 | Aswan Things To Do | Tips 51 - 60 of 291 |  |
Popular Things To Do | Other Things To Do Tips | All Tips (291) These quarries supplied the granite for most of Egypt's major monuments. The highlight of a visit here is the unfinished Obelisk. This Obelisk was being carved out of the granite for Tuthmosis III to be brought to Karnak. If it had been successful it would have been the largest Obelisk ever. However the Obelisk cracked during carving and the project was abandoned. Leave a Comment Directions: Aswan
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To my mind, one of the most extraordinary of all man-made structures, made more extraordinary by the fact that the whole site was moved in 1968! Sitting as it does on the shores of the Aswan Dam, its original position is 60 metres lower down the falsely created cliff-face - namely under the water!
The four statues are all of Ramses II (1304 - 1237 BC) - all facing into Nubia (Africa) - the theory being that his unblinking stare welcomed all that entered Egypt from the south. Depicted on a much smaller scale are the statues of his subjects, including his first wife (Nefertiti), his mother, the royal family - even the sun-god Re-Herakte, to whom the temple is nominally dedicated - are smaller! Leave a Comment Directions: 280kms to the south of Aswan, the main way is go - organised trip from Aswan. These trips out usually start before sunrise - you get the delights of an incredibly flat desert for this, and the return is made before the heat of the day sets in.
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After completing the first dam the original island Philae with its temple was under water for several months a year. After completing the High Dam the temple should be under water for ever. Unesco organised a rescue and the temple is reconstructed on a 20M higher nearby island. The whole operation took 8 years till 1980.
You can visit the temple by boat. We did twice. I liked very much the view from the boat by approaching the temple. Leave a Comment Directions: The Philae Temple is on the Agiliki Island between the old and new Dam. Boats leave from Shellal just south-east of the old Aswan Dam.
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After whetting your appetite for things Nubian at the Nubian Museum, head out for the real stuff - well, at least the modern version - at the Nubian villages on Elephantine island. The villages' (there are two of them - Siou and Koti) narrow alleys are lined with colorful houses as well as friendly people, many of whom speak English.
A visit to the house of the village chief Hamdi - aptly called Nubian House - gives visitors an opportunity to learn more about Nubian culture, history, and travails. You can also buy souvenirs from there (no, they're not pushy) or ask Hamdi's wife to prepare a Nubian meal for you (preferably giving her a half day's notice). But try not to be lured into getting a henna tattoo, which got washed off two days later - against the usual 2-3-week life span of henna tattoos. Leave a Comment Directions: Take the ferry to Elephantine island in front of the Thomas Cook office. Don't pay more than EGP 1 (as of May 2007). Locals pay EGP 0.20 (20 piastres), so anything more than the already-generous EGP 1 for tourists is a rip off.
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In 1997 the Nubian Museum in Aswan openend its doors, 30 years after the idea of setting up a museum was born.
The Museum shows the history, art and culture of Nubia from prehistory till now.
Lower or Egyptian Nubia Nubia lies from the border with Sudan to Aswan. Upper or Sudanese Nubia extends from the border to Khartoum. The Nubians settled in this area in the 5th century BC. Throughout history Nubians developed and pursued their unique traditions, habits and culture.
Opening hours: 9am-1pm and 5pm-9pm
Entrance: 20 Egyptian pound Leave a Comment Phone: (2097) 313826, 317996Directions: A few hundred M south of the Old Cataract Hotel. Entrance at the west side opposite the Basma Hotel.
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The Temple of Philae has temples and chambers dedicated to Isis and Osiris.
There is also a birthhouse (mammisi), dedicated to their son Horus. And of course everywhere around reliefs depicting these gods. During our second visit I start to recognise some of them by myself.
So on the picture:
Isis, the mother Goddess, with a sundisc on her head flanked with horns of a cow.
Horus, her son and the god of the sky with the head of a hawk. Leave a Comment Directions: South of the old Aswan Dam
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The huge new High Dam or Sadd al-Ali is nice for a visit. You can walk on the dam and have a look at both sides and at the power station. The High Dam regulates the flood waters and takes care for a permanent level of the river.The irrigated area is enlarged with one million hectare. The hydroelectric power station provides most of the electric power of the country. Leave a Comment
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in 1983 and 1999 we visited the best known unfinished obelisk of the two in the neigbourhood of Aswan. This one is just east of the Fatimad Cemetery.
In 1983 you could walk on the obelisk with a weight of probably 1100 ton.
Three sides of the obelisk were allready completed, but had not yet inscriptions. Because of a large crack in the middle they could not finish the obelisk and so did the obelisk not reach its destination, the Theban temple of Hatsjepsut. Leave a Comment Directions: Southern part of Aswan, just east of the Fatimid Cemetery.
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Ever wonder where the millions of tons of rocks required to build the great temples and pyramids of Egypt came from ?
Look no further than Aswan, which was the primary source for granite that the pharoah's needed.
Here in Northern Quarry lies an abandoned obelisk, which would have been at 42 meters tall, the tallest one ever shaped. It appears that the rock cracked before they could finish it though, and it still lies here partially attached to the rocks... Leave a Comment
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On the afternoon that we arrived in Aswan, we arranged with our hotel to join a van pool. At 4am, we jumped aboard and spent the most of the day touring Abu Simbel and Hathor Temple, and on the return a stop near the High Dam. See my Temple of Abu Simbel pages for more specific details about the great Abu Simbel and Hathor Temple. VT travelers designing with tight itineraries often ask me how Abu Simbel compares to some other temples, as they try to determine the value of the time spent to get there. Making such comparisons is difficult, but my view is that those who skip Abu Simbel and Temple of Hathor will always regret doing so. Leave a Comment
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