Up bright and early this morning some of the group went to Abu Simbel by plane, while some (me included) went further south on the Nile to visit a Nubian Village.    Both groups then reunited after lunch to go to Philae Island together.  The village has come a long way since I first visited in 2000.  Now there is a lovely school and kindergarten there which we visited, the little kids were definiely better at the alphabet than we were, but we did ok with our teacher too lol!

We had tea and kirkadee in a Nubian House, got up close to the crocodiles (yes sadly caged ones), Melissa got a great henna tattoo and we walked through their market place which had a huge variety of handcrafts.  Saw two guys weaving scarves.  For me it was a lovely relaxing morning, nice weather to be on the Nile – we travelled there by motor boat.

After lunch we got our bus to the ferry landing in Aswan and then a boat again to cross to Philae – Temple of Isis, goddess of love.  After Seth murdered Osiris, the Goddess Isis fled to the island of Philae to give birth to Horus and there they stayed until he grew to be a man, old enough to avenge his father’s murder.

Photos tomorrow night as tomorrow we are flying Aswan to Cairo, going to visit Saqqara and then the Sufi Trance Dance tomorrow night – very busy people we are!

Diary of a Group Tour with Mara House Luxor.