Monuments to visit Sahara

The main temple at Abydos was built by Seti ^I (1318-1304 B.C.), and was reworked and completed by his son, Ramses II, who completed most of the decorative bas-reliefs. Long before them, other monarchs had built temples to Osiris on the same site. Together with the Osirion Cenotaph, they form part of a coherent complex dedicated to the cult of Osiris, enclosed by mud-brick walls and accessed via a main pylon to the northeast, or a secondary pylon to the southwest, now overlooking the desert.

First pylon and courtyard, second pylon and courtyard. Nothing remains of these first two courtyards, apart from their architectural foundations. At the far end of the second courtyard is the first portico, preceded by twelve square columns. In this portico are 2 openings and 5 niches; in fact, Sety^I had opened 7 doors and Ramses II had 5 filled in. They led to the five inner chapels.

First and second hypostyle halls, chapels. 24 columns support the ceiling of the first hall, opening onto the second through seven doors. 36 columns support the ceiling of the second hypostyle hall, formerly an offering room, which is divided into two levels. The second level houses 7 chapels, arranged side by side. The central chapel is wider than the others and was dedicated to Amun; to its left, the chapel of Ré, Ptah and the monarch; to its right, the chapels of Osiris, which gives access to other rooms that span the width of the temple, Isis and Horus.

Logistical" rooms. Two doors in the second hypostyle hall lead to two rooms used to store sacred barks, five rooms containing the treasury, and a set of 5 rooms that served as a sacred slaughterhouse; note that jars are sealed to the floor and that gutters were dug to facilitate the draining of blood.

A staircase leads to a promontory outside the temple, giving access to the Osirion-cenotaph.

Osirian festivals have always been celebrated at Abydos, featuring the confrontation between the two brothers Set and Osiris, Isis's search for the body parts of her brother and husband, and the reconstitution of the body. To this day, some visitors to Abydos worship the Osirian cult.

On the height of Siwa, your gaze, as soon as you arrive, will systematically fall on the ruins of this fortress built in the 12th century to protect itself from the attacks of neighbouring tribes. The villagers abandoned Shali in 1926, when torrential rains disintegrated the place made of salted and dried mud. The Egyptian authorities are trying to restore some of the buildings of this ancient Berber-speaking community... but for now it remains a ghostly labyrinth that is very strange to explore.

This old mill is out of service. Little return 50 years earlier… 40 kg of olives are deposited on the stone base to be mixed with about 4 litres of hot water. With blindfolded eyes, a donkey or a little slug causes the 150 kg mineral to grind the olives. The mixture is then deposited in traps in braided fins. Stacked, the traps are compressed by a lever system. The oil thus obtained ends in terracotta jars.

The dromos (Greek for "path") is a 3.3 km-long path used by the sacred boats in the Opet ceremony procession to reach the Nile via the sacred lake and canal, paved with large boulders and lined with lion-bodied sphinxes. Some bear a ram's head, others a human head. At the time, there were over 1,000 sphinx statues in the alley. The two temples of Luxor and Karnak can be reached on foot along the ancient alley in less than 1 hour (if it's not too hot). Listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979.

The first Aswan Dam was built between 1898 and 1902 at the request of the British Governor. The aim was to regulate the flooding of the Nile in order to make better use of agricultural land. Similarly, the end of the flood allowed the development of Cairo, without fear of flooding. This first dam was raised twice. It was after its elevation that the island of Philae was submerged. Under the aegis of UNESCO, the temple of Philae was moved to the island of Agikia between 1972 and 1980.

If you drive along the road to Gourna, you'll see two pillars which, as you approach, turn out to be two gigantic statues, the largest remains of the funerary temple built for Amenhotep III on the left bank. Originally carved in a single block, they reach a height of around 20 m on their plinths and represent Amenhotep III in a seated position, hands on knees, the position of peace. His mother and wife are depicted smaller at his feet. They originally adorned the entrance to the king's huge funerary temple.

Nothing remains of the temple - which explains their unusual presence in the middle of a sugarcane field - even though it was gigantic, stretching 700 m to the foot of the Theban Mountain. Shaken by an earthquake at the very beginning of the Christian era, the northern statue began to emit a sound due, it seems, to the heating of the stone exposed to the sun, a whistling sound that the Greeks attributed to Memnon, the mythical king of Ethiopia, son of Dawn, who inspired numerous pilgrimages and gave his name to the site. For two centuries, until Septimius Severus had the statue restored, depriving it of its distinctive sound, the Colossi of Memnon were a major tourist attraction. Among their famous visitors was the emperor Hadrian, whom Marguerite Yourcenar, in Memoirs of Hadrian, imagines resting in the shadow of the statue. Excavations are still taking place on the site, in the shadow of the colossi if you will.

Still welded to the rock from which it was to be extracted, it rests with its entire mass (1,200 tonnes) and length (42 m) on its granite bed. Abandoned as it was and left unfinished because of cracks that appeared in some places, it would have been the largest obelisk known once erected. The surrounding area is a former quarry where the workers used to work to remove the enormous blocks of stone that looked like temples, palaces or deities.

The work was insane, judge! You had to start by hammering the rock with a stone as hard as dolorite, until a sufficiently wide and deep notch was made. Wooden wedges, previously soaked in water, were driven in, and as they dried, the wedges expanded and shattered the rock. The operation was carried out on three sides. Depending on its use, it was roughened on the spot, sometimes even almost finished. It was then placed on a wooden sledge and taken down to the river by a special ramp. It was made of rubble, on which the masons sealed several layers of bricks covered with a thick layer of silt kept wet and slippery.

The felucca, in charge of transporting the blocks, landed a little before the receding water level near the bank. Once aground, there was time to load the felucca. At the next flood, the boat was afloat and set sail for the delivery. Unloading was carried out in the same manner.

This Sudan-Moroccan style building is the most beautiful traditional house in the city.

Visitors can see the houses where the great European explorers stayed. The main ones are René Caillié (the house where he stayed collapsed in 2002), Gordon Laing and Heinrich Barth.

This documentation centre bears the name of the most famous and prolific intellectual in Timbuktu. There are more than fifteen thousand manuscripts, the oldest of which dates back to 1241. These are carefully restored and archived before being consulted by scholarly researchers. Traités theological treaties, books of mathematics, astronomy, science, philosophical thinking, this library contains universal knowledge. These fragile documents shed light on the new history of the entire region.

Composed of two basins, they are the only remnant of Gafsa. A few years ago, the inhabitants of Gafsa were happy to bathe there. Above the pool, a large ostensibly contemporary fresco represents Neptune. The redevelopment of the site was carried out in 1993.

Dating from the 15th century and built on Byzantine ruins, the Kasbah of Gafsa is located behind the courthouse. It was restored after having been particularly damaged during the Second World War by the explosion of a German ammunition depot. A very pleasant garden, fed by thermal springs, brings calm and serenity. This place contrasts strongly with the tumult of the city. It is a pleasant place for a walk that we recommend during your stay in the city of Gasfa.

The mountains around the village of Sainte-Catherine are extraordinary. Absolute peace and granite mountains provide the backdrop for a variety of hikes, beyond Mount Moses, the most famous and most frequented, and Mount Sainte-Catherine, which is quite arduous. Day-long to week-long hikes can be organized, with or without camels. Don't hesitate to enlist the help of an English-speaking agency (Bedouin guides' English is sometimes limited), or use the village camps for the more experienced.

Djebel Abbas (2,344 m). Situated 6 km west of the monastery, it can be recognized by the castle ruins crowning its summit. This vestige dates back to the ^19th century, when Khedive Abbas chose the site for a desert cure. Some time after the work had begun, Abbas Pasha changed his mind, preferring to settle on the sacred mountain itself. To get to Mount Abbas, the best route is up wadi Abu Selleh, wadi Bougieh... and down through small palm groves occupied by Bedouins.

Djebel Bab el Dounia. The hike to the "Gateway to the World" mountain takes 3 days and 2 nights. We also recommend the Algalt Et Azrak (Blue Pound) valley, where you can enjoy a swim

Valley of the 40 prophets. Situated between Mont Moïse and Mont Sainte-Catherine, this is a must if you're doing the 2 hikes in succession, which is sustained but extraordinary. Here you can sleep in Bedouin summer villages.