Aswan

Details & Itinerary

We stay for two nights on the Nile, in the heart of a traditional Nubian village,  offering a chance to experience a very different side of Egyptian life.  

On arrival, we visit the ancient Temple of Satet on Elephantine Island, one of  the oldest sacred sites in Egypt. Associated with the Nile’s inundation and the  measurement of its life-giving flood, it marks a place where the fortunes of the  entire kingdom were once tied to the annual rise of the river.  7

We also explore the Botanical Gardens on Kitchener’s Island, where shaded  pathways wind through rare and exotic plants gathered from across the  former British Empire.  

From our hotel, there is time to wander the local market, browse traditional  Nubian shops, and absorb the relaxed atmosphere of life along the southern  Nile.  

The following day we visit Philae, where the Temple of Isis was painstakingly  relocated stone by stone to nearby Agilkia Island following the construction of  the High Dam. Nearby, the original island setting remains partially submerged  

beneath the waters, offering a poignant reminder of the landscape that once  surrounded one of Egypt’s most beloved sanctuaries. We will spend time at  the remains of the original site, where traces of the old island still evoke the  setting in which generations of pilgrims once approached the temple by boat.  

Isis, goddess of magic, healing, motherhood, and divine wisdom, was one of  the most revered deities in the ancient world. According to myth, she  gathered together the scattered fragments of Osiris and restored him to life  long enough to conceive Horus, the divine child destined to restore order after  chaos. Isis was also closely associated with the star Sirius (Sopdet), whose  heliacal rising heralded the annual inundation, linking the movements of the  heavens to the renewal of life along the Nile.  

From Aswan, we fly north to Cairo for the final chapter of our journey.