Temple of Kom Ombo

Standing on a bend of the Nile between Aswan and Edfu, Kom Ombo is Egypt's great double temple, uniquely mirrored down its central axis to honour two gods at once: the crocodile deity Sobek and the falcon-headed Horus the Elder. Everything is doubled, twin entrances, twin sanctuaries, twin sets of halls, a symmetry you will see nowhere else.

Among its Ptolemaic reliefs is a famous panel often described as one of the earliest depictions of surgical instruments, scalpels, forceps and suction cups, hinting at the temple's role as a place of healing. Alongside sits a small museum of mummified crocodiles recovered nearby. Rising floodlit above the river, it is a favourite stop on every Nile cruise.