Today, day 3 of our Nile cruise from Luxor to Aswan, I got up early and sat on deck for a while before breakfast. I wrote a little, but mainly just looked at the river. There were a few small boats out and lots of birds, all seeking breakfast, I imagine. For the first time since we started this cruise, I had some time to ponder the magnificence of the river and its immeasurable impact. It’s a difficult thing to get one’s mind around. I finally gave up trying to visualize and quantify the millennia of history known here and, instead, cleared my mind and meditated on the Nile. When I stopped grasping at the significance of the place, that significance snuck up on me through some forgotten back door. I resolved to stay passively open for the rest of my tour.

Nile sunrise

After breakfast, we rode through the streets of Edfu in horse-drawn carriages to visit the Temple of Horus. Horus is the falcon god, son of Isis and Osiris. (Read the interesting story of that family here.) The pharaohs of Egypt were believed to be the incarnation of Horus. The temple at Edfu is the best-preserved of all ancient Egyptian temples.It was built in the 3rd-century BCE, during the Ptolemaic period, when Egypt was ruled by the Greeks.

Temple of Horus, Edfu, Egypt

Horus the falcon, Temple of Horus, Edfu, Egypt

Temple of Horus, Edfu, Egypt

Back on board, we sailed for Kom Ombo.

The temple at Kom Ombo sits right alongside the river, perhaps because it is dedicated to Sobek, the crocodile god of fertility, at least in half. The other half belongs to Horus. This one was also built in the Ptolemaic period.

Temple of Sobek and Horus, Kom Ombo, Egypt

Temple of Sobek and Horus, Kom Ombo, Egypt

Temple of Sobek and Horus, Kom Ombo, Egypt

Then we settled in for a few hours of power relaxing on deck, watching the river glide by en route to Aswan.

To read about days 1 and 2 on the Nile, click here and here.
To see Egypt tours that include a Nile cruise, click here.