This was a quite remarkable temple. We docked the ship and could see the temple from the side of the boat. We had the usual walk there past the phone booth past the cobra trainer and through the bazaar until we reached the entrance and saw the temple

Our first stop was at the crocodile mummies Once we got to the temple, we were impressed at how well it had been preserved by being buried under water for so long. Once inside the temple, there were the usual collection of columns,

ceiling, hieroglyphics,

and engravings

This temple was particularly interesting because it was built in the Greek/Roman period and many of the images above tell stories relating to Cleopatra VII, the daughter of Ptolemey III. She is the Cleopatra of history. Our guide did a wonderful job of relating the engravings to the cartouches that tell the stories. We also saw engravings here, as in other places, documenting the merger of upper and lower Egypts and the gods who were involved in the merger and in protecting it.

Our guide also showed us 2 other things of note. This is an indentation used to join stones. When temples have been dismantled in order to be moved, they have found pieces of wood and bronze in these indentations. And, this was the chamber of holies where the priests went to imitate the gods when greeting the king.

Our last stop at the site was at an old Roman statue that had been built at the site in a later period. On the way back we took a few pictures from different angles of the temple at sunset

We were a few minutes late getting back to the ship so our neighbors pulled up their plank and sailed away leaving a small gap to be bridged. Eventually the Helios got its bridge up and we could proceed Unfortunately the whole operation took about half an hour and so we got to Aswan that much later.