Egypt Guide
The Nile Valley
The Monastery of St Simeon
Opening time: Daily 8am–4pm
Price: £E20
Unless you walk across the desert from the Tombs of the Nobles, the ruined Monastery of St Simeon (Deir Anba Samaan) must be approached from the valley below. You can either scramble uphill through soft sand (30min) or negotiate hiring a camel near the landing stage (about £E30 for an hour; tell the driver beforehand if you want to stay longer), but either way, bring water.
Founded in the seventh century and rebuilt in the tenth, the monastery crowns the head of a desert valley, which used to be cultivated down to the river's edge. Built like a fortress, it was originally dedicated to Anba Hadra, a local saint of the fourth century who encountered a funeral procession the day after his wedding and decided to renounce the world for a hermit's cave before the marriage was consummated. From here, monks made evangelical forays into Nubia, where they converted the Nobatae to Christianity. After the Muslim conquest, the Nobatae used the monastery as a base during their incursions into Egypt, until Salah al-Din had it wrecked in 1173.
One of the custodians will show you around the split-level complex, whose lower storeys are made of stone, the upper ones of mud-brick. The now-roofless Basilica bears traces of frescoes of the Apostles, their faces scratched out by Muslim iconoclasts. In a nearby chamber with a font is the place where St Simeon used to stand sleeplessly reading the Bible, with his beard tied to the ceiling so as to deliver a painful tug if he nodded off. The central Keep has room for three hundred monks sleeping five to a cell; graffiti left by Muslim pilgrims who camped here en route to Mecca can be seen in the last room on the right. You can also explore a refectory, bathhouse, ovens and bakeries (notice the millstones). At sunset the surrounding desert turns madder-red and violet; foxes emerge to hunt and hawks soar aloft.