Though it has been drastically spiffed up in recent years, the souk in Aswan remains one of my favorites in all of Egypt. It is strung out along Souk Street, but excursions up the innumerable alleys and side streets are always rewarded with a new sight, sound, or shopping opportunity.

You'll find the usual range of T-shirts and bottles of colored sand layered into pictures of camels, but the Aswan souk is actually a good opportunity to pick up a few things. I particularly enjoy the dom-wood sculptures, which are usually reproductions of Pharaonic artifacts and are relatively rare to find farther north. If you search carefully among the mass-produced trinkets, you can also find some distinctively Nubian silver at the jewelry stalls. Visit the Nubian Museum first to get an idea of what you're after.

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