Ancient Granite Quarry in Aswan, Egypt

On July 20, 2018July 20, 2018 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Egypt7 Comments

One of the first things we visited when we arrived in Aswan was the northern quarry, which contains an unfinished obelisk. Most of the granite that was used in ancient Egypt was mined from the quarries of Aswan and carried up the Nile on boats. It must have been extremely hard work to mine granite by chipping away at it with other stones. The day that we arrived in Aswan it was 114 degrees Fahrenheit (about 44.5 degrees Celsius), which made the thought of conditions that the ancient workers even more oppressive.

Looking Down at the Quarry and the Unfinished Obelisk

The giant obelisk that remains partially excavated from the granite quarry is quite impressive to see. It was commissioned by the famous female pharaoh, Hatshepsut and would have likely ended up with the other obelisks in the Karnak Temple in Luxor. Had the workers completed the obelisk, it would have been the largest ever created, but a crack in the stone stopped work on the obelisk. It has remained frozen in time as the workers have left it for thousands of years. In the time of Hatshepsut, obelisks were meant to represent the rays of sun, a way for the god Amun-Ra (Sun God) to descent to earth. It was important that obelisks be constructed out of a single stone without any cracks, otherwise the gods wouldn’t be able to travel through them.

One of the Finished Obelisks in the Karnak Temple

Probably more interesting than the reason for the creation of the obelisks is the transportation and actual placing of the obelisks in their final positions. After carefully chiseling the obelisks from the hard granite, they would raise them up and transfer them to a ship where they would be transported, standing erect, up the Nile. It must have been an unbelievable sight to the farmers living along the Nile when the ship with its cargo reaching towards the sky when sailing past them. Then, once reaching their location, such as the Karnak Temple, they would have to be transported across ground to their final location, all without breaking these huge structures. It is truly a task to be admired, even in today’s modern world.

People in the Background Provide Scale to the Obelisk

Visiting the ancient quarry with its unfinished obelisk is truly fascinating and should definitely be on your itinerary when visiting Aswan. There is very little shade at the quarry site, so be prepared for the heat and bring plenty of water. Walking around the quarry will only take about an hour or two, so you should have another destination mapped out for before or after. During our trip, after leaving the quarry, we continued onto the island of Philae to see the Temple of Isis.

Hatshepsut Temple and the Colossi of Memnon

On July 12, 2018 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Egypt10 Comments

There are so many fascinating sights to see when visiting Luxor, Egypt that you could easily spend a week or more in the area. Although the Valley of the Kings and Karnak Temple are absolute must-see’s, the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut and the Colossi of Memnon should also be on your list. They are both located on the west bank of the Nile outside of Luxor and we visited them after spending several hours in the Valley of the Kings. As with a lot of the things that you will find in Egypt, these are both amazing partially due to their sheer size.

Statues Outside of the Hatshepsut Temple’s Main Building

The Hatshepsut Temple is dedicated to both the god Amun as well as Hatshepsut, who was the greatest female pharaoh of ancient Egypt. Her reign begin in 1507 BCE and lasted for about 50 years. Her influence can be found throughout the temples of Egypt and she was responsible for the creation of the largest obelisks in Karnak Temple. The temple itself is considered one of the greatest architectural achievements of ancient Egypt with a style that resembles the classic Greek architecture that would follow about a thousand years later. It took 15 years to complete the construction of the temple and it is quite impressive, especially with the backdrop of the mountains behind it. Djeser Djeseru (holy of holiest) is the name of the main building and is also sometimes used to refer to the entire temple.

The Colossi of Memnon are two enormous statues representing Amenhotep III who reigned in the 13th century BCE. Both statues, which are about 60 feet high (18 meters), face the Nile River. Although the Mortuary of Amenhotep III, which was located behind the statues, no longer exists do to floods and the common practice of taking stones from older monuments to create new ones, the statues themselves are quite impressive. You don’t need to spend a lot of time to see the statues, but they are definitely worth putting on your itinerary. By the time that we made it to them, we were exhausted from walking through the tombs and temples in the extreme heat.

Egypt is such an amazing country with a history that stretches back over 5000 years. Our time in Luxor was definitely one of the highlights of our trip, if not our favorite place. We spent two days in the area and wish that we could have spend more time.

Learning Different Cooking Techniques When Traveling

On July 11, 2018 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Recipes5 Comments

Like many people, we not only like to try local dishes when we travel, but we also like to learn about how they prepare the food as well. Whether it is wrapping fish and vegetables in banana leaves, digging a pit, or using special pots like a tajine, the technique has as much to do with the flavor as the spices and meats. We can’t necessarily create all of the same techniques at home, but we try to whenever we can. We definitely love eating in small, family owned restaurants and if we are ever given the opportunity to eat with a local family, which happens occasionally, we absolutely enjoy that as well.

One thing that we have noticed through our travels is that we rely too much on modern technologies for cooking and they aren’t truly necessary. There is something special about a rustic meal prepared with traditional methods. The problem in today’s world is that people don’t have the time to prepare and cook meals in such a way that requires hours of time to prep ingredients or cook over open fires. Obviously we’re not suggesting that we turn back the clock to a time when there weren’t all of the conveniences and that a wonderful can’t be created by using them, just that there is something special about a meal made by hand and with love.