The quayside in Edfu was dusty and dirty and bustling with Egyptians waiting for us to disembark so they could hassle us for horse and cart rides, water, cigarettes etc.

Our Guide, Fatma was super efficient and negotiated our horse and cart rides to the temple.

Once we took to our carts however they all went different ways, a bit worrying, but we had a lovely ride through the residential areas.

I was a bit apprehensive when our driver insisted that I hand him my camera in a quiet street to take a photo – but sometimes you’ve just got to go with the flow !

Edfu Temple

This temple is exceptionally well preserved due to the fact that it was buried in sand for thousands of years until 1860 when Mariette decided to free it.

He had to demolish almost 100 makeshift homes that were leaning up against the temple on all sides.

The temple id dedicated to the falcon headed God, Horus.

Below you can see the front entrance to the temple and, on the right,

one of the statues of the Falcon God Horus, crowned with the double crown of upper and lower Egypt.

The reliefs around the temple tell us its story. Building was started on 23 August 237BC and was finished 2 centuries later on 5 December 57BC.

Below the Goddess Hathor is crowning Horus with the crown of upper and lower Egypt, and you can see the Egyptians were also sailors !

The progressively smaller and darker rooms of the temple lead to the privacy of the inner sanctuary

You can see the sanctuary here with the boat that transports you to the afterlife.