Trips

In the afternoon (Monday, 3/7/22), the Amunet docked at Esna and the group walked to the temple dedicated to Khnum, a god of the Nile perch. The present temple was built between 181 and 250 CE while Egypt was under the rule of Rome. It was built on the ruins of earlier temples and was discovered in 1843 under houses in the city of Esna. It is a unique temple for several reasons. The capitals of the columns in the column hall (all that has been uncovered) are different - some have grape and dates as the predominant design. They are very beautiful. The hieroglyphs are not ancient, but are a kind of code to keep the Romans from reading the texts of Egyptian history and myth. A German university is undertaking the restoration and cleaning of the pillars, walls, and ceiling. There are magnificent colors and designs, unlike other temples we have seen.

Minarets	Local transport
Newer Singer Sewing machine on an old base	Temple of Khnum The columns and their capitals, displayed below, are of many different designs and the color is exceptional.
Scaffolding for restoration work
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) partnered with the Takween Integrated Community Development Project to revitalize the Al-Qisariyya Market area in Esna between 2016 and 2020. The group walked through this area of upholstery fabric stores, fabric stores for hijabs, seamstresses, ironers, and others.
Al-Qisariyya Market Project
Bales of cotton	Fabric store
Colorful fabrics	Peanut roaster - no longer functional
Making pillows	Nuts and spices
Spices	Description of a completed Haj
This is called foot ironing	Heating the foot iron
Some houses in Esna have statues of vultures on the roof. They are spreading their wings to protect the house and people who live there.
Pretty neat work	Tues., 3/8/22 - Esna to Luxor Today we said good-bye to leisurely cruising on the Nile and took a motor coach ride to Luxor, a 75-minute ride through small farm villages and fields. The large field crops were of bananas and sugarcane and the small individual strips were of onions, garlic, alfalfa, and crops to feed the farmers’ families. Almost all of the work was being done by hand. We only saw tractors carrying loads of sugarcane, probably taking the carts to the sugar factory. Every village had speed bumps and police check points with armed guards. Locks on the Nile at Esna
From bakery to store	Barrage bridge, one of two across the Nile at Esna - a barrage bridge is a type of diversion dam which consists of gates that can be opened or closed to control the amount of water passing through
Mules, this time	Notice the high bluffs (or cliffs) that line the Nile in many regions
Burned off sugar cane field	Creative living space
Airing the carpets	Sugar cane on it way to be refined

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