This much smaller dam was built at the cataracts on the Nile.
Imagine the wild rapids that were here when the full volume of the Nile in flood passed over this rocky riverbed.
The old dam now seems to serve principally as a bridge though it may still be used to generate some power.
The view downstream from the high dam.
On the far left there is a memorial tower honoring the efforts of the Soviet Union who helped build the dam.
The dam has 12 turbine generators each capable of producing 175 megawatts of electricity.
Displays provide visitors with information about the dam specifications and its operation.
There is a pleasant park on the crest of the dam where you could look out across Lake Nasser.
The next stop was another temple that had been moved to save it from the lake formed by the dam.
It is unique in that it is built on an island so we had to get there by boat.
It isn't just one temple but many built on the same site.
Some of them used the wall of an older one as part of the newer.
Several places in the temple we saw where early christians had used it for their worship.
They had carved crosses among the hieroglyphics.
One place there was an altar surrounded by carvings of early egyptian deities.
Christians weren't the only ones who defaced the temple.
Solders used the carvings for target practice making pits in the face of this carving.
An inscription in French was left by another group.
Many of the columns had these groves formed when spears and bayonets were sharpened.
We visited the site of the unfinished obelisk.
Had it been successfully completed it would have been he largest in the world formed from a single block of granite.
However while it was being cut free it cracked and so was abandoned.
There were two main ways used to quarry the rock.
One was to build fires to heat the rock then quench it with water causing it to crack.
The cracked stone was then removed and the process repeated.
You can see the shallow depressions that result from this process in the trenches along the sides of the obelisk and on its point.
The second technique was to make a row of rectangular holes and pound dry wood wedges into them.
When the wedges were soaked with water they would expand and split a block free.
Some other views of the quarry.
There were some igneous intrusions visible in the quarry walls.
Views of the city of Aswan from the highest part of the quarry.
Some of the shrines in a large cemetery in the city.
A wider view can be seen in the picture just above.
A large Coptic church we passed on our trip back to town.
A hospital in Aswan.
One of our friends from the trip injured her leg badly enough to require treatment here.
Our guide stayed with her while the rest of us made a couple more stops before returning to the boat.
When they got back she said that her treatment had been quick and as good as she would have expected anywhere.
In Aswan we visited a shop where computerized sewing machines are used to embroider decorations on clothing.
Some shops at the bazaar we visited there.
The owner of the spice shop was entertaining as he chatted with us and gave folks samples to try.
Our guide said he didn't know about spice quality but his mother got her spices here.
I don't remember ever seeing a blue spice other than in this shop.
Pans, perfume, alabaster and about everything you can imagine was available.
In the evening we ventured out on our own to find an Internet cafe.
This dark stairway led to a shop with a half dozen computers.
The price was reasonable and we had no problem sending pictures out.
This picture is for the folks in the Route 504 Volunteer Fire Department.
