Siptah’s Legacy would be almost incomplete without our protagonist’s side trip to Aswan.
Having located the next piece of their puzzle within the underground tunnel of the temple of Sobek in Kom Ombo, our dynamic duo desperately needed a clean-up and some well-deserved R&R.
Almost within “spitting distance” of Komombo, the city of Aswan made a fitting respite for them, and there, overlooking the splendors of the River Nile tucked above one of its famed Cataracts, was none other than the splendid Old Cataract Hotel.
Built in 1899 by none other than Thomas Cook to cater to his increasing flow of wealthy European travelers, this majestic rose-colored building complimented the pink granite cliffs overlooking the world’s longest river. It had also been a popular haunt for a host of famous personalities. Guests included the likes of Tsar Nicholas II, Howard Carter, Winston Churchill, and Princess Diana, to name just a few. Also, entertained as a guest of HH King Fouad, Agatha Christie stayed at the hotel and even had a suite named after her, for it was here that she must have penned one of her most famous Hercule Poirot novels, Death on the Nile.
Had Drake more time to spare, he would have no doubt made time to see Egypt’s most significant and only unfinished obelisk, located at one of the stone quarries just outside of Aswan. Ironically, this gigantic monument had been ordered by Queen Hatshepsut around 1500 BC. It would have been almost 30% larger than any other obelisk ever erected and, had it been completed, would have weighed in at a staggering 1,200 tons. Unfortunately, however, as it was being carved out of the granite, cracks appeared, forcing work to be abandoned, leaving us to marvel at just how these massive monuments were crafted out by bare hand almost 3500 years ago.
