Kom Ombo

After we sailed from Edfu, we made our way south to Kom Ombo to visit yet another Egyptian temple. The temple of Kom Ombo is unique because it is the only temple in the kingdom that is dedicated to two separate gods. As a result, it was built with two of everything, one for each respective god.

One side was dedicated to Sobek, who was the god of fertility, and took the shape of a crocodile. The other side was dedicated to Horus, the falcon god. Everything in the original construction was symmetrical. The temple was used as a hospital and funerary as well. Adjacent to the temple is the crocodile museum, where some of the three hundred mummified crocodiles can be seen on display.

Much of the original temple was destroyed from various earthquakes and floods. Some stone was even removed to construct other temples. Early Copts (Coptic Christians, which represent the largest Christian denomination in Egypt to this day) used the temple as a church and they destroyed some of the original statues and structures.

We made our way back to the boat, only to find that the boat we had to pass thru to get to ours had raised its plank. Marty was convinced we were stranded forever, but we had to wait about a half hour until a crewman from our boat found us and told us how to get back to our boat.

I tried to do a little shopping at one of the souvenir stalls, but the shopkeeper wanted $25 for two magnets that I found. He eventually came down to $2, but I was so mad at the haggling and the fact that they tried to take advantage of the tourists, I was too pissed to buy anything. We did get a nice group shot with Oli and Yvetta, our new friends who were travelling in our group.