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Aswan Egypt's sunniest southern city and ancient frontier town
located about 81 miles south of Luxor, 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.
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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.
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Aswan Egypt's sunniest southern city and ancient frontier town located about 81
miles south of Luxor, 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.
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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.
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.
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Aswan Egypt's sunniest southern city and ancient frontier town located about 81
miles south of Luxor, 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.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
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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.
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.
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