Fayoum city is a pleasant village gone town. More than 300,000 people live here. Some have called it a miniature version of Cairo, but it is really more a village of larger houses. The river scene, however, is nice, cutting through the most popular downtown sections of the place. Apart from the downtown, Fayoum has fairly little to offer. There are really just two sights in town. In addition to the water wheels, the most memorable is the obelisk of Sesostris 1 which stands in a roundabout 10 minutes walk from downtown. It is about 13 metres high and is the only obelisk with a rounded tip. Sesostris 1 made Fayoum into the most important centre of Egypt in his time, almost 4000 years ago.
