About beautiful Aswan in Egypt
About beautiful Aswan in Egypt
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Besides Cairo and Luxor, there is another place to see further south along the Nile. Although, my favorite places to learn about history are definitely Cairo and Luxor, I highly recommend to visit Assuan too, if you have enough time! Stay on an island in the Nile, get to know the Nubian people there. Experience a sunset Felucca sailboat trip along the Nile and visit the Souk of Aswan. Also, very close to the city center there is this temple called Philae Temple, located on another island in the Nile. If you like to have an adventure, get a driver for a whole day trip to Abu Simbel at the border to Sudan.
1. Visit Temple of Philae
When you stay in Aswan, you should visit the nearby Philae Temple located on an island. Be as early as possible at the entrance point (for me it was 7 am), bargain with the motorboat drivers (you will probably have to pay 200 EGP unless you are a really really good bargainer) and enjoy the morning ride on the Nile. From the water you will already see the temple complex on the little island. In the early morning you will have the temple for yourself. Another benefit is the sun shining horizontal through the temple.
There is this big temple with all the hieroglyphs on the pillars and a smaller solitaire directly next to the water. From the smaller one you have an incredible view over the Nile! I really liked the peaceful atmosphere there in the morning. The entrance ticket will cost you 60 EGP.
2. Stay in a Nubian Village
Aswan is also famous for it’s traditional Nubian Villages. Actually the Nubian people told us, there is the tourist Nubian Village were most parts are oriented to tourists and hotels or airbnbs. This one is 45 minutes by boat from Aswan. And that there are the modern Nubian villages, where most Nubian people actually live. The Nubian Villages are located on the numerous islands in the Nile. We booked two nights at Mango House on the Nubian big island in front of Aswan city center. There, you will also see the colorful painted houses and you will probably hear the Nubian people singing in the evening when they have a celebration.
There are no cars on this island, you walk everywhere by foot. Don’t worry there is a little ferry which brings you to the city center bank for free every few minutes. If you are lucky, the motor malfunction on the middle of the Nile, as it happened to us ;). The Nubian culture and their own special language, other than Arabic, is preserved only by speaking. Stories are told and sung from generation to generation, without any scripture.
3. Visit Abu Simbel near the Sudan border on a day trip
From Assuan you can do a whole day trip to the south, more precisely to the border of Sudan, where you will find Abu Simbel. Directly located next to the Nile there are two temples with big statues. This temple complex had to be moved because of the Aswan Dam in 1968. Most day tours start in the early morning at 6am. After a 3,5-hour ride you will arrive at the temples. Don’t worry if you only manage to arrive in the afternoon, it’s pretty empty then. After your visit you have to drive the 3,5 hours back through the desert to Aswan. There is not much to see in the desert between Aswan and Abu Simbel.
This ancient temple complex, originally cut into a solid rock cliff, was created during the reign of Ramesses II around 1264 before the Christian. The temples were unknown to the outside world until their rediscovery in 1813. With the Aswan dam they moved the monuments completely away from the river, 65 meters higher and 200 meters back, onto an artificial hill. Today there is a trail around the area with a nice view over the water, you can also go inside the two temples. The ticket costs 160 EGP. If you want to take pictures with a camera, you will need an additional photo pass ticket.
4. Enjoy a Felucca sail boat sunset ride
I highly recommend sailing on a traditional Felucca sail boat along the Nile, either in Luxor or Assuan. Back in Luxor there was no wind at all, but 2 days later in Assuan there was enough wind for a relaxed sailing trip in the sunset. I even steer the boat, the old wooden elements have more power than I thought, so I had to push all of my physical strength against the rudder. There are Feluccas everywhere along the Nile, just ask anyone for a ride. Feluccas are simple, traditional Egyptian sailboats, that have plied the mighty Nile since ancient times. It’s rig consists of one or two lateen sails.
We asked our airbnb host of Mango House about a Felucca ride and he organized everything for us with a beautiful small felucca and a private Nubian boatman. We paid around 10€ for 1,5 hours. The views of the surrounding islands were just incredible with the sun setting behind the rocks. You will sail the Nile South and come back with the flow up North. We talked so much with our Nubian boatman, who is a family father of three children and actually spent his honeymoon on a Nile trip. Suddenly these kids came on a surfboard drumming against the boat, singing Nubian songs. They just did it for fun, probably they knew the boatman.
5. Visit Kom Ombo between Luxor and Aswan
You will probably have a driver from Luxor to Assuan, it’s a 4,5 hour ride. In between there are two really beautiful temples to stop at and take a break. Kom Ombo and Edfu are both really incredible temple complexes with a lot of hieroglyphs to look at. In the morning there were no other tourists at Kom Ombo. I was absolutely fascinated by the big walls of hieroglyphs. Although it’s not the Karnak temple, I really liked this place!
6. Visit the Edfu Temple, located between Luxor and Aswan
Between Luxor and Aswan there is another temple simply called “Edfu” a little north of Kom Ombo. After visiting so many temples you might be not as impressed as in the beginning. But look at this big entrance and the figures carved in the rocks.
7. Visit the Souk in Aswan
When you are in Aswan, don’t miss the local souk! After my favorite souk Khan el-Kalili in Cairo, the Aswan souk is my second favorite souk in Egypt. There are so many stalls for locals and the sellers there are really friendly, not aggressive at all! You should have seen me, walking through the souk with 2 really big bast baskets and a big round bast bowl. I got a really good price, bargaining is a woman thing in Egypt, be relentless, negotiate hard, they will respect and celebrate you for that! 🙂 I got one third of the price they told me at first ;).
7. Stay at Mango House with this cute dog
I highly recommend to stay at the bigger Nubian island located in the Nile in front of the city center. You can simply take the little ferry boat every few minutes for free. The atmosphere there is a lot more relaxed because there are no cars and no locals who want to persuade you to hire them as a guide. Mango House is a really nice airbnb, with amazing owners and really cute clean rooms. The best thing is the owners dog which we called Mango dog. Every morning he walked with us from the airbnb down to the Nile river, the farewell at the last day was really hard! Mango dog loved me.
8. Eat at Bob Marlin
A few food steps away from Mango House, there is an incredible restaurant with the best roof top terrace directly next to the Nile. You will see whole Aswan behind the Nile and you will hear the resounding call of the Muezzin from the numerous mosques all around. Also the food was really good, I absolutely loved the vegetarian tajine. There will most likely be other tourists, get to hear their travel stories. We met one English/Algerian guy, one Frenchmen and one guy from Boston, all people who traveled a lot in the past.
How to get around
On the island you only walk by foot, in Aswan city center you can take a taxi if you want or you explore the streets by foot as well. To the entrance of Philae Temple you will need a driver, because it’s a few minutes outside the city. I found Aswan really relaxing compared to Cairo.
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