Early in the morning, we start our Marsa Alam tours to the Edfu Temple and Kom Ombo with the pick-up from your accommodation in Marsa Alam. Enjoy the trip, in a small group and relaxing atmosphere, to the first attraction of our cultural excursion, the
Edfu Temple
dedicated to the Egyptian
falcon god Horus was known all over Egypt as a special place of worship during the time of the pharaohs. Many religious battles took place that shaped the story of the
temple complex.
The
Edfu temple, one of the best-preserved temples in
Egypt, is located on the
East Bank of the
Nile River. Thanks to the perfection of its builders, the temple appears in different colors depending on the sunlight. A Pylon, the biggest after the one in
Karnak Temple, forms the actual entrance of the temple that is lined with 2 huge
Horus images.
After entering the impressive collonaded courtyard, you will come across beautiful reliefs on the walls and columns.
Temple of Horus
The complete roofing of the
Edfu Temple, preserved to this day, really is something special among Egyptian temples. The ceiling of the forecourt, supported by 12 columns, shows traces of soot that originate from the
Coptic period in which the
Temple of Horus served as a residence. This place is worth taking some photos of, so don’t forget your camera! In the hieroglyphic inscriptions, our
Egyptologist can show you where the name
Edfu comes from, here the falcon god
Horus Behet is mentioned, Behet = Edfu.
Mammisi Temple Edfu
Before leaving the temple, we visit the
Mammisi Temple Edfu, a cultic birth house where ceremonies around the birth of the god child were held. From there, we leave
Edfu behind us and drive towards
Kom Ombo and take a lunch break in a traditional restaurant. Rested you can visit the
Kom Ombo Temple
The famous
Kom Ombo Temple, a little more than an hour by car away from
Edfu, is a somewhat unusual,
doppel temple Kom Ombo, dedicated to the
Sobek crocodile god on the one side, and
Haroeris Egyptian god on the other. The Egyptian temple became famous for its location, only 15 meters above the water level of the
Nile River, which makes a bend here. From a
Nile Cruise, you will have a great view of the higher-lying temple.
Until the 19th century, its mighty columns and ruins were still half-covered with sand and considered by many photographers and filmmakers as the backdrop of a submerged high culture until their exposure in the late 19th century. The
Kom Ombo Temple, located directly on the bank of the
Nile River, was surrounded by 3 walls, of which the outer wall, an adobe wall, is pretty much destroyed. All three walls, inside is a stone wall, served to shield the
holy of holies inside the
temple complex. The round arch with its two entrances, located between the walls, shows that this is a
doppel temple Kom Ombo.
Entering the
hypostyle hall, you will be rewarded, with well-preserved reliefs on the pillars that show sacrificial rituals of the king in front of the gods and an image of
Cleopatra VII, known as one of Julius Caesar's liaisons.
Moving on to one of the most important meanings of the
Kom Ombo Temple: In
ancient Egypt crocodiles were feared and revered at the same time, and there were several crocodile sanctuaries in Egypt. The Sanctuary of
Sobek crocodile god in
Kom Ombo, with its many illustrations in the temple, is the most significant one.
Crocodile Museum
Only a few meters away from the entrance gates, we come across a small chapel dedicated to the
goddess Hathor which today houses glass showcases in which crocodile mummies are exhibited, found in a nearby
animal cemetery. We leave
Kom Ombo with a lot of impressions of the high culture in
ancient Egypt. From our
Edfu Temple and
Kom Ombo Temple with our
Marsa Alam tours, we drive back to your accommodation in
Marsa Alam.