Green Lion Holiday in Aswan
Private Tour: Abu Simbel Flight and Tour from Aswan
Introduction:
Fast track your journey and take the quick route to see the magnificent temples of Abu Simbel on an air tour from Aswan. With a qualified Egyptologist as your guide, this private tour provides the most personalized visit to Abu Simbel, in the shortest time possible.
The flight from Aswan to the small town of Abu Simbel takes only around 30 minutes. Your Egyptologist guide will meet you at the airport and accompany you to the famous temples of Ramses II and his favorite wife Nefertari.
On the short walk to the temple entrances, your guide will explain the history of the site, including details of the UNESCO-led relocation of the entire cliff face to higher ground, and how the temples were discovered by accident in 1813. Due to the large number of visitors to Abu Simbel, guides are not permitted inside either the Great Temple of Ramses II or the smaller Temple of Hathor. However, by using photos and illustrations, your guide will explain to you the structures and their interior artworks. You will then have free time to enter the temples and explore them at your leisure.
As one of the few ancient Egyptian sites which largely escaped damage by past invaders, the interiors of Abu Simbel's temples are astounding. The scale of the buildings and their detailed decoration leaves most visitors in awe. The temples' attraction is further enhanced by their scenic location on the edge of Lake Nasser in the orange sands of the desert.
After visiting the temples there may be time for a short visit to the small visitor's center which documents the UNESCO relocation project.
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Price: £208.21
Private Tour: Abu Simbel by Minibus from Aswan
Introduction: See the magnificent temples of Abu Simbel on a minibus tour from Aswan. With a qualified Egyptologist as your guide, you'll enjoy a personalized visit to Abu Simbel on this private tour. With its four rock-hewn pharaohs, you'll agree that the Great Temple is one of the most impressive sites in Egypt, and the highlight of any trip to Egypt.
On the short walk to the temple entrances, your guide will explain the history of the site, including details of the UNESCO-led relocation of the entire cliff face to higher ground, and how the temples were discovered by accident in 1813. Due to the large number of visitors to Abu Simbel, guides are not permitted inside either the Great Temple of Ramses II or the smaller Temple of Hathor. However, by using photos and illustrations, your guide will explain to you the structures and their interior artworks. You will then have free time to enter the temples and explore them at your leisure.
As one of the few ancient Egyptian sites which largely escaped damage by past invaders, the interiors of Abu Simbel's temples are astounding. The scale of the buildings and their detailed decoration leaves most visitors in awe. The temples' attraction is further enhanced by their scenic location on the edge of Lake Nasser in the orange sands of the desert.
After visiting the temples there may be time for a short visit to the small visitor's center which documents the UNESCO relocation project, before returning to the minibus for the drive back to Aswan. The drive is approximately three hours each way.
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Price: £63.45
Private Tour: Philae Temple, Aswan High Dam and Unfinished Obelisk
Introduction:
Take a private tour to explore three of Aswan most popular and well known sites. Walk on the High Dam which separates Lake Nasser from the Nile, be astounded at the size of the Unfinished Obelisk, and enjoy the beauty of Philae Temple's island location.
Depart your Aswan hotel or cruise ship and travel to the High Dam of Aswan, an engineering miracle when it was built in the 1960s. Containing more material than used in the Great Pyramid of Cheops, the Dam is 11,811 ft long, 3215 ft thick at the base, 364 ft tall and is carved into from the existing granite, providing irrigation and electricity for the whole of Egypt. From the top of the High Dam you can gaze across Lake Nasser to Kalabsha temple in the south and the huge power station to the north.
Continue to the Unfinished Obelisk in the granite quarries of Aswan where much of the red granite used for ancient temples and colossi came from. The Unfinished Obelisk still lies where it was carved when a crack was discovered as it was being hewn from the rock. Your qualified Egyptologist guide will explain how the 1 tonne obelisk was carved, and why the crack caused it to be abandoned.
The last of the 3 famous Aswan sites you will see today is generally regarded as the best. Philae Temple was carefully moved to its current location (around 500 meters from the original site) when the construction of the High Dam caused surrounding Nile waters to rise. A short motorboat ride takes you to the island where your guide will take you on a walking tour through the temple before allowing you free time to explore further on your own.
Dedicated to the goddess Isis, Philae Temple has a beautiful setting on an island in the river which has been landscaped to match its original site. It's various shrines and sanctuaries celebrate the deities involved in the myth of Isis and Osiris.
This is a private tour allowing you to determine the amount of time spent at each of the sites during the tour.
Duration: 3 hoursGo to shopping cart
Price: £30.80
Private Tour: St Simeon's Monastery
Introduction: Join a camel ride to the southern tip of Elephantine Island where you will find St Simeon's Monastery, an ancient, abandoned fortress monastery mostly built during the 7th century and located near Aswan.
The monastery was given the name St Simeon by archaeologists and travelers, but earlier Arabic and Coptic sources called it Anba Hatre (Hidra, Hadri, Hadra), after an anchorite who was consecrated a bishop of Syene (now Aswan) by Patriarch Theophilus (385-412 AD).
Anba Hatre married at the age of eighteen. Tradition says that just after the wedding, he encountered a funeral procession which inspired him to preserve his chastity and later become a disciple of Saint Baiman.
After eight years of ascetic practices under the supervision of his teacher, he retired to the desert and applied himself to the study of the life of Saint Antony. He died during the time of Theodosius I.
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Price: £23.41
Private Tour: High Dam and Unfinished Obelisk
Introduction:
Take a private tour to see a modern and an ancient engineering marvel in Aswan when you visit the High Dam and Unfinished Obelisk. See two of Egypt's engineering wonders with the incredible Unfinished Obelisk lying exactly as it fell, and the world famous engineering miracle that is the High Dam.
Depart your Aswan hotel or cruise ship and travel to the High Dam of Aswan. Located near Aswan, the world famous High Dam was an engineering miracle when it was built in the 1960s. Containing more material than used in the Great Pyramid of Cheops, the Dam is 11,811 ft long, 3215 ft thick at the base, 364 ft tall and is carved into from the existing granite, providing irrigation and electricity for the whole of Egypt. from the top of the High Dam you can gaze across Lake Nasser, a huge reservoir created when it was built, to Kalabsha temple in the south and the huge power station to the north.
Continue to the Unfinished Obelisk in the granite quarries of Aswan where much of the red granite used for ancient temples and colossi came from. The Unfinished Obelisk located in the Northern Quarry still lies where it was carved when a crack was discovered as it was being hewn from the rock. Your qualified Egyptologist guide will explain how the 1 tonne obelisk was carved, and why the crack caused it to be abandoned.
This is a private tour allowing you to determine the amount of time spent at each of the sites during the tour.
Duration: 2 hoursGo to shopping cart
Price: £15.40
Private Tour: The Nubia Museum
Introduction: The Nubia Museum is considered to be one of the most important Egyptian museums. Featuring exhibits and artifacts from the surrounding sites such as the High Dam, the museum is a "must-do" for any visitor to Aswan.
In the early 1960's, when Egypt built the High Dam at Aswan, Egyptologists and archaeologists the world over heeded UNESCO's appeal to salvage the monuments of Egyptian Nubia before the rising waters of Lake Nasser submerged them forever. More than sixty expeditions ultimately joined the "Nubian Rescue Campaign", which resulted in the excavation and recording of hundreds of sites, the recovery of thousands of objects, and the salvage and relocation of a number of important temples to higher ground.
Due to the quantities of material recovered from tombs, temples and settlements, UNESCO was encouraged in the 1980's to plan a new Nubian museum in Aswan where the objects could be stored and exhibited. It was universally felt at the time that they should be kept as close as possible to their principal places of origin.
Nearly 12 years later, the Museum became a reality and opened its doors in November 1997. The architecture of the Museum and the enclosure walls are intended to evoke traditional Nubian village architecture, as it was along the Nubian Nile before the region was flooded by Lake Nasser. Your qualified Egyptologist guide will show you some of the most important artifacts before allowing you free time to explore the museum at your leisure.
The building is set within a landscape, on graded levels, that includes a sequence of waterfalls. When the waterway reaches the lower part of the garden, it divides into 2 branches to surround an open-air stage and amphitheater where already many local and foreign groups have performed. The remaining 43,000 square meters have been planted with palm trees, flowers, and climbing plants, spread over natural rocks.
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Price: £17.86
Private Tour: Kalabsha Temple on Lake Nasser
Introduction: On the banks of Lake Nasser lies Kalabsha Temple, an often overlooked jewel of Aswan. Your Egyptologist guide is waiting to take you on a private tour to the temple to help you unlock its secrets.
For two years from 1961, Kalabsha Temple was dismantled into 15,000 pieces and moved block by block to its current location on the banks of Lake Nasser. It was just one of 18 temples and monuments moved in order to preserve them from the rising Nile waters created by the construction of Aswan's High Dam. The temple which is dedicated to the Egyptian god Horus and the Nubian god Mandulis, was originally built just after the Ptolemy period, the era after Alexander the Great's death (323BC).
The facade of the temple is undecorated suggesting it was never finish by its original builder, the Roman emperor Octavius Augustus. Despite being unfinished, Kalabsha Temple is considered the most complete, and largest free-standing temple in Nubia. The inner walls feature Egyptian artwork including a carving of St George slaying a dragon and Coptic crosses, showing the influence of Christians who used the temple as a church during the Roman persecution. Another piece of artwork which is a feature of the temple is a carving declaring the prohibition of eating pork which is carved in Meroitic. This language remains a mystery to Egyptologists today, with its origin still unknown.
Your private tour from Aswan includes a qualified Egyptologist guide, entrance fees and transportation from your Aswan hotel.
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Price: £19.10
