First I visited the exhibits in the museum gardens, including the Nabta Playa stone circle. This was moved here some years ago after being attacked in the desert west of Abu Simbel by 'new age' travellers. Its security was at risk in its original location, and it is much more accessible in the museum gardens. Other antiquities in the gardens include a small obelisk and several stele as well as later Graeco-Roman and Coptic sculptures.
I particularly like the black granite statue of Heqa-ib, the governor of Elephantine and overseer of the priests of Khnum in the 12th dynasty. His tomb is across the river with the tombs of the nobles and he has a personal chapel in the temple of Khnum on Elephantine.
Helen was up for a light lunch - omelette and chips by the pool, and we took a short stroll through the northern part of the Souk in the early evening, before dinner at the hotel.