Sunrise over the Sahara

colossal (adjective): extraordinarily great in size, extent, or degree; gigantic; huge.

On the way to Abu Simbel.  The main reason most people come to Aswan is to make the early morning trip to the temples at Abu Simbel - 280km from Aswan. Equally impressive is the manner in which the temples were relocated in 1968 to move them away from the rising waters of Lake Nasser.  One might use many words to describe the pharoah Ramesses II but 'modest' is definitely not one of them!  The temple was built between 1274-1244 BC (yes, BC!), then progressively lost to the world over the next 3,000 years, until 1813, then excavated and subsequently moved.
Extra blips show the 4 colossal statues ('colossal' being a common adjective in books about ancient Egypt ..) of Ramesses with the sun-god, Ra-Horakhty, overlooking the entrance, and his mother, wife and children in between the legs (of the colossi).  Other extras show the security which is always present at tourist spots in Egypt and the idle river boats tied up on the Nile, a consequence of the security concerns (my felucca driver told me that only 25 of 350 boats were operating).