2024-03-27 17:55:01
Egypt, an eternally unknown travel destination that stimulates human imagination! Cairo, Giza, a mysterious land that has not slept for 4,500 years.
Siwa Bahariya, an oasis of life found in a barren desert. Aswan and Abu Simbel, a world blooming along the Nile River. Luxor, a landscape where life and death coexist. Let’s go to a place where a new story begins in every city we stop in! To Egypt.
This week (March 25-28, 2024), the 4-part series ‘Egypt, Nowhere in the World’ will be broadcast on ‘World Theme Travel’. Part 3 of ‘World Theme Travel’, ‘Egypt Nowhere in the World’, ‘Legend of the Nile, Aswan and Abu Simbel’ will be broadcast on EBS1TV today (27th) at 8:40 PM.
Egypt’s gift and blessing, departing along the Nile River – Aswan and Abu Simbel
Egypt has a vast land area 10 times the size of South Korea, but only about 7% of the area is actually habitable for people. And most of that 7% is the Nile River basin, which flows long from north to south of the country. A gift and blessing from Egypt, a journey along the Nile River. Take a sleeper train from Giza Station and head to Aswan, the shortest city in Egypt.
Aswan, which arrived after a 14-hour overnight drive, was considered by the ancient Egyptians to be the source of the Nile River. The most important means of transportation for Egyptians living along the Nile River was the Felucca. Aswan is one of the places where felucca, which are driven solely by the power of sails and wind, are most frequently operated. The sunset on the Nile River seen from a felucca is considered one of the most beautiful in Egypt. The Nile River, which floods periodically every year, gifted fertile farmland to the desert country of Egypt. However, because the damage caused by floods was severe, the government built large dams in 1902 and 1971, which caused ancient ruins scattered in the area to be submerged.
The Isis Temple, called the Philae Temple because it was originally located on the island of Philae, was moved to the current island of Agilkia to avoid being submerged. This temple, dedicated to the gods Isis and Orisis in the 7th to 6th centuries BC, was dismantled into 40,000 pieces and relocated to its current island. It is not only ruins that are at risk of being submerged. In the past, the Nubians, an ethnic minority who came from Sudan, Africa, also moved to the current Nubian Village after their village was flooded. They decorate their homes and villages with colorful murals, sell colorful handicrafts, and live while adhering to their own traditions and individuality.
About 300km south of Aswan are the Abu Simbel Temples, left behind by Ramses II, the greatest pharaoh in ancient Egyptian history. It is largely composed of a major temple for Ramses and a minor temple for Queen Nefertari, and the Abu Simbel temple was also moved to its current location in 1959 to avoid being submerged. A curator who received an invitation to lunch from Mr. Hassan, the manager of the Abu Simbel Temple. The time I spent with the friendly Nubians was short-lived, but it remains one of my best memories of Aswan.
EBS1’s ‘World Theme Travel’, a travel program that delivers real-life experiences, is broadcast every Monday to Thursday at 8:40 PM.
Reporter Park So-gi Photo courtesy of EBS World Theme Travel
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2024-03-27 17:55:01