We made the obligatory trip to the dam. It is impressive, 2.5 miles across and nearly 400 feet tall. There were pictures of it being built and diagrams of its architecture. It displaced hundreds of thousands of people, mostly Nubian Egyptians. Our guide said that this was a peaceful process with new housing provided to everyone that was displaced and the freedom to choose where they wanted to be relocated to. This happened in Egypt and in Sudan. The peaceful transition was questioned by some tour members and the guide gave is a brief history of floods on the Nile for context. Manny floods were quite destructive and killed thousands of people so supporting the making of the dam was considered a patriotic duty. Unfortunately it is located in a seismically active region and a 5.7 earthquake in 1981 was attributed to the stress on the local faults made by the weight of all the water in the reservoir. Since it is made of granite and sandstone fill and not concrete it is considered one of the most dangerous dams in the world. We then went to a spice market where we bought some frankincense and saffron. Our excursion ended with a leisurely sail boat ride.
We passed over the old dam from 1902
This water is 80 to 100 feet deep here
A commemorative building celebrating the dam
The power generating intakes
It is so big that it is the second largest man made lake
This lake water stretches 550 km
The core of the dam and its foundations
Great diagrams, this is the power generation system
Another salvaged temple in the distance
Feeding one dog gets you all the dogs
The Nile downstream from the dam
Power generation
It takes two men to raise the flag
Safety first
A sign for Aswan and a police car
The local college is very large
The cemetery
Pick you spice, they have plenty
So much hibiscus tea
An incense burner?
It was nicely covered
Some sort of dried plant that can be put in a jar with water to get a nice color
Our spice vendor
Frankincense
Saffron, white pepper and frankincense
Sheeesha
Scary manikins
Fresh bread
More spices
Nice mural
The second largest island on the Nile
The felucca is a type of sailboat that we will be riding on
All aboard
A good day for a sail
Safety first
We had little kids serenading us on the way
They paddle out to teh baots
Singing a Shakira song from 2010
A whole body steer
Coptic church in the distance
A riot of colorful boats
Not sure which god this temple was dedicated to
Some hieroglyphics carved into the rock
Old temple
A shrine for the Ali Kahn a religious leader
Leading up to the Aswan Hotel a favorite of Agatha Christie
Old school hotel
The Nileometer, used to measure the height of the Nile
An eyesore of a building. It was supposed to be a revolving restaurant but never opened and has been empty for decades. It is adjacent to a hotel so it is hard to demolish
Sail boats have the right of way
The fancy steps up to the bus
Pretty but not helpful in step climbing
Aswan says it all
