Aswan Holidays

Aswan (called Swenet or Syene in Pharaonic times) represents Egypt’s ancient frontier and is its sunniest southern city.  It stands on the first cataract of the Nile and has a distinctively African flavour and atmosphere.  If it is a relaxed, slow paced Egypt holiday experience you crave, Aswan can provide it.    Sunshine is virtually guaranteed each and every day with little or no rainfall all year round.   Aswan has been a favourite winter resort for those holidaying in Egypt since the early 1800s and it is still a perfect place to get away from it all.  Charming and compact, Aswan is easy enough to walk around and days can be spent strolling up and down the broad Corniche or sitting in floating restaurants eating freshly caught fish. 

In Aswan the Nile is at its most beautiful, flowing through amber desert and granite rocks and round emerald islands covered in palm groves and tropical plants. Elephantine Island, the largest of these Aswan islands, is also one of the most ancient sites in Egypt.  Every night Nubian dancers and musicians recreate their rich cultural and folklore heritage, staging scenes from village life and performing the famous Nubian mock stick-fight dances.  Nubia was influenced both by Egypt and by Black African people further south but there are many examples of how Egyptian culture also absorbed Nubian arts, crafts and religious practices.

Aswan  Hotels

Those who visit Aswan do so mainly to marvel at the two massive temples of Abu Simbel on the shores of Lake Nasser, the massive man-made reservoir formed after the completion of the Aswan High Dam. If you prefer more  contemporary pursuits, hotels in Aswan like  the Iberotel Aswan  offer  a variety of distractions, including a swimming pool,  floodlit tennis court, a fully equipped Health Club and Gym with sauna, jacuzzi, steam rooms and massage parlours, a sundeck terrace and a bowling alley. Further entertainment is provided by a cinema, as well as a theatre.

A good way to get to know Aswan is to take a stroll along the Corniche El Nile or take a boat to the Nubian villages of Koti and Soti on Elephantine Island. There are literally hundreds of different cruise boats operating on the River Nile and Aswan is home to more than its fair share. Many boats regularly arrive from as far away as Luxor.  Day trips are regularly available and can be arranged through the hotel .

Aswan Temples and Abu Simbel

Aswan has many fascinating ancient sites.  Elephantine Island has some of the oldest pre-dynastic temple remains in Egypt.   Just beyond Elephantine Island is Kitchener's Island (Geziret el-Nabatat) which is a lush garden of exotic pants from all over the world gathered and planted by the British general Kitchener during his Sudanese campaigns against the Mahdi.  On the west bank of the Nile are the tombs of local pharaonic nobles and the more recent tomb of Mohammed Shah Aga Khan who died in 1957 as well as the Coptic Monastery of St Simeon which was built in the 6th Century AD.

The magnificent temples at Abu Simbel overshadow any relics in Aswan itself. The temples are impressive enough, but their greater fame probably stems from the fact that between January 1966 and September 1968 restoration workers carved the temples into over a thousand pieces with some of the blocks weighing as much as 30 tons each.  The pieces were reassembled 200 feet further up the cliff face on an artificial hill above the reach of Lake Nasser.

The Two temples at Abu Simbel were originally carved out of the living rock during the reign of Rameses II as a lasting monument to himself and his queen Nefertari to commemorate his alleged victory at the Battle of Kadesh.  Fought between the Egyptians and the Hittites, most scholars agree that Kadesh was hardly a victory but was probably the biggest chariot battle ever seen with over 6,000 war chariots used.

If you can visit Aswan and Abu Simbel in February or October, you may be lucky enough to witness the incredible sunrise over the temples.  Built on a precise east – west axis, the temples are oriented so that the rays of the morning sun go straight through the heart of the Great Temple to the innermost sanctuary at dawn, illuminating the statues of Amun, Ramses II and Ra-Horakhty twice a year on February 22nd and October 22nd.  Known as the “Perpendicular of the Sun on Abu Simbel”, this spectacular effect lasts for about 20 minutes.

The Great Temple

The Great Temple at Abu Simbel took about twenty years to build and was dedicated to the gods Amun, Ra-Horakhty and Ptah as well as elevating Rameses to being a god in his own right.   All the statues represent Rameses II in some guise seated on a throne or appearing as the god Osiris and being worshipped himself by the god Set. Other statues show Nefertari, Rameses's chief wife, the queen mother, his two sons and his six daughters, but all these statues are much smaller and could not be allowed to be higher than the Pharaoh.

The Small Temple

The temple of Hathor and Nefertari is also known as the Small Temple and was dedicated to the goddess Hathor and Rameses II's wife, Nefertari. This was only the second temple in all Egyptian history to be dedicated to a queen (the only other example being Akhenaten’s temple to his royal wife, Nefertiti).  What is equally unusual is the fact that the statues of the king and queen are equal in size.  Traditionally, statues of queens always stood next to the Pharaoh, but were never taller than his knees. This exception to such an established convention probably indicates the special importance attached to Nefertari by Rameses.  The inside of the temple shows Nefertari participating in the same divine rituals as her husband with a statue of the goddess Hathor represented as a cow.

Aswan High Dam

The famous High Dam was considered to be an engineering miracle when it was built in the 1960s. It contains around 18 times the volume of material used in the construction of the Great Pyramid of Cheops.  Almost two miles long and 364 feet tall, it provides irrigation and electricity for the whole of Egypt.  Together with the old Aswan Dam built by the British between 1898 and 1902, it also affords visitors magnificent views across the 500 miles of Lake Nasser to Kalabsha temple in the south and the huge power station to the north.

The High Dam created a 30% increase in the cultivatable land in Egypt, and raised the water table for the Sahara as far away as Algeria.  The electricity producing capability of the Dam doubled Egypt's available supply virtually overnight.  There remain some issues about the environmental impact of the Dam and it is true that peoples and whole communities were ruthlessly uprooted during its construction.  The relocation of the temples at Abu Simbel was another consequence of building the High Dam.

The High Dam has unquestionably brought tremendous benefits to Egypt. Before the Dam  was built, the River Nile flooded each year during summer.  These floods brought nutrients and minerals that enriched the fertile soil along the river and made the Nile valley ideal for farming.  However, in high water years, those flood waters could also wipe out an entire year’s crop, so the need to protect farmland and the economically important cotton fields became far greater.   In low-water years widespread drought and famine regularly occurred with equally disastrous effects. The reservoir storage provided by the Dam and Lake Nasser allows the cycle of flooding and drought to be controlled and mitigated.   The hydroelectric power generation of the Aswan High Dam virtually doubled Egypt’s available electricity supply and has allowed many villages to use electricity for the first time. 

Aswan Nile Cruises

Aswan is a regular port of call for several Nile Cruises including vessels of the Travcotels Cruise Fleet.   Planned itineraries and excursions can take you to many of the world’s most impressive and mysterious monuments of the Pharaonic civilization.  You can tour the temples of Abu Simbel knowing that in the evening you can return to your own floating Five-Star modern conveniences.   The Nile was, and still is, the living  heart of Egypt, and there is no better way to discover the mysteries and majesty of all Egypt has to offer than sailing the Nile in a well-appointed Four or Five Star Nile Cruise ship. 

Typical of the Travcotels fleet calling at Aswan is the lady Sophia.  This deluxe, ultra sleek, modern  Five-star vessel  offers comprehensive on-board entertainment programmes as well as  visits to  historic sites such as  Abu Simbel, Luxor, Esna, Edfu and Kom Ombo.  There’s even an on board bazaar and gift shop.  With Nile cruises from Aswan, you can take an inspiring trip into the fascinating past while enjoying luxurious comfort, safety and security on board the most modern and best equipped Nile Cruise fleets in Egypt.