sobek, the crocodile god wor- dizzying rows of hieroglyphics.
shipped in pre-dynastic times. Our next halt was Edfu, to Another pride of the West bank is the Temple of
visit the Temple of Horus, built during the Ptolemaic Queen Hatshepsut, the lady who would be pharaoh
period — widely acknowledged as the best preserved (to the extent that she wore a false beard). A patron of the
temple in Egypt. arts, Queen Hatshepsut ordered a funerary monument to
On the third day of the cruise we docked in luxor, be built for her father Tutmose I and herself. The great
the site of two stunning temples — luxor and Karnak. ingenuity of her architect-minister senmut was the way he
Once the fabled pharaonic capital of Thebes, luxor is exploited the rocks spread out in a fan shape behind the
the perfect gateway to upper (or southern) Egypt, and for monument, a revolutionary concept for the times.
good reason is referred to as the “world’s greatest open-air But more than the tombs and temple of Queen
museum”. Wandering amid the desolate tombs, temples Hatshepsut, the masterpieces of this region are the temples
and ruins here, one can conjure up visions of the ancient of Karnak and luxor. These grand temples built by
city of Thebes in its heyday. Amenophis III are sole witness to luxor’s splendid past. It
Apart from housing one-third of the world’s heritage is joined to the Temple of Karnak by a long avenue of
monuments, luxor, a major attraction for visitors to Egypt, sphinxes with ram’s heads which the XXth dynasty sub-
is also the starting point of all Nile cruises and offers a
wide range of hotels designed to meet the leisure needs of
the modern day explorer.
As is the case with all major cities of Egypt, the Nile
divides the city into the east bank (where the sun rises), the
location of most temples, and the necropolis or the city of
the dead on the west bank where the sun sets.

vaLLEy of KingS
On the west bank in the Valley of Kings, are the fabulous
tombs of the pharaohs and their wives that have yielded
unbelievable riches. The history of this region began with
the unlikely decision of Pharaoh Tutmose I, to distance
his tomb from the funerary temple, and insistence that his
remains be buried in a secret location, breaking a tradition
of 1,700 years. The architect, Inani, ingeniously excavated
a well-like tomb in an isolated valley carving out a steep Valley of Kings
stairway out of rock leading down to a burial chamber,

parentsworld • march 2020 46