Philae Temple, the Unfinished Obelisk and the High Dam

This Philae Temple tour puts Aswan's three essential sites into one morning. It starts at the Unfinished Obelisk in the granite quarries at the edge of the city. The three-sided monument was being cut from the bedrock when a crack appeared, and it was abandoned where it lay. It shows, better than any finished monument, how ancient stoneworkers worked.

From Shellal a motorboat takes you across to Agilkia Island and the temple of Isis at Philae. Flooded for part of every year after the first Aswan dam was built, the temple was dismantled and rebuilt on this higher island as the High Dam was completed, and its pylons and carved halls now rise straight from the water. Your guide tells the story of Isis and why her cult lasted here longer than almost anywhere else in Egypt.

The morning ends at the Aswan High Dam, the modern project that controls the Nile's flow and created Lake Nasser, the reason Philae and Abu Simbel had to move. Pickup and drop-off are at your Aswan hotel, and the entrance fees are included.