Aswan
As well as being a beautiful winter resort with many hotels, Aswan has a huge array of temples, monasteries, the Elephantine Island's ancient Nilometre, and the Aswan High Dam, one of the three largest dams in the world. Two Km south of Aswan is Philae, a classical temple considered to be sufficiently important to be saved from the flooding caused by the opening of the dam. Further, to the south is Abu Simbel surviving largely thanks to a UNESCO backed project in the 1960s with the two magnificent temples of Rameses II. One hundred and twenty Km north of Aswan is the temple of Edfu, one of the best preserved in Egypt. There are three weekly sailings from Aswan down the Nile into the Sudan.
Philae
South of the city of Aswan lies the beautiful temple complex of Philae (pronounced "feel-i"). Its main temple was dedicated to the goddess Isis and its construction was undertaken during the third century B.C. Philae was the last bastion of ancient Egyptian religion and hieroglyphic usage. It is also a superb example of threatened cultural heritage being saved in the face of modern civilization's march to change the environment. The island of Philae and its temples came under threat at the turn of the century when the British erected the Aswan Dam at the First Cataract. Philae began to spend some of its time beneath the backed-up flood waters of the Nile. The Dam was progressively raised in the following decades, but the final nail in the coffin for the island of Philae came with the construction of the Aswan High Dam in the 1960s. The temples were destined to disappear forever beneath the river's waters.
Fortunately, Philae was saved from drowning. In 1977, a coffer dam was constructed around the temples and the water was pumped out. Then the temples were carefully dismantled with every block assigned a number and its position noted. A nearby higher island called Agilkai was modified to resemble Philae and the temples were reassembled. In 1980, Philae was once again opened to the public. If time permits, a night visit for the Sound and Light Show is very worthwhile as the temples look stunning under floodlights. Shows are presented in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish and Arabic. The language and time schedule should be checked before going.
Valley of the Kings
The west bank at Luxor is one of the most important archaeological sites in the world. It is much more than what we refer to as the Valley of the Kings, though many have called the whole of the area by that name. If one looks at just the Valley of the Kings, one only sees tombs, but the tombs were an integral part of larger mortuary complexes. Indeed, the whole west bank is honeycombed with tombs, not just of the ancient Egyptian Kings, but of their families and the noblemen who served them.
