 | Aswan Things To Do | Tips 281 - 290 of 291 |  |
Popular Things To Do | Other Things To Do Tips | All Tips (291) An optional tour from Aswan, very enriching.
Admire their habits and style of living, houses, family ties and handicraft.
Drink their mentha (mint) tea, smoke a shisha, look at details and take something to give their children like tshirts, bags, pens and sweets. Leave a Comment Address: Nile outside Aswan direction SouthDirections: Nubian Village By Felucca Half day tour Duration: some hours (3-4) Nubian Villages are situated at the bottom of Elephantine Island. You are going to discover the simple and natural life of the very kind and hospitable Nubian people
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Elephantine Island can be reached by local ferry and is a great get away from the hubbub of Aswan (although I found Aswan to be much more chilled than Luxor). There are no cars on the island and there's an opportunity to see how the Nubians live. Other than a small museum there is nothing else to do but wander around the village and take in the atmosphere. There are lots of people meeting you off the boat and I would recomend trying to get hold of Mustafa Ramadan Achmed who is a local man who will show you around the island, but can also arrange other activities and excursions. He was one of the guys meeting people off the boat when I arrived in Elephantine, so I was lucky that he turned out to be a trustworthy, honest individual but I would highly recomend him to others. His contact details are on the website below. Address: Island in the Nile off AswanDirections: Take the ferry opposite the Office of Egypt Air (just before Ferrial Garden, almost 2 km south of the train station). Costs 1 Egyptian pound for tourists (I thnk locals pay less).Website: http://www.aswan-individual.com/
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Kom Ombo temple is situated on the banks of the Nile some 20 miles north of Aswan, and is unusual in that it is dedicated to two gods, Horus & Sobek. Sobek was the crocodile god of Nile fertility, and the bend of the river here was once home to a large number of Nile crocodiles, which were held to be sacred. Indeed, there is a small collection of mummified crocodiles in the small chapel of Hathor within the temple. The live crocodiles have long since gone, thankfully! The temple has two of everything, to accommodate the two gods, and among the reliefs on the walls - mainly from the time of Ptolemy XII - are detailed a set of medical instruments.
Also visible here are well-preserved bases of previously full-height walls, allowing you to see how the Egyptians got the stone blocks to butt up so close with the use of wooden inserts and water. (No, I'm not telling - go see for yourself!)
While we were there, restoration work was going on at this temple, as is the case all over Egypt. The problem is that Egypt has so many great edifices, and the money required to restore and save these historic artifacts is huge and time is a commodity in short supply, due to the effects of the High Dam.
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On the island of Elefantine you can find a museum, Temple of Satet, Nubian village and a big Nilometer. We were surpriced that there was not many tourist on the island.
We visited the museum, Temple of Satet and the Nilometer. The museum of Aswan is not big, but it has some beautiful objects. From small objects to mummys.
Then we continued to the Temple of Satet. This is a large area with several temples inside it.
And there is a panorama place, where you can see the whole island and some more.
The Nilometer was the last place we visited, before going back with the motor-boat, and to the promenade of Assuan.
The entrance fee was 25L.E and it contained the museum, the Temple area and the Nilometer.
The price on the boat trip, depend on how good you are at bargain. From 5L.E up ... Directions: Get a motor boat or the public ferry, from the east-bank to get you to the island of Elefantine.
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Our family travels regulary (since 5 years) in the winter time to Aswan,
to savour the Nile and its picturescue landscape. A tour with a
traditional felucca (sailing boat) is, in our opinion, one of the most
beautiful thing to do in Aswan. On the felucca you ride leisurely down
the Nile, while the Nile Islands and sand dunes are passing by you can
enjoy the Peace far from the hectical European Citys. Now and then you
leave the felucca to visit old tombs, the botanical garden of Kitcheners
Island or the Cloistre of Simeon in the desert. The time on a felucca
tour is different because you align to the rythm of the Nile.
The highlight is a day trip to the 1^st Cataract, where you reach behind
the rapids unknown touristy area with Nubian villages and a bathing
place. Here is the nature still intact, the Nile clean, the sand dunes
and the green, copius Nile Islands with their biota espescially
beautiful. If you want to, you can go bathing on the Nile beach or visit
a Nubian village.
Important for the 1^st Cataract trip is a experienced and trusted
captain who can ride the rapids securely. We already made tours with unexperienced captains who couldn´t ride the 1^st Cataract which came into dangerous sloping positions with the
felucca and turned over with the comment, that there isn´t anything
interesting upwards the Nile and that the 1^st Cataract is much more
behind (what was wrong).
A very good captian is Abdullah, you can rent
his felucca at the waterfront (Coniche) in Aswan right across from
Elephantine Island for a very fair price (just ask for the boat/felucca
„Admacum“ of Abdullah Abu Zaid). He is a very calm, discreet and
experienced captain, with him, we made some nice Nile trips to, for
tourists, unknown places and can really recommend. His felucca was very
clean and well-kept.
To discover Aswan with the felucca – one of the best things to We already look forward to our next holiday.
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Take a nice relaxing ride 30 minutes up the Nile by fellucca to the Nubian Village. The Nubian Village has many small shops selling souvenirs; crafts, scarves, carvings, and tribal
masks. Ladies, stop by one of tea houses or cafes and have your hands hennaed for 150 L.E. (about 30.00 USD) per hand but bargain! Or, take a 30 minute camel ride around the village for about 50 L.E. (about 7-10 USD). Directions: The best way to get to the Nubian Village is by fellucca across the Nile. Bargain with the fellucca captain for the best price 20-40 L.E. per person is very reasonable. ( 20-40 L.E. is about 4-8.00 USD)
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The granite quarries at Aswan have been in use since Pharaonic times. All the cladding for the small pyramid of Giza, many staues and monuments were made from Aswan granaite. Workers used to hit away at the hard rock with stone implements until the piece they wanted could be freed from the bedrock. This was done by pouring water, or perhaps vinegar into the gap and then the climate helped do the rest.
The quarry has in situ the potentially largest of the obelisks, which unfortunately debveloped a crack before the final steps were reached. So now it lies allowing us to see how the work was carried out. Leave a Comment Directions: north from Aswan town
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To prevent the cyclical failute of the inundation, there were attempts to regulate the Nile flood at Aswan. The Old Aswan Dam was built by a British Company {Aird], but that was later superceded by the Russian built Aswan High Dam. This latter dam displaced the Nubians in both Egypt and Sudan, and in fact has caused a lot of problems. The water table has risen so that many monuments are showing damage from the salts in the water. The fertile silt that used to be spread across the fields when the Nilr flooded is no more, and so now farmers have to use artificial fertilizers.
However, the dam itself is a fine piece of work and worth visiting. Posters show cross-sections of the dam and give statistics. Leave a Comment
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Two colourful Nubian villages, Koti to the south and Siou to the north, are located on Elephantine Island. Koti is closer to the archeological park of the ruins of Yebu, while Siou is adjacent to the enclosure of the Mövenpick Hotel. The villages are as distant as anything from modern civilisation and have conserved a very traditional way of life. Although some houses are of solid modern construction, most still seem to use mudbricks and barely have electricity. The façades of the houses are painted in the warmest of colours and are built along small unpaved alleys. A path linking the two villages cuts through farms and groves. A walk through the villages is well worth it for a closer look at the local rural lifestyle. Check out my travelogue for more photos of Koti and Siou. Address: Elephantine Island - Koti and Siou
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Under the works of German archeologists, the ancient city of Yebu has been undergoing excavations and restorations for 100 years now. The archeological area lies at the southern end of Elephantine Island and is the first spot settled in the Aswan area, as far back as the early dynastic period (3000 BC) in Ancient Egypt. Visitors can access the area through the Aswan Museum and walk around the ruins, which include temples, residential quarters and a necropolis spanning 4300 years! For more photos, take a look at the travelogue: "Ruins of Yebu". Address: Elephantine Island - Aswan Museum
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