Things to do in Beni Suef To Qena
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White Monastery
Currently the best reason to stop at Sohag is to visit two early Coptic monasteries, which trumpet the victory of Christianity over Egypt’s pagan gods. The White Monastery, on rocky ground above the old Nile flood level, 12km northwest of Sohag, was founded by St Shenouda around AD 400 and dedicated to his mentor, St Bigol. White limestone from Pharaonic temples was reused, and ancient gods and hieroglyphs still look out from some of the blocks. It once supported a huge community of monks and boasted the largest library in Egypt, but today the manuscripts are scattered around the world and the monastery is home to 23 monks. The fortress walls still stand though they fai…
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Akhmin
The satellite town of Akhmin covers the ruins of the ancient Egyptian town of Ipu, itself built over an older predynastic settlement. It was dedicated to Min, a fertility god often represented by a giant phallus, equated with Pan by the Greeks (who later called the town Panopolis). The current name contains an echo of the god's name.
Akhmin was famed in antiquity for its textiles - one of its current weavers calls it 'Manchester before history'. The tradition continues today and opposite the statue of Meret Amun, across from the post office, a green door leads to a small weaving factory (knock if it is shut). Here you can see weavers at work and buy hand-woven silk and co…
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Tomb of Amenemhat
Amenemhat was a 12th-dynasty governor of Oryx. His tomb is the largest and possibly the best at Beni Hasan and, like that of Khnumhotep, its impressive façade and interior decoration mark a clear departure from the more modest earlier ones. Entered through a columned doorway and with its six columns intact, it contains beautifully executed scenes of farming, hunting, manufacturing and offerings to the deceased, who can also be seen with his dogs.
As well as the fine paintings, the tomb has a long, faded text in which Amenemhat addresses the visitors to his chapel: 'You who love life and hate death, say: Thousands of bread and beer, thousands of cattle and wild fowl for t…
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Temple of Speos Artemidos
If the police allow it, a cliffside track leads southeast for about 2.5km from the Tomb of Khnumhotep, then some 500m into a wadi to the rock-cut Temple of Speos Artemidos. Known locally as Istabl Antar (the Stable of Antar, an Arab warrior-poet and folk hero), it deserves neither its Greek nor Arab names for it dates back to the 18th dynasty. Started by Hatshepsut (1473-58 BC) and completed by Tuthmosis III (1479-25 BC), it was dedicated to the lion-goddess Pakht.
There is a small hall with roughly hewn Hathor-headed columns and an unfinished sanctuary. On the walls are scenes of Hatshepsut making offerings and, on its upper façade, an inscription describing how she rest…
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Tomb of Baqet
Baqet was an 11th-dynasty governor of the Oryx nome (district). His rectangular tomb chapel has seven tomb shafts and some well-preserved wall paintings. They include Baqet and his wife on the left wall watching weavers and acrobats - mostly women in diaphanous dresses in flexible poses.
Further along, animals, presumably possessions of Baqet, are being counted. A hunting scene in the desert shows mythical creatures among the gazelles. The back wall shows a sequence of wrestling moves that are still used today. The right (south) wall is decorated with scenes from the nomarch's daily life, with potters, metalworkers and a flax harvest, among others.
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Khemenu
Little remains of the wealthy ancient city of Khemenu, the most striking ruins being two colossal 14th-century BC quartzite statues of Thoth as a baboon. These supported part of Thoth's temple, which was rebuilt throughout antiquity.
A Middle Kingdom temple gateway and a pylon of Ramses II, using stone plundered from nearby Tell al-Amarna, also survive. The most interesting ruins are from the Coptic basilica, which reused columns and even the baboon statues, though first removing their giant phalluses. The 'open-air museum' is officially free, but if you arrive with a police escort you will be expected to pay baksheesh.
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Beni Hasan
The necropolis of Beni Hasan occupies a range of east-bank limestone cliffs some 20km south of Minya. It is a superb and important location and has the added attraction of a new rest house, which is usually open for drinks. Most tombs date from the 11th and 12th dynasties (2125–1795 BC), the 39 upper tombs belonging to nomarchs (local governors). Many remain unfinished and only four are currently open to visitors, but they are worth the trouble of visiting for the glimpse they provide of daily life and political tensions of the period.
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Statue of Meret Amun
Excavations beside the Mosque of Sheikh Naqshadi revealed an 11m-high statue of Meret Amun. This is the tallest statue of an ancient queen to have been discovered in Egypt. Meret Amun (Beloved of the Amun) was the daughter of Ramses II, wife of Amenhotep and priestess of the Temple of Min. She is shown here with flail in hand, wearing a ceremonial headdress and large earrings. Nearby, the remains of a seated statue of her father still retains some original colour.
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Tomb of Khnumhotep
Governor in the early 12th dynasty, Khnumhotep's detailed 'autobiography' is inscribed on the base of walls that contain the most detailed painted scenes. The tomb is famous for its rich, finely rendered scenes of plant, animal and bird life. On the left wall farmers are shown tending their crops while a scribe is shown recording the harvest. Also on the left wall is a representation of a delegation bringing offerings from Asia - their clothes, faces and beards are all distinct.
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Tomb of Kheti
Kheti, Baqet's son, inherited the governorship of the Oryx nome from his father. His tomb chapel, with two of its original six papyrus columns intact, has many vivid painted scenes that show hunting, linen production, board games, metalwork, wrestling, acrobatics and dancing, most of them watched over by the nomarch. Notice the yoga-like positions on the right-hand wall, between images of wine-making and herding.
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Red Monastery
The Red Monastery, 4km southeast of Deir al-Abyad, is hidden at the rear of a village. Founded by Besa, a disciple of Shenouda who, according to legend, was a thief who converted to Christianity, it was dedicated to St Bishoi. The older of the monastery’s two chapels, St Bishoi and St Bigol’s, dates from the 4th century AD and contains some rare frescoes.
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Tell al-Amarna Necropolis
<p> Two groups of cliff tombs, about 8km apart, make up the <strong> Tell al-Amarna necropolis </strong> which features some coloured, though defaced, wall paintings of life during the Aten revolution. Remains of temples and private or administrative buildings are scattered across a wide area of this imperial city. </p>
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Temple of Hathor
Although built at the very end of the Pharaonic period, the Temple of Hathor at her cult site of Dendara is one of the iconic Egyptian buildings, mostly because it remains virtually intact, with a great stone roof and columns, dark chambers, underground crypts and twisting stairways all carved with hieroglyphs.
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Zawiyyet al-Mayyiteen
On the east bank about 7km southeast of town, a large Muslim and Christian cemetery, called Zawiyyet al-Mayyiteen, consists of several hundred mud-brick mausoleums. Stretching for 4km from the road to the hills and said to be one of the largest cemeteries in the world, it is a strange and thought-provoking sight.
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Banana Island Restaurant
The main restaurant of the Aton Hotel is year-round dependable for friendly service and good Egyptian cuisine, from lentil soup and grills to hot bread-and-milk pudding. Alcohol is served. If the weather is good, the outdoor terrace grill makes a good alternative, though not everyone will enjoy the widescreen TV.
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Sohag Museum
At the time of writing construction had almost finished on the new Sohag Museum, which will display local antiquities, including those from ongoing excavations of the temple of Ramses II in Akhmim. Until then, apart from the weekly Monday morning livestock market, there is little in town to delay visitors.
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Tuna al-Gebel
Several kilometres south of Hermopolis and then 5km along a road into the desert, Tuna al-Gebel was the necropolis of Hermopolis. Given the lack of tourists in the area, check with the Minya tourist office that the site is open.
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Museum
Displays tomb paintings, glassware, sculpture including a limestone statue of a Ptolemaic priest, baboon and pencil-thin ibis mummies, and other artefacts from nearby Hermopolis and Tuna al-Gebel, in no particular chronological order.
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Motorboats
Motorboats and feluccas (per hour around £E30) can be rented at the landing opposite the Tourist Office for trips along the river and to Banana Island, which is good for a picnic.
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Savoy Restaurant
Savoy Restaurant, a busy corner restaurant, serves good rotisserie chicken and kebabs in this fan-cooled restaurant.
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Hantours
Hantours (horse-drawn carriages) can be rented for a leisurely ride around the town centre or along the corniche.
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Restaurant Prince
Restaurant Prince serves meals of soup, chicken, kofta and vegetables.
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Restaurant Hamdi
Restaurant Hamdi serves meals of soup, chicken, kofta and vegetables.
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