Amazing tour to Nobles Tombs at Qubbet El Hawa, the 7th-century Monastery of St, Simeon, and the stunning Botanical Island in Aswan with your professional tour guide. This tour offers a unique opportunity to explore the rich history and natural beauty of Aswan. Discover the ancient nobles tombs, where you can witness the fascinating burial sites of the nobles of ancient Egypt. Visit the St. Simeon Monastery, a remarkable religious site that dates back to the 7th century. Lastly, immerse yourself in the tranquility of the Botanical Island, home to a diverse range of plant species. Join us on this captivating journey as we delve into the wonders of Aswan’s past and present.
Children from 0 – 5 years are free of charge
Children from 6 – 11 years get 50% off
Children from 12 years are considered adults
You will meet your guide at your hotel reception to commence your tour to Nobles tombs, St, Simeon Monastery and Botanical Island in Aswan.
It will be great to begin tour to Nobles tombs with the Nobles tombs themselves. The river’s cape of Aswan is dominated by the sand-covered hills of the West Bank which are strewn with rock-cut tombs of high-status officials of the Old and Middle Kingdoms. At the crest of the hill is the domed tomb of a Muslim prophet which gives the hill its local name, Qubbet el-Hawa or ‘Dome of the Winds’.
Then your tour to Nobles tombs takes you by boat or by camel to the Monastery of St, Simeon. The Monastery of Anba Hatre is located south of the island of Elephantine near the west bank of the Nile. Churches were found in this area of Aswan as early as the third century. Only the ruins of some ancient churches remain now, along with two monasteries, the Monastery of Anba Hatre and the Monastery at Qubbet Al-Hawa.
Anba Hatre was named for an anchorite who was consecrated a bishop by Patriarch Theophilus; he died in the time of Emperor Theodosius I (379-395). By the sixth century, there was a monastic settlement in the region of Anba Hatre’s hermitage. It was extensively rebuilt in the eleventh century and by the end of the thirteenth century had been abandoned. Over time it came to be referred to as the Monastery of St. Simon.
You will finish your tour to Nobles tombs at the lovely Botanical Island. Kitchener’s Island (now locally known in Arabic as Geziret an-Nabatat, which translates as “island of plants”) is a small, oval-shaped island in the Nile at Aswan.
The island was given to Lord Horatio Kitchener in the 1890s for his part in the Sudanese campaigns while he was the Egyptian Consul. Kitchener, who was a keen gardener turned his island home into a botanical garden, importing exotic plants and trees which flourished in the Aswan climate. It was called King’s Island during the time of King Farouk, and since the time of President Nasser, it has been called Aswan Botanical Island/Garden.
You will end your tour to Nobles tombs with a transfer back to your hotel.
