Luxor, Aswan & the Nile Valley

Upper Egypt was the southern kingdom that joined the Delta around 3100 BC, and Abydos, where the earliest kings were buried, became the cult centre of Osiris, the god of the dead. Thebes, today's Luxor, rose when its rulers reunited the country in the Middle Kingdom, and in the New Kingdom, from about 1550 BC, it was the religious capital of an empire. Its kings, from Hatshepsut and Thutmose III to Amenhotep III and Ramesses II, enlarged the temples of Amun at Karnak and Luxor and cut their tombs into the Valley of the Kings. Akhenaten broke with Thebes to build a new capital at Amarna in Minya, abandoned soon after his death.

The Ptolemies and Romans built the great temples that survive at Dendera, Esna, Edfu, Kom Ombo and Philae, where the last known hieroglyphic inscription was carved in AD 394. The valley then became a cradle of Christian monasticism: Pachomius founded communal monasteries near Qena, and the White Monastery near Sohag was led by the abbot Shenoute. Aswan was always the frontier town facing Nubia, trading in granite, gold and ivory.

In modern times the region was shaped by water. The Aswan Low Dam of 1902 and then the High Dam, completed in 1970, ended the annual flood and created Lake Nasser, flooding Nubian villages and forcing their people to move. A UNESCO campaign rescued Abu Simbel, Philae and other temples by moving them to higher ground. Howard Carter's discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 made Luxor a tourist destination, and in 1997 militants killed 62 people, most of them foreign tourists, at Hatshepsut's temple.

Upper Egyptians, the Sa'idis, have a strong identity: a distinct accent, loyalty to family and clan, and traditions of honour that still include blood feuds in some villages. Cairenes tell jokes about them, and Sa'idis take pride in their reputation for toughness and hospitality. Men often wear the loose galabiya and turban, and conservative dress and customs are the norm.

Tahtib, a stick-fighting game performed to music as a dance, is practised mainly in Upper Egypt, and horse dancing appears at weddings and festivals. Luxor's moulid of Abu al-Haggag, whose mosque sits on top of the ruins of Luxor Temple, includes a procession of boats around the temple. Minya, Asyut and Sohag have large rural Coptic communities, and the monastery of Deir el-Muharraq near Asyut is dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

Aswan is the centre of Egyptian Nubian culture. Nubians have their own languages, music with the tar drum and the oud, and colourfully painted houses in villages such as Gharb Soheil on the West Bank. The loss of the old Nubian homeland under Lake Nasser remains a central part of their story.

Several million people live in each of the Middle Egyptian governorates of Minya, Asyut and Sohag, mostly in villages along the river, with Asyut, Minya, Sohag and Qena as busy provincial cities and Assiut University as the region's main university. Luxor and Aswan are smaller, city-sized governorates built around tourism.

Farming dominates: sugarcane in the south, with sugar refineries around Qena and Luxor, wheat, dates and vegetables along the river. Nag Hammadi has an aluminium smelter powered by the High Dam's electricity. Upper Egypt has long had the country's highest poverty rates, and many young men migrate to Cairo, the Red Sea resorts or the Gulf for work, sending money home.

In Luxor and Aswan, daily life follows the tourist season: guides, boat crews, caleche drivers and shopkeepers depend on winter visitors, and a bad year hits hard. The day begins before dawn, stops in the midday heat and revives in the evening along the Corniche, when families gather by the river.

Upper Egyptian food is simple and filling. The staple is 'aish shamsi, sun bread, a round loaf left to rise in the sun before baking, eaten with ful, eggs, cheese and molasses. 'Asal iswid, dark molasses boiled down from sugarcane, is mixed with tahini as a sweet dip, and fresh sugarcane juice is pressed on street corners in every town. Fayesh, a dry, crunchy bread rusk, is dipped in tea.

Aswan's markets are known for their spices, dried hibiscus flowers and dates; karkadeh, the deep-red hibiscus drink served hot or iced, is the town's classic welcome. Nubian cooking uses okra and meat stews, flatbreads baked on a griddle, and fish from Lake Nasser, including Nile perch and tilapia, which also appear grilled or fried in Aswan's riverside restaurants.

Meat is for feasts: lamb and goat slaughtered for Eid and weddings, and roast pigeon in Middle Egypt. Tea is taken strong and very sweet, and in Luxor the evening glass is often drunk at a coffee house by the temple.

Luxor holds the densest collection of monuments in Egypt. On the East Bank stand Karnak, with its Hypostyle Hall and sacred lake, and Luxor Temple, joined by the restored Avenue of Sphinxes, plus the Luxor Museum. On the West Bank lie the Valley of the Kings, with the tombs of Tutankhamun, Seti I and Ramesses VI, the Valley of the Queens and the tomb of Nefertari, Hatshepsut's terraced temple at Deir el-Bahari, the Ramesseum, Medinet Habu, the workers' village of Deir el-Medina and the Colossi of Memnon. Esna's temple of Khnum lies to the south.

Between Luxor and Aswan, cruise boats stop at Edfu, the best preserved of the Ptolemaic temples, dedicated to Horus, and at Kom Ombo, a double temple for Sobek and Horus on a bend of the river. Aswan has feluccas sailing around Elephantine Island, the Nubian Museum, the Unfinished Obelisk, the rock tombs of Qubbet el-Hawa, the Monastery of St Simeon and the botanical garden on Kitchener's Island. Philae's temple of Isis stands on Agilkia Island, near the High Dam and the temple of Kalabsha. Far south, Abu Simbel's colossi overlook Lake Nasser.

North of Luxor, Dendera's temple of Hathor keeps its roof and a copy of its zodiac ceiling, and Abydos has the temple of Seti I with its king list. Minya's tombs include the painted cliff tombs of Beni Hasan, the tombs and boundary stelae of Amarna, and the Greco-Roman necropolis of Tuna el-Gebel.