A week in Aswan

We lived in Aswan for a week, which is a mix of tourism and day to day life, so I am not going to break this into different days, but rather just show the things we have done.  But since it represents 7 days of periodic activities, there a few more pictures than the Cairo posts.

Things we have done, which might not all be in photos, and some of which were done multiple times.

• Walk the corniche (river walk) in Aswan along the Nile.  It's a nice marbled walk along the rivers, and is the lifeblood of Aswan.  
• Walk and shop the souq, which is a mile-long market right outside the front door.  I love seeing markets with all the colors and textures and smells and trinkets.  But you have to be able to handle the vendors.
• Ride a felucca at sunset (Nile sailboat).  A nice relaxing ride in an iconic vessel.  Sorry, there are a lot of photos below.
• Dine at several nice local restaurants with delicious food and sunset views.  The food was amazing, the views were amazing, the company was amazing, and the prices don't break the bank.
• Eat delicious home-cooked meals!
• Drink mango, mint, pear, doum, ginger, karkadeh/hibiscus, watermelon, pomegranate, lotus.
• Shop for groceries in stores, which are also fun to explore.
• Tour the Nubia Museum (history explained below, #2)
• Tour Philae Temple (history explained below, #2) 
• Walk the corniche (river walk) in New Aswan along the Nile.  Aswan has expanded into New Aswan across the river (history explained below, #1)
• Ferry to, and walk along, Elephantine Island (an inhabited island in the Nile at Aswan and a former seat of government. Elephantine refers to ivory, which was traded here)
• Kayak on the Nile.  There are a lot of small islands to investigate, but they all have dogs, so you don't get out. 
• Hike the West Bank to see tombs, including Qubbet el-Hawa/Tomb of the Nobles and the mausoleum of Aga Khan (III buried in 1959, and IV in 2025) now closed to the public
• Pack 8 in a small car. 
• Ride in a microbus (15 seat van with hop on and off)
• Ride in a tuk-tuk (a motorbike carriage)
• Discover mummies in the mountainside (human skeletal remains, some still wrapped in linen, no photos included below in case that's disturbing to some viewers)
• Ride a camel
• Swim in the Nile
• Hold a crocodile 

Historical footnote #1.  Since ancient history the East Bank of the Nile is for the living (sunrise, life, temples, inhabited), while the West Bank is for the dead (sunset, afterlife, tombs, uninhabited).  So we are staying on the bustling East Bank, and we get to see sunsets over the desert landscape each night.  As population increases, there is some movement to the West Bank (like New Aswan). 

Historical footnote #2. You may know there is a large dam (actually two) in Aswan.  Long before the dams, there have been many cataracts/waterfalls/rapids in the Nile here, and it has historically been an interruption in the Nile for navigation/communication/commerce purposes; there is a reason all cruise boats from the north end at Aswan.  It also forms a soft border between people groups, with mostly Arabic people in northern Egypt, and mostly Nubian people in southern Egypt and northern Sudan. That is one reason you have to be careful to describe Egypt as Arabic, because that ignores an entire people group.  Nubia is actually the Biblical land of Kush.  The reason this is important from a historical point of view is that when the large Aswan dam was created, it led to a large reservoir Lake Nasser upstream, which flooded/displaced parts of Nubia.  In the years of dam construction in the 1960's, there was an international effort to preserve Nubian built culture, which involved moving a lot of historical temples and churches out of the flood plain, but many were lost.  You can read more here, but I mention this just so you understand the significance of the Nubia Museum in Aswan, and that the Philae Temple we visited is famous because it was moved piece by piece and reconstructed on an island in Aswan.  Because there was so much to preserve, Egypt gifted some temples to assisting countries, which is why the small Temple of Dendur from Nubia is now in the Met.

Nice morning wake-up view of the Nile

A corniche is a river-walk, in this case it extends nearly the length of Nile.  I think it is mostly polished granite, which adds to its elegance.  Not seen in this picture are the vendors which almost make it a second market (although for services more than goods, like pictures, sailboats, ferries, cruises, taxis, horse carriage rides, microbus rides, tuk-tuk rides, etc)

The souq/market that went on for a mile.

One of many felucca (sailboat) pictures

The contrasting geology around the Nile is fascinating (rocks, cliffs, sand, green, islands, etc)

Sailboats at sunset

Entrance to the Nubia Museum

Some people have noticed a resemblance.  I can neither confirm nor deny.

One of our sunset dinners was a little bright.  No complaints!

I think one reason I like these boats is because Zach plays Assassin's Creed, which is an open-world video game set in ancient Egypt, and it features these boats and views.

Is this picture the cover of the video game, or from my camera?  We'll never know.

Philae Temple

The two main pylons.  Lots of carvings of Horus, Osiris, and Anubis.  Later Christians scraped off a lot (like the entire left pylon which you can tell was a copy of the right)  

A Roman addition to the temple.  The Roman leaders were still carved as pharaohs with hieroglyphics.

Why yes, I did find more galvanized steel showing grain structure.  And yes, I do need a haircut after 100 days.

When we say there wasn't a cloud in the sky in the driest city on Earth, this is what we mean

Heron in flight.  Gray and purple were the two main varieties here.

Very colorful

Grocery store

Spices!

Can you guess what this is?

Overlooking the Nile and Aswan on the far bank

I was wondering if the lush greenery near the Nile was naturally irrigated from the river.  No.

I've never seen this branching, Dr Seuss-y palm tree variety before.

A dung beetle up close.

Sunset again

A stock image of Elephantine Island (I didn't bring my camera on the kayak trip).  It was an interesting juxtaposition of simplicity (narrow dirt alleys between mud buildings) and island hotels/restaurants and new construction.   And a former seat of government.

Another view

Kayaking the Nile

Egyptian breakfast cereal

A tuk-tuk.  This is a stock image because I didn't want to take pictures of people.  It would have been fun to have photos from the inside.

A microbus.  This is also a stock image.  Jumping in a microbus cost a whopping 10 cents per adult (kids free) for a 1 mile trip.  Getting in and out was a bit of an adventure.

The temple of the nobles in Aswan.

Pictures of pictures

So many cool landscapes when hiking desert dunes along a fertile river

I swear I am not this tall.  I feel like Gandalf in LOTR here.

Wasn't me, I promise!  I wasn't even here in 2007.

The human remains were often found near pottery shards.

Descending into the desert.  We hiked about 3 miles of this, up and down, which took about 4 hours, and we finished just before the sun peaked.

Landscape

Contrast

Swimming in the Nile at Barber beach.  Two of us went all-in.  After 2 weeks in Egypt, I was a little uncomfortable with my shirt off, or even in shorts.  I kept asking whether it was okay.  The answer: trust me, people already know you are not from here.

Let sleeping dogs lie.  Do you see all 5 blond labs?

Camel rides along the Nile

And through a Nubian Village

Kate pondering life at the end of our journey

Wrestling a fierce crocodile that was twice my size.  I managed to defeat it, shrink it, and wrap its mouth for everyone's safety.  This is the after picture.