Philae Temple and New Kalabsha Day Tour from Aswan

You are picked up from your hotel in Aswan and taken to the dock, where a motorboat carries you across the water to Philae. The Temple of Isis, known as the Pearl of Egypt, was built between about 280 and 80 BC and later moved to Agilkia Island in tens of thousands of pieces to save it from the High Dam. With your guide you walk through the pylons, colonnaded courts and sanctuary of the goddess Isis, and hear how her cult lived on here long after other temples closed.

After Philae you are driven to the west end of the Aswan High Dam, where a second motorboat takes you across the lake to New Kalabsha. This is the site where several Nubian monuments were rebuilt after Lake Nasser covered their original valley in the 1960s. The boat ride gives you time to take in the shoreline and to hear from your guide how teams from several countries saved these temples. You then step ashore, ready to explore the Temple of Kalabsha.

You enter the Temple of Kalabsha, the largest free-standing temple in Lower Nubia, dedicated to the Nubian god Mandulis. Most of the surviving building dates to the Roman period under Augustus, and its pylon, courts and sanctuary stand on ground close to the lake, after the temple was moved block by block in the early 1960s. Your guide points out the reliefs and the carved inscriptions, and explains why Nubian temples show a blend of Egyptian, Greek and Roman influences.

You continue to Beit al-Wali, a small rock-cut temple of Ramesses II whose walls show his campaigns in Nubia, and to the colossal statue of Ramesses II brought here from Gerf Hussein. You also see the Roman Kiosk of Kertassi, a graceful pavilion with Hathor-headed columns. When you have finished, the motorboat takes you back across the lake, and your driver returns you to your hotel in Aswan, where the tour ends.