The felucca at dawn in Aswan

The feluccas in Aswan leave the mooring around six in the morning, and if you want to see the city from the water you should be on one of them at half past six, when the light is still low and the temperature is something you can think clearly in.

Our boatman was called Hassan, which is roughly the most common name in Egypt, and he had been taking people out on the Nile for twenty-two years. He did not sell us the usual circuit. He took us south, under the bridge, towards Elephantine Island, and then cut the engine and let the current do the work.

What you see from the water

Aswan from the river is a completely different city. The granite hills that hem it in on three sides come right down to the water. The high dam is up the river, out of sight. The Cataract area begins almost immediately — the First Cataract, where the Nile splits around granite boulders and the channels have been navigable, and dangerous, since the earliest times.

Elephantine Island is almost exactly the right size to walk around in an hour, and it still has the remains of the town of Abu, which was the main religious centre of the region before Aswan itself was important. There is a ruined temple, a ruined Nilometer, and a very good museum on the island that most people never visit because they assume the boats only go one way.

On the boat

Bring water. Bring a hat. Do not expect a toilet. The tea is usually offered and is usually good — small glasses, very sweet, poured by someone who has been pouring tea since before you were born.

The price for a private boat for two hours is fixed and negotiable in a way that depends entirely on where you are standing when you agree it. Agree it before you board.

Afterwards

Walk back through the market. Aswan's souq is one of the best in Egypt for the things you actually want to buy — galabeya, spice, dried dates, and the sesame seed halawa that Aswan is genuinely famous for.