Itinerary
Philae Temple, High Dam And The Unfinished Obelisk Tour
In the morning, you will be picked up from your hotel in Aswan in an air-conditioned coach. Accompanied by a guide, you will be taken to the Nile for a motor boat ride to the Philae Temple. The temple is dedicated to goddess Isis. It was dismantled and reassembled in a new site on Agilika Island, about 500 meters from the former site of Philae. The ancient Egyptians built a beautiful and magnificent temple on this island devoted to goddess Isis; however, the temple got submerged after the Aswan dam was constructed in 1906. It was not until the 70s that many nations attempted to save the temple.
See the Temple of Isis, one of the greatest temples in Egypt. It is the island’s main temple with huge pylons and beautiful scenes. The temple is built in the same way as the temples of the New Kingdom; it consists of the first pylon, which is a great traditional pylon with two towers, and an open forecourt that leads to the second pylon.
Further on, proceed to Aswan High Dam, an engineering miracle built in the 1960s. A lot of material - 18 times the quantity of what was used in the Great Pyramid of Cheops – was used to construct this. The Dam is 11,811 feet long, 3215 feet thick at the base and 364 feet tall. Today it provides water and electricity to all of Egypt. From the top of the two mile long High Dam you can gaze across Lake Nasser. The lake is approximately 800 kilometers long and was the world's largest artificial lake at the time it was built.
Continue to the Unfinished Obelisk located in the Northern Quarry, it still lies where a crack was discovered as it was being hewn from the rock. The history of the obelisk is as interesting as the sight. It if was taken out from the earth, it would have weighed over 2.3 million pounds and would have been the world's largest piece of stone ever handled. However, a crack in the stone occurred, and so the project was abandoned.
Also visit the Fatimid Cemetery before ending the day. You will be dropped back to your hotel in Aswan.