Day Tour to High Dam, Philae Temple, and unfinished obelisk in Aswan

High Dam, Philae Temple, and unfinished obelisk

Aswan, the southern city of Egypt with a lot of sun was an ancient border town. Its atmosphere is quite African. The Nile in Aswan is magnificent flowing between granite rocks and desert. Aswan is famous for its ancient monuments, little islands and spices souks (markets).

Start your tour with the Unfinished Obelisk

Unfinished Obelisk still lies in the ancient granite quarries. It was abandoned because of a crack in the stone and still exist tools of the builders that give us an idea how work was done. If Unfinished Obelisk had been finished, it would have been the largest monolithic piece of stone ever handled weighing over 1000 tons.

Then take the motorboat to the island where the Philae Temple is located and visit the temple of Isis that remained in use till 550AD when emperor Justinian closed it (it was the last pagan temple in use). According to legend Isis found the heart of Osiris here. Then move to visit the High Dam that was constructed between 1960 and 1970 to control floods, provide water for irrigation and generate electricity, the reservoir it created, Lake Nasser is 550km long and 35km wide. The dam itself is 111m tall, 3800m long and 980m wide at the base, 40m at the crest.