Egyptian Geography

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ASWAN, EGYPT

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The City of Aswan

It is the gate to the African continent & as such is an important commercial centre

Aswan, Egypt's sunniest southern city. Aswan links Egypt with Sudan; and ancient frontier town located about 81 miles south of Luxor, 899 km south of Cairo and it situated on the eastern bank of the Nile

It has a distinctively African atmosphere. Its ancient Egyptian name was Syene . Small enough to walk around and graced with the most beautiful setting on the Nile, the pace of life is slow and relaxing. Days can be spent strolling up and down the broad Corniche watching the sailboats etch the sky with their tall masts or sitting in floating restaurants listening to Nubian music and eating freshly caught fish.

In Aswan the Nile is at its most beautiful, flowing through amber desert and granite rocks, round emerald islands covered in palm groves and tropical plants. Explore the souk, full of the scent and color of spices, perfumes, scarves and baskets.

View the spectacular sunsets while having tea on the terrace of the Old Cataract Hotel (Named due to the location of the Nile's first cataract located here). Aswan has been a favorite winter resort since the beginning of the nineteenth century, and it's still a perfect place to get away from it all.

Every night Nubian dancers and musicians perform in the Cultural Center, just off the Corniche. Folklore troupes recreate scenes from village life and perform the famous Nubian mock stick-fight dances.

Main Tourist Sites
Aswan is a strategic location which currently houses a garrison of the Egyptian army, but which has also seen ancient Egyptian garrisons, as well as that of General Kitchener, Turkish troops of the Ottoman empire and the Romans.

The city proper lies on the east bank of the Nile. Relax here, visit a few mosques, but then prepare for an adventure. The bazaar runs along the Corniche, which continues past the Ferial Gardens and the Nubian Museum, and continues on to the Cemetery, with its forest of cupolas surmounted tombs from the Fatimid period. Just east of the cemetery in the famous area quarries is the gigantic Unfinished Obelisk. Just to the south of this, two Graeco-Roman sarcophagi and an unfinished colossus remain half buried in the sand.

Elephantine Island

One of the strongest forts along Egypt southern borders, this island lies opposite to the " Cataract Hotel".

Its chief deity was "Khnum", in the shape of a Ramses head. The tourist is advised to first tour the island before visiting its monuments and museum.

The most obvious is Elephantine Island, which is timeless with artifacts dating from pre-Dynastic times onward. It is the largest island in the area. Just beyond Elephantine is Kitchener's Island (Geziret el-Nabatat). It was named for the British general Haratio Kitchener (185--1916) and was sent to Egypt in 1883 to reorganize the Egyptian army, which he then led against the Sudanese Mahdi. But the island is known for its garden and the exotic plants the Kitchener planted there, and which continue to flourish today.

On the opposite shore (west bank), the cliffs are surmounted by the tomb of a marabut, Qubbet el-Hawwa, who was a local saint. Below are tombs of the local (pharaonic) nobles and dignitaries.

Upriver a bit is the tomb of Mohammed Shah Aga Khan who died in 1957. Known as the Tomb of the Aga Khan, it is beautiful in its simplicity. A road from there leads back to the Coptic Monastery of St Simeon, which was built in the sixth century in honor of Amba Hadra, a local saint.
Just up river a bit, there is also the old Aswan dam, built by the British, which was enlarged, expanded, but unable to control the Nile for irrigation

The Island Temples	The Museum	The Nilometre	Plantation Island

There are ruins of several stone temples from various periods. The inscriptions on the pylon of a hall in the southern temple depict Alexander II as king of Egypt while offering sacrifices to the local deities.	Located east of the old city, the museum houses a number of important relics from Graeco-Roman times, collected from Aswan and Nubia.	Dating to the Roman period, the Nilometre shows the height of the Nile floods in Greek, Demotic and Arabic, and was used until very recently.	Lies mid-stream, near Elephantine Island, is a natural exhibition of equatorial and tropical trees and shrubs.

Agilika Island	Mun Island	The Agha Khan Mausoleum	The Unfinished Obelisk

This island now houses the Temple and relics of Philae island that was submerged by the waters of the High Dam. The Temple of Philae was dismantled and re-assembled on this island which lies about 500 meters from the original Philae Island. Sound and Light Spectacle is performed in various Lang II ages.	A small island on which a tourist hotel was built. Tombs of the Nobles : These rock-tombs are hewn in the western hills, opposite the northern tip of Aswan, and date back to the 23rd century B.C. The inscriptions covering The walls of these tombs depict the role of these nobles in protecting the land, and of their journeys to the interior of Africa.	The Mausoleum of the late leader of the Ismaili sect stands on the west bank opposite them Cataract Hotel. It is an exquisite example of Fatimid architecture. The Monastery of St Simeon (Deir Amba Sama?an) : Dating back to the 6th century AD, the Monastery is one of the most intact Coptic monasteries, It comprises a church with paintings showing Christ and the Saints.	This huge unfinished obelisk measures 41 meters in length and 4 meters square at the base. It is important because it shows the techniques adopted by the Ancient Egyptians in cutting out these obelisks.

	Amun Village On the west bank, and overlooking Lake Nasser, the 48-acre village comprises a tourist hotel, with a main restaurant and an Italian restaurant, a fully-equipped therapeutic centre, and 352 bungalows (chalets) built on Nubian architectural lines.
	The Temple of Kalabsha Dating back to the Roman Emperor Octavius Augustus (30 BC?14 AD), the temple was moved from its original site 55 kms south of Aswan, on the west bank, and rebuilt near the High Dam. It is one of the largest sandstone temples in Nubia. Its walls are covered with texts and inscriptions depicting Egyptian deities such as Isis, Osiris and others.

Beit el-Waly Temp.

This rock-hewn temple is one of the five temples built by Ramses II in Nubia.
It comprises a courtyard, a hypostyle hail, and a kiosk, with multicolored texts and inscriptions, as well as scenes of the King in the battlefield.

Features of modern Aswan

The Aswan Dam

Built in 1902 AD south of Aswan, it signaled the beginning of modern irrigation in Egypt.

The High Dam

This 20th century engineering miracle is one of the largest dams in the world, and was built to safeguard Egypt against the high Nile floods which either destroyed large tracts of land or ran wastefully into the Mediterranean.

The dam, 111 meters above sea-level, is 3,600 meters long and 40 meters wide at the top.

The Temple of Kom-Ombo	The Temple of Edfu	Lake Nasser Cruises

Located in the town of Kom-OmbO, 45 kms north of Aswan, the Temple, dating to the Ptolemy, is built on a high dune overlooking the Nile. There are also tombs from the Old Kingdom in the vicinity of Kom-Ombo village.	This huge and exquisite Temple, from the Ptolemy period, and devoted to the god, Horus, is located at the town of Edfu, 123 km north of Aswan.	Even the connoisseur of Egypt will delight in the virgin landscapes of Lake Nasser. Created as a result of the Aswan High Dam, the lake covers a 500-km2 region known in antiquity as Nubia. To salvage the area's rich archeological heritage, UNESCO launched the Nubian Campaign in 1960, an effort involving 54 countries over a period of 20 years. Today, Lake Nasser and the monuments relocated on its shores are accessible to travelers with a passion for discovery and a taste for comfort - aboard the cruise ships Eugenie and Kasr Ibrim.

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