Wadi Hammamat Marsa Alam

Wadi Hammamat Marsa Alam

Marsa Alam has lots of popular tourist attractions that are a must visit, once you're out of the deliciously cool sea. Make time for them along with diving and snorkeling and other water activities when you visit Marsa Alam. A fascinating tourist attraction of Marsa Alam is the ancient Wadi Hammamat which is sure to keep you riveted for hours.

Wadi Hammamat lies somewhere in the middle between Quesir and Qena. This road in the Nile trough is supposed to be the shortest between the Nile River and the Red Sea.

You'll love the numerous rock inscriptions dating back to the distant past all carved on the walls of the wadi. The walls are also full of intricate Egyptian hieroglyphics.There are even pictures here in relief showing Egyptian reed boats which are considered to go as far back as 4000 BC.

Besides these rock carvings, there's so much to explore along Wadi Hammamat in Marsa Alam! All along the wadi, you can see ruins of old time fortresses, watchtowers and even wells, mines and quarries.

In the ancient timesWadi Hammamat was part of the the world's most famous mining complex. Iron as well as various types of granites used to be mined from the quarries along Wadi Hammamat.

Among the many gold mines in exotic Egypt, Wadi Hammamat was one of the most famous. Bir Umm Fawakhir which is a part of the Wadi Hammamat as well as the entire stretch of the Wadi Hammamat yielded the yellow metal right up to the end of the 20th century.

But above all, it was the Bekheney stone mined from these quarries that made Wadi Hammamat a legend. This beautiful green decorative rock was considered sacred and used in making statues, bowls and sarcophagi right up to the Roman period in Egypt. The famed Bekheney stone was even used by the ancient Egyptian royalty inside their pyramids.

So come and be fascinated by the mysteries of the past at Wadi Hammamat in Marsa Alam!

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