Top Temples Tour

Dendara and Abydos, Egypt Today we went on a long pilgrimage to two important sites: Dendara and Abydos.

Dendara holds the temple of Hathor, ancient goddess of fertility, beauty, music and love. She is shown as a woman with a cow head and ears, or as a woman wearing a sun disc between cattle horns as a headress. The temple was actually built by the Romans, but was designed to honor Egyptian gods and traditions.

The outer hypostyle hall was built by Emperor Tiberius. Christians defaced several Hathor heads, but the message here was the continuity of traditions, even under foreign rule.

With a design familiar to Christians, the main hall is surrounded by side rooms which are various sanctuaries to honor less important deities. The reliefs are still spectacular and many survive with their original paint.

Outside, there is a relief of Cleopatra, standing with her son by Julius Caesar, Caesarion, the only one surviving.

A long ride away is the town of Abydos, a rather pathetic village whose road was not easy on the kidneys. We were the only tourists in a small van with a driver and guide.

We were there to see the Temple of Seti I (1294 – 1279 BC), completed by his son Ramses II (1279 – 1213 BC) to honor him. It contains what are considered the finest painted carvings in Egypt, a triumph of the New Kingdom. Quite the dramatic entrance.

There are seven sanctuaries surrounding the main hall, which honor gods like Horus, Isis and Osiris. Beautiful reliefs with vibrant painting,

One famous wall is called the Gallery of the Kings, where 74 pharaohs who preceded Seti and his son are listed.

Outside is the Osireion, the centerpiece of the cult of Osiris, god of the dead. Abydos was holiest of Egyptian sites in ancient Egypt. All Egyptians of the time were expected to make a pilgrimage here at least once in thier lifetimes or be buried here. The Osireion is the spot where tradition says the head of Osiris landed after he had been chopped to bits by his evil brother Seth. It’s quite a story that can be sorted out with an internet search.

Our last stop was the (not nearby) temple of Ramses II, which Don toured while I had heat stroke in the van. Don reports that unlike the mostly intact Seti I temple, the Ramses II temple is largely in ruins with only a few good pieces remaining.

Don’s Food Corner

Yesterday as we were returning from picking up our laundry around the corner from the hotel, we bumped into a couple sitting outside a restaurant that I had looked at the day before that seemed promising. The couple was from the once-popular seaside resort town in northern England, Blackpool. They raved about the restaurant telling us that the fish-and-chips and other dishes were “Just like back home.” Some people might not think that that is much of an endorsement. But we jumped on it.

After a long day of temple viewing, we decided to give the Blackpool-recommended restaurant a try. We were not disappointed.

The menu offered a wide range of choices that all seemed to be filtered through the needs of people from Blackpool or other such outposts — like New York City.

After trying to decide between cottage pie or steak-and-ale pie or a number of other familiar faces, including some with Stilton cheese, Jo decided to try the classic Indian dish, Butter Chicken. We assumed it would be the British version of the dish. Not too many spices and not too hot. And we were right. It came with some basmati rice and something that approximated naan bread.

I decided to be brave (since I already knew that the Blackpool crowd would not put up with anything requiring too much bravery) and decided to find something on the “Egyptian Specialties” list. I went with Chicken and Apricot tagine. As expected, it was a modified version, served piping hot in a small crockery bowl, that was actually a little bland. I don’t know if it had been voided of all its possible complexity by this particular restaurant or simply reflected the Egytian resistence to spice. The rice that came with it was equally bland, although it looked like it was going to be interesting.

We started with serving of baked potato skins topped with cheese. Bland as well.

So was the apple crumble we shared for dessert. We opted for vanilla cream instead of ice cream. The crumble had a breadcrumb topping (which I would call British-style) instead of a strudel topping, which I would consider an American-style via German influence. It was too sweet for my taste, but Jo dug in.

A temporary halt to our Egyptian diet plan, although not a particularly exciting one. But at least we had a real meal.