• The Egyptian Museum
• Saqquara
• Dashur
• Giza

• Elephantine
• Philae
• St. Simeon
• Abu Simbel
• Down the Nile

• Edfu
• Karnak
• Luxor Temple

• Valley of the Kings
• Hatshepsut's Temple
• Tombs of the Nobles
• The Ramesseum
• New Gourna

^top

St. Simeon

The felucca took us from Elephantine Island across to the west side of the Nile and a camel ride to St. Simeon, a 6th Century Coptic monastery. In the disance we could see the Mausoleum of the Aga Khan. As ever, just a few hundred yards above the Nile, where there is no irrigation, the desert closes in.

The monastery was quiet, empty, considerably more interesting than I'd thought it would be. I guess it was BUILT as a monastery and Christian church, whereas in many of the temples you see signs that parts of them had been turned into Christian chapels, with the ancient Egyptian paintings defaced.

The monastery of St. Simeon (ca. 6th C.) shining in the sun	and inside it's cool and dark.
The West Bank of the Nile, desert almost to the edge.