On Friday those of us who travelled to Aswan woke up early, but a little later than usual, to enjoy a wonderful breakfast at the Nubia House where we spent the night. We didn’t linger long as the day was full of planned activities.

We boarded a sailboat for Qubbet el-Hawa where we visited the most significant Old Kingdom and Middle Kingdom tombs of the site, guided by our colleagues and friends Jose and Luisa from the University of Jaen mission “Proyecto Qubbet el-Hawa”.

After being amazed by the site, we sailed back to the center of Aswan, enjoying the beautiful landscape along the way. Some members of the team even took a swim off the side of the boat!

Once back in Aswan, we met a friend from the French Mission in Luxor who had also decided to visit Aswan for the weekend, and after a quick lunch we all went to see the temple of Philae.

This site, with its awesome Nilometre and where the last recorded use of hieroglyphs is preserved, was moved in its entirety to a different island after the famous Aswan Dam was constructed and submerged its original location. Even though it is close to the center of Aswan, you really feel like you are in another world on the island, which is why it was so surprising when a group of Mohammed’´s students appeared to greet him!

All together we explored the beautiful temple complex while the sun set over the Nile, making it a perfect ending to our trip.

All too soon we had to say goodbye to our friends however, and return to Luxor where dinner and our work were waiting for us.