We got up and met in the lobby of the ship. I recall drinking what was called orange juice, but was more related to Tang.  (We’d have our actual breakfast after we got back.) We then headed out to take our horse carriage to Edfu Temple. Apparently, when the city and cruise ships tried to switch to buses, the locals rebelled and damaged the buses because it put a lot of local horse carriage drivers out of business. Since then the cruise ships have agreed to only use horse carriages even though it’s a massive headache to manage. Mikel reminded us to memorize what our driver and carriage looked like, as there would be hundreds of them upon exiting the temple.

Elizabeth and I snagged one of the first carriages and we were off. It takes a little bit to get to the temple. If you find yourself in Edfu and are taking one, beware flying horse shit. Our driver and horse were going fairly fast, and at one point kicked up some shit into the air and landed on me and my bag. Thank god for liberally packing wet wipes in my day bag!

When we arrived, we were once again adopted by the local sellers. One man gave me his card, pointed out his shop, and asked if I would leave time to buy things from him. “Maybe” I said, hoping he’d forget me and bother someone else.  We then met up with the others (as strangely our driver took either a long time or a different route than the others even though we were one of the first to leave) and headed into the site. As you first walk up, it doesn’t seem like much to the untrained eye. But you’ll actually be looking at whats left of the mud brick houses that use to be here. As we turned a corner we could see a Mammisi (birth house) which is a temple dedicated to the temple god’s birth as well as general motherhood/birthing, and behind that the great pylons of the temple.

Mikel gave us some time to admire the outside of the temple asking us to not wander too far, but we were too excited that many of us went rouge and started running around taking photos and selfies before Mikel could corral us all together so he could give us information on the temple complex. This temple is dedicated to Horus and there is a very similar almost mirror image temple at Dendera that is for Horus’ wife Hathor. Once a year their statues would be carried down the Nile so that way they could visit each other.

As we approached the entrance to the main courtyard we posed with the falcon statues of Horus, and I was pleased to see the moon was still out this early, just wished my camera could do it justice. In the doorway, you could still see paint in some areas. Mike gave us more information before we had time to once again explore the courtyard. I enjoyed watching the sun slowly light up a better version of the falcon/Horus statue. As Horus is viewed as a god of sky he is sometimes associated with the sun.

We then went inside the temple through two rooms of massive pillars. It gets darker as you go further in. Mikel brought us into one of the smaller rooms in the temple, but some of them didn’t have their lighting working, while others the lighting was sporadic. If you looked up, you could see dozens of tiny bats clinging to the roof. I missed them at first, but if you were quite you could hear their occasional squeaking.

We then exited out a side door, and Mikel showed us the story of Osiris and Set. (The story of how Osiris was betrayed by Set and died, to become a mummy and oversee the realm of the dead.) It was interesting to see that Set was portrayed as many different animals, most of which were being attacked.

We then went back inside to see some of the chamber rooms and the main sanctuary where a statue of Horus on a boat (one of the statues that would travel to Dendera in the festival to reunite Horus with Hathor). We then got in line to see the Goddess Nut chapel, although I had a hard time understanding what I was seeing until I looked at the photos later.

Next, we climbed some of the steps that would have lead to the roof (now closed off). As you walked up the stairs gods and images of priests walked with you. It was very interesting to see.

And then we were given free time. I had fun wandering around the temple, but I wish I had more time! There was so much to see. I felt like I was wandering here and there, trying to take as much in as I could.

When we exited, the guy who had given me his business card tried to guide me into his shop. (My hope that he’d find another person was ill thought out. There are so few tourists that no wonder he recognized me and had probably “called dibs” on me. I knew we had no time and that the cruise ship would be leaving soon, so I tried to avoid him. He got angry and demanded I give him his shiny business card (with the hieroglyphs alphabet) back. I was struck by so many thoughts at once. Firstly, who asks for a business card back? Then I realized, they were probably really expensive in Egypt to get them printed. (Same reason why the hotels required that we give key cards back, when in the states those are usually thrown away or kept as souvenirs.) Then I feared I didn’t have the card back, as I continued to walk he started yelling louder for his card, after a bit of walking I realized I had put it in a different pocket and handed it back to him. He ripped it out of my hand mumbling in Arabic about me.

We had to wait a bit for Mikel to headcount us and make sure we all were ready to get back in the horse carriage. While waiting, some little children came up trying to sell us stuff. I had learned the phrase “I’m sorry I have no money” and had been using it as my default statement throughout Egypt. Of course most sellers just laughed it off, knowing it was a lie. But upon speaking it to these two little kids they looked a little crestfallen and then moved onto the next person quickly. It made me sad because they looked like they were desperate to make money and the fact that they weren’t in school.

But I didn’t have much time to dwell. I was trying to remember what our driver and carriage looked like…but in the end I didn’t need to worry. Just like the seller remembered my name and found me quickly, so did our driver. I forgot to mention earlier that it was a little hard for me to get on the carriage, so after I scrambled up to the back seat area I stayed put. Elizabeth however was braver than I and on the ride back sat next to the driver to help drive the carriage. We had arrived so early that on the way back the streets were now fully alive with energy and people. I took photos as we moved swiftly past.