Egypt and others - day 8 Aswan)

Final touring day in Egypt! 6.30 breakfast and met Rami at 7.30 and set off by car to visit the Aswan High Dam. This of course is one of the engineering marvels of modern times holding back a lake of water which is really an inland sea. Massive dam wall and 6 hydro-electricity tunnels on a scale beyond anything else in the world. Then caught a little boat to travel across to an island where one of the temples to be submerged by the dam was dismantled piece by piece and re-built on the island. Rami informed us that while they numbered each piece they unfortunately employed uneducated people to reconstruct it so it has been pretty badly reconstructed. Still pretty impressive though. After travelling back to the mainland we stopped off at a cotton factory/shop and bought a couple of Egyptian cotton t-shirts. Very tempted to buy some sheets as well but too much for luggage limits unfortunately. Another boat trip followed across to the botanical gardens which was actually started by Lord Kitchiner back in the 1800's and is quite a beautiful, peaceful spot away from the usual Egyptian noise and chaos. Another boat trip back to our boat and lunch to follow. Arrangements have been made for our early departure tomorrow morning so we get a wake-up call at 4.15am!!! Flight to Cairo and on to Rome where we hire a car (!!!) And drive to Orvieto. Will let you know how this little adventure works out tomorrow! Note: the WiFi is so slow I won't try photos tonight - I'll put them on tomorrow's blog.