"Esna, the forgotten town" a Isna Travel Page by vdoortje

Most people doing a cruise between Luxor and Aswan will know Esna. Because every cruise ship will have to dock here and wait before crossing the lock. Hardly ever someone goes ashore. And that is a shame as we found out during our last trip.
It was very busy on the Nile and the crossings through the lock were delayed, so we had a whole afternoon to explore Esna and it was well worth it! It was one of the highlights of our trip.

Since not many tourists will visit Esna there is hardly any tourism "industry". Ther is a small tourist souk leading from the Corniche to the Tempel of Khnoum.
A Temple from the Greek-Roman era that is almost entirely covered with desert sand. They just cleared the hypostile hall, that is in remarkable good condition, but nothing compared to the other tempels to be seen in Edfu, Kom Ombo, Philea and, of course, Karnak.

Turn left before the Temple and you will end up in the local souk, where Esna people do their shopping. That is where this picture is taken. This is an area where tourists are not allowed without police guidance, but you might be allowed to get in if you give the police guard at the entrance of the souk a baksheesh. Just not to far.
We were there with a local and he arranged a police man to accompany us through town.
It was such a treat!! People are not used to tourists in these area's of Esna, so no hassle and people who are after your money. Just nice and welcoming people, laughing children, who for a change weren't begging for pen's or sweets, just trying to shake hands.
THE REAL EGYPT!!!!

In every town in Egypt you will find animals in the streets. Donkeys, horses, chicken, goats etc. Here is my daughter with a little donkey in Esna.

This was a surprise to us. While walking through the streets of Esna we were invited in, what we thought to be, a house. It wasn't! It was a Mill.
There is a funny story attached to this.
When we were in Philea our guide showed us a big stone. Carved round with a hole in the middle. He didn't know exactly what it was. He thought it was a basin for baptising. He knows we are Christians and thought this was something that would appeal to us.
I looked at it and said: I don't know. It looks like a mill stone to me. The hole in the middle is for holding a beam that will have a structure attached to it that will hold another stone in a vertical position to the horizontal stone. Grain was thrown into the horizontal stone and thus grinded by the moving around vertical stone.
Poor Nasser! He began to doubt, but maybe he was right. It is known that the Tempel of Philea was used as a Christian Church at the beginning of the Christian era. This mill stone in Philea could very well have been used as a baptising basin, who knowes??