day 6 South of Luxor.

Feb 17 day 6 South from Luxor
We were going to have a day by the pool but the lure of seeing other sites outside of the Luxor region became too great for us. So 7.00am saw us starting the long drive south of Luxor. The road follows the Nile all the way on one side and sandstone mountains on the other. We travelled through villages, past sugar cane fields, banana and mango plantations, teeming city markets, phosphate plants, bauxite and sugar cane factories belching black fumes and petrol queues, school children, gossiping men drinking coffee or just hanging around, blacksmiths, stall holders and the rest of the community that makes up Egypt. Except their women, every few were seen along the road, presumably all at home cooking and cleaning.. It struck us how young the population is. It was rare to see an elder and we could only think that the revolution is still going through a dangerous phase where, unless tourism picks up and work returns a generation of angry, young, frustrated young men could turn against each other.

Qom Ombo temple to the crocodile god, SUBEK, this temple was an island infested with crocs hence the devotion. It was destroyed by a flood in 426 AD and has been left very much as of that moment ever since.
It has a deep cistern that is in fact a Nile ometer, the level of the Nile is seen in the well shaft and if the Nile was high, the taxes were high conversely if the Nile is low, low taxes follow the harvest for that year. Quite simple and ingenious.
Alongside the Temple is a new museum only opened last year, dedicated to SUBEK and the crocs. There are 30 mummified crocs of all sizes from even an egg. They were found in a crocs graveyard close to the temple.

This is where we had scam No 2, all temples have a man that sells you a nice ticket from a book of tickets with a hologram and a picture of the place you are visiting, it has a counterfoil that also has a serial number. Another man takes tears off the counterfoil to show you have entered. When the Temple is not busy the man will give you am used ticket without a counterfoil and the other man will just wave you through. The both of them collude to pocket your money.

Edfu Temple to god Horus the falcon and he is everywhere to be seen. The temple is large like all them, but we were practically the only visitors. Some of the paintings have survived intact but they up high and you have a pain in the neck afterwards.

Esna Temple to Khnum, the ram headed god and guardian of the source of the Nile. The remains of this temple are in the centre of town half buried well below street level and at the end of a souk alley. We only needed half an hour to see this Temple.
Dinner last tonight was at a local restaurant the El Hussien. Very good food and very brisk service too, a three course dinner set us back a princely sum of £E181 including a non-alcoholic malt beer. We were in and out within an hour