"Aswan : city visit during the Nilecruise" Aswan by Innovator

We only saw a small glimp of Aswan's centre while doing the Nilecruise.
Ideal for buying fresh herbs and cheap statues. Beware that prices demanded are way too high.

We bought a big statue (about 80cm high) and I stuck it by incident against a wall and the snake fell of the head of the God Horus :) so pay about half the price, it's no real stone but remainings of stones put together.

The women on the picture came begging to all the tourists for some money. Aswan is a rather poor city and you don't feel so comfortable walking in the streets as a tourist. Everyone is looking strange at you, especially if you have a big bag with a statue. Maybe they thought I had a gun under the paper while walking with this statue covered in paper :)

The town of Aswan in Upper Egypt marked the southern boundary of Ancient Egypt. It is one of the most beautiful places in the country with the town located on the east bank and the desert coming right to the Nile on the west bank.

The river is dotted with islands. Near the town, the two main ones are Elephantine and Kitchener. Kitchener's Island is the site of a botanic gardens, whilst Elephantine has ruins, a museum and an Oberoi hotel. Unfortunately, hotels are sprouting on a number of islands in the area.

The best view of Aswan is from the Aga Khan's Mausoleum on the west bank. For total relaxation, take a felucca around the islands.

Just south of Aswan is the Old Dam built around the turn of the century and later increased in height. Just south of the dam is the beautiful island temple complex of Philae. Even further to the south is the mighty Aswan High Dam built in the 1960s. Behind it have amassed the waters of Lake Nasser which extend some 500 kilometres south along the old course of the Nile. The lake is often referred to as the Nubian Sea by tour operators who now operate cruise boats on the lake visiting old re-located sites.

At the time the author cruised the lake in January 1995, there was only one boat and little wear on the sites, but the number of vessels has now increased. During early 1998 the author saw three during a 4-day cruise.

At the end of the cruise, if taken from the dam, one reaches the temples of Abu Simbel just north of the border with Sudan.

Many of the objects found in ancient Nubia before it was flooded can now be found beautifully displayed in the Nubia Museum which opened in Aswan in

• Pros:Cheap statues & fresh herbs & still authentic
• Cons:Sometimes begging/hassling
• In a nutshell:Nice to visit for fast shopping for herbs / statues / ...