Don’t miss a visit to Aswan in Egypt

Visit the Nubian villages:

This is a popular tourist attraction nowadays to get a slice of the Nubian life and to take pictures with their colourful houses in the villages.

I personally didn’t go on this tour as I was stuck for time and pretty ill while I was in Aswan. But most of all, I couldn’t be sure that this tour really gave back to the Nubian people and I was a little morally torn.

Of course, it would look great on my Instagram feed but what am I learning and would I be helping anyone by visiting? It’s always important to be conscious when we travel and so here’s some tips for going on a Nubian village tour;

• If you’re on a group tour, aways ask whether any of the money you pay to go will be given straight to the villagers and their community.

• Be respectful of the place and ask before you take pictures of people or sit on their houses

• You will most likely be asked to tip them which is only fair, dig deep

• This may/may not be a place you would like to visit due to the handling of crocodiles and crocodile products made here. You’ll see a lot of wall hangings.

 

Watch the Light and Sound Show at Philae Temple:

If you’re looking for something to do in the evening, then you can actually visit the Philae temple at night for the sound and light show! I didn’t get to do this as I was boarding my Nile cruise, but it must be fantastic to see it all lit up.

Imagine getting the boat over in the dark?! Must be incredible.

As with all sound and light shows in Egypt, there’s usually two performances in one night. One in English and another in a different language which changes daily. Headsets are provided if you need translation. These also need a minimum amount of people to turn up to take place.

 

Get a custom made perfume:

Aswan is also known as a popular location for making essential oils like Mint and Eucalyptus. Also, they provide ingredients for popular perfumes like Chanel, Hugo Boss and Christian Dior.

Basically, you can buy the same product here without the hundred dollar price tag or the fancy bottle! They just call them different names like ‘Queen Cleopatra’ and ‘Tutankhamun’.I went to the Tuthmoses perfume palace where we got the opportunity to smell different essential oils and perfumes. We were then each given a complimentary massage; ladies in one room, men in the other! There’s no obligation to buy with the tour. You can buy these perfumes and oils in different quantities and sets and they will be delivered to your accommodation later that evening. You won’t get them for this price in the West! I just wish I had more room in my case to buy.

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Take a boat to the romantic Philae Temple

Out of everything I saw in the city of Aswan, Philae temple really intrigued and won me over! I mean, what could be better than a mysterious ancient temple on an island that you can only access by boat?! It felt like a real adventure and also quenched my thirst for ancient Egyptian history.

In the Pharaonic era, which is when a lot of the temples in Luxor were built, it used to be a southern border force against Sudan, which was then known as Medjay. In the Greco-Roman era, which is when the most famous Cleopatra VII was around and Alexander the Great, the temple was built on Philae Island in honour of the Goddess Isis and Hathor. This is why it has the nickname the Temple of Love.

 

Visit the unfinished Obelisk

The Unfinished Obelisk is over 3,500 years old and an important historical site as it allowed us to study how the ancient Egyptians were able to make these huge structures. By hand and way before any sort of industrial machines.

The ancient Egyptians would carve the huge shape out of the bedrock and pound it with stone balls to smooth out the obelisk. Then they would place wood in between the gaps using water to free it out from the ground.  The wet wood would expand allowing them to lift it. But, in the case of the unfinished obelisk there was a crack in the rock, making it unusable. So, it was abandoned.

It was ordered to be created by Queen Hatshepsut and, if it was successful, would have been monstrous at 1/3 larger than any obelisk made before at 137 feet. It would have also weighed 1200 tonnes.