Sites of Aswan

We started our sightseeing early today because of the heat (about 44C!). We took the ferry across the Nile to the west bank and visited the Tombs of the Nobles. There are many tombs dug into the side of the high cliffs and were the burial sites of princes, governors and other dignitaries, dating back to as early as the 2600s BC. We were guided around by a man packing some serious heat. We're not sure why he was armed, and we didn't ask, but by the end of the tour we still hadn't decided if this was a good thing or a bad thing! The tombs are very interesting, and some of them have the most beautiful carvings. Most of the carvings and reliefs depict the lifestyles of those buried within, as well as serve as a diary of things that happened in his/her lifetime. One of the nobles had a bad knee and is shown with his crutch in all his reliefs. Some of them even still had paint showing in various places. We politely thanked the dude with the gun, gave him a tip, and when he suggested we tip the guy with the key we thought it was a great idea.

We then took the ferry back over to the east bank to catch a different ferry to Elephantine Island, a huge piece of land in the middle of the Nile right in Aswan. Civilisation began here around 3000 BC. We wandered around the Nubian villages on the island, a series of unpaved alleys, small farms, wandering chickens & goats and brightly coloured mud homes. We then went to the Ruins of Abu, an ancient village dating from the beginning of settlement on the island. It's still much in the process of being excavated. The most interesting things were the two Nilometres. Essentially a well built on the banks of the Nile, there are stairs leading down inside and a scale carved into one side. They used the Nilometre to measure the level of the river. If the river was high, it meant a flood was approaching and there would be plenty of water for crops. In addition, the higher the water, the more prosperous they would be, and the higher the taxes would go.

By this time, it was at least 44C, so we had a quick lunch of kushari, headed back to our hotel and had a swim in the refreshing pool before having a nap. Later in the evening, we spent some time trying to arrange a felucca (sailboat) trip north. We wandered through the souqs (markets), had pizza for dinner (it was supposed to be an Egyptian pizza, but the waiter just assumed we wanted a western style one and that is what we got), and had another night swim before heading to bed.