Abu Simbel Temple Must See

My every journey starts with a dream! MisirThe reason I went to is because I watched the moving story years ago. Abu Simbel Temple was. The southern part of the Egyptian Civilization that developed around the Nile River, located in the continuation of the cities of Luxor and Aswan, was the last survivor of the Aswan dam. Abu Simbel!

I've either seen it in a documentary for the first time or when I was researching something about Egypt on the internet, I'm not so sure. All I remember is that I said "I should definitely go here". Whenever I try to include Egypt in my travel routes, another place has always intervened until today. And Egypt was only my 44th country. Let it be late, no power 🙂

The Story of Abu Simbel Temple

Abu Simbel, UNESCO World Heritage Site one of the places on the list. II. It consists of 2 main temples built in honor of the victory of the Treaty of Kadesh for Ramses and his wife Nefartari. The big one is for Ramses, the smaller one is for his wife. These temples, which were built in the region where the Nubian people live, are only 30 km away from the Sudanese border. As you can understand, it was done to intimidate Sudan.

The interesting part of the story is Aswan dam happening while doing it. With the filling of the reservoir, dozens of temples belonging to the Nubian people are flooded. Abu Simbel too, of course. In order to save the temple, which was taken under protection in 1968, a barrier is built inside the dam lake, the water is expected to recede, and they move the temples 700 meters above the dam lake at the same angle to the point where they are now.

The temples, which were divided into large cubes with a magnificent engineering work, are reassembled and every year, they place the sun, which hits the face of the Ramses statue inside the temple, at its full angle, twice a year. If you are interested in the history of Egypt, you can watch the documentary of this transport. NatGeoYou can watch from.

How to Get to Abu Simbel Temple

Going to Abu Simbel is a bit difficult 🙂 Even I may have chosen the hardest way 🙂

Departure to Abu Simbel Temple by River Road

The most enjoyable way to go to Abu Simbel is to come here from Luxor with a 4-day tour with Cruise tours on the Nile river. You will enjoy both Luxor and the Nile. So you can see the temple at night, I'm sure it's also beautiful at night.

Departure to Abu Simbel Temple by Railroad

Unfortunately, the train doesn't come all the way to Abu Simbel. But there is a train route from Cairo to Aswan. You can come to Aswan by train and join Abu Simbel tours from Aswan. You say, "Can't we go without a tour, brother", unfortunately you can't go. You can only cross the highway between Aswan-Abu Simbel under police control for security reasons. Departing from Aswan every morning at 04:00, tour vehicles depart as a convoy with an armed police officer in each vehicle and return to Aswan at noon as a convoy.

Departure by Bus to Abu Simbel Temple

As with the train, there is no direct access to Abu Simbel by bus. First of all, Aswan, then Abu Simbel by tour. Let me just warn you, the road between Luxor and Aswan, called the Nile Road, is both very crowded, and there are constant bumps on the road because it passes through permanent settlements. Therefore, you cannot go fast. In other words, bus or minibus is a difficult mode of transportation.

Departure to Abu Simbel Temple by Private Vehicle

Personally, I do not recommend renting a car in Egypt. There is always police on the road, they don't understand your language, bumps are another problem, traffic chaos is another problem. They drive very illegally. You can come nose to nose with a truck that went in the opposite direction…

Abu Simbel Private Tour

This was my method. When my time is limited and there are many things I want to do; We hired a minibus with a guide – driver from Hurghada. We arrived in Luxor in the morning, visited the sights in Luxor, and set out for Aswan in the evening. We reached Aswan at night. The next morning, we joined the convoy with the same vehicle and guide. On the way back, we returned directly to Hurghada. On the way back, I broke my record by traveling for 1 hours in 18 day 🙂

It was very tiring, but seeing the Abu Simbel Temple was one of the best experiences of my life. Its magnificence and workmanship are unbelievably impressive… If you are someone like me who prefers to see temples instead of swimming, I guarantee that you will definitely enjoy it 🙂

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