Aswan

Aswan: I'm waiting for "high tea" on the terrace of the Old Cataract Hotel, while the sun sets over the Nile. The hotel has welcomed the likes of Winston Churchill, Agatha Christie, and Tsar Nicholas II, Maybe some of their luster will rub off on me. I'm staying in a new section decorated in nouveau Egyptian, which so far I've found more intriguing than really satisfying. Aswan is situated on the Nile's first cataract–important since ancient times, because navigation to the delta was possible from this location without encountering a barrier. In Aswan the Nile is at its most scenic, flowing through amber desert and granite rocks, around verdant islands covered in palm groves and tropical plants. A branch of South Valley University is here; so I hope to learn a bit about it.

Nubia: Associated with the Nubian people, a distinct ethnic group with their own language and customs, the town is more African in character than the cities of the north. I can look out from my hotel balcony on Elephantine Island. According to Egyptian mythology, here was the dwelling place of Khnum, the ram-headed god of the cataracts, who guarded and controlled the waters of the Nile from caves beneath the island. Today, most of the southern tip of the island is taken up by the ruins of the Temple of Khnum.A sizable population of Nubian people live in three villages in the island's middle section.