Elephantine Island and Saint Simeon Monastery - Tour from Aswan

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 to board a felucca (an Egyptian sailing boat) for a trip to the Elephantine Island.

It was one of the most powerful forts on Egypt’s southern borders. On the island there are relics of stone temples of various eras including the temple of Khnum - the ram-headed god of inundation, erected during the old kingdom and reconstructed at the turn of the Pharaonic era. The island houses ‘The Nilometre’ (the Egyptian method of measuring the height of the Nile) dating from the Roman era and also a museum housing an important collection of relics from the Greco-Roman era which were discovered in Aswan and Nubia.

After exploring the Elephantine Island, continue to the archaeological site of Saint Simeon Monastery. You will have to take a camel ride (about 15 minutes) to the site of the monastery located about 1200 metres from the west bank of the Nile. The monastery is also known as Anba Hatre.

The monastery dates back to the 16th century and is one of the most intact Coptic monasteries of old standing. You will come across a church with frescoes of Jesus Christ and saints. The principle church of the monastery was built in the first half of the 11th century and represents the first of its kind in Egypt. Though only the lower part of the church remains, it is an important example of a domed oblong church. In the ground floor of the archaeological site, you will come across a refectory, together with rows of cells that flank a vaulted corridor. You will also find an oil press, wine press, storage wings, stables and pottery kilns among others.

From here, you will be dropped back to your hotel in Aswan.