Buying Alabaster in Luxor, Egypt

On September 13, 2018 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Egypt, Uncategorized4 Comments

One of the things that Luxor, and Egypt in general, is known for is alabaster and our guide made sure to take to one of the alabaster factories. At the factory, you can find two types of products, those that are machine-made and those that are hand-made. The differences are fairly obvious as the machine-made products are thinner, lighter, and don’t have tool markings on them while the hand-made are heavier and have distinct tool marks. Alabaster comes in three colors, dark green, tannish-yellow, and white. One of the reasons that alabaster is prized is due to its translucence and the effect of the light passing through the soft stone.

Before going into the store with all of the various products made out of alabaster, we were treated to a demonstration of how the artisans made vases from the stones. It is a three or four step process depending on the product being created. In the first step, the stone is chiseled into the basic shape of the design of the object being created. Next, if it is to be a vase or candle holder, a kind of drill is used to hollow out the stone. Afterwards, the outside of the stone is filed and sanded to make it completely smooth to the touch. Finally, if the artisan desires, images are carved into the surface such as hieroglyphs, scarabs, or an ankh.

Once the workers demonstrated the tools to us, it was our turn to take a turn chiseling and drilling into the alabaster. Although not complicated, it was actually tiring work, so one could only imagine spending a full day of shaping the alabaster. After spending time learning about the process, we went into the store to decide if we wanted to purchase any of the alabaster products. Having seen the process, we focused on those that were hand-made and eventually chose a couple of alabaster vases that we now put on display, lighting candles inside of them to show off their color and semi-transparency.

Going to an alabaster factory while in Egypt is definitely worthwhile and certainly a must if you are in Luxor. There is certainly nothing wrong with getting a machine-made alabaster product as they are uniformly shaped, extremely smooth, and sometimes allow more light to pass through. Every time we see our hand-made alabaster vases, we are reminded of our day in Luxor.

Temple of Kom Ombo Outside of Aswan, Egypt

On August 20, 2018August 17, 2020 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Egypt8 Comments

On the evening of our last full day of our cruise down the Nile River, we visited the Temple of Kom Ombo. Although it was not the largest of temple complexes that we saw during our time in Egypt, it was still fascinating. The southern part of the temple is dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek. Although crocodiles are not often found north of the new Aswan dam anymore, they used to prevalent in the area. There is even a Crocodile Museum at the site with crocodile mummies that are quite unique. The northern part of the temple is dedicated to the falcon god Horus and his image can be found on many of the hieroglyphs within the temple.

As with many different sites that we visited in Egypt, to get to the temple you wind your way through a variety of locals selling trinkets and children begging for money. Once inside the temple grounds, as you walk amongst the columns, the evidence of previous floods is very evident by the color variations on the walls. Because the temple sits so close to the banks of the Nile River, it has been damaged and mostly destroyed many times throughout history by both floods as well as earthquakes. Despite that fact, the temple has been mostly restored and there are even some hieroglyphs that retain some pigments of color.

With all of the different cruise ships that were at the temple when we visited, it was quite crowded when we arrived. On the bright side, since it was almost sunset, we had a slight break from the overwhelming heat. The temple was originally built around the Ptolemaic dynasty, somewhere between 180 and 47 BC. As with most of the temples in Egypt, the stories on the walls and columns of Kom Ombo depict specific histories of the gods, but many of them were unique to the local people of the area.

Another Image of the Crocodile God, Sobek

The Banks of the Nile

On August 7, 2018 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Egypt10 Comments

Cruising down the Nile River from Luxor to Aswan when we were in Egypt was a wonderful experience. Obviously there were the temples that we visited along the way, but just cruising on the Nile was relaxing and wonderful. It was a great way to beat the heat and most of the cruise ships have a pool on the upper deck to help you cool off. The shoreline is covered with tropical trees and plants, but the desert is clearly visible not far in the distance. It is amazing how narrow the actual vegetation actually is and how hard life must be for those people who live along the banks.

As the ship cruised down the Nile, children would run to the shore and wave at the passengers excitedly. Other times, we saw children swimming and splashing near the shore, doing their best to get out of the heat as well. Occasionally we would see some boats with fisherman, but the ship usually sailed in the afternoon and was docked in the morning, so we weren’t on the water when most fisherman would be out. Although we saw plenty of feluccas in Cairo, most of the boats, other than other cruise ships, were much simpler.

Seeing the Temple of Kom Ombo in the afternoon after we left Edfu, was truly incredible. We could see the temple columns off in the distance as we rounded one of the river bends and it loomed larger the closer that we came to the dock. Other than the many sunsets that we saw, the temple was probably the most fascinating sight that we saw. We spent four days and three nights on the cruise and every day brought different and yet similar views of the shoreline.

For anyone visiting Egypt, we would recommend taking a cruise down the Nile River. The cruises go both directions, either from Luxor to Aswan or from Aswan to Luxor. It is possible to do the tour by land, but we feel that if you have the time, going by ship is far better. We were fortunate that our tour company booked us on one of the nicer cruise ships and we enjoyed our time onboard very much.