Three Nights in Luxor

Cairo is the ancient city of Memphis and Luxor is the ancient city of Thebes. Each city served as Egypt's capital during the reigns of different Pharaohs. I don't have the 4-year degree our guides had in Ancient Egyptology so I'm not going to pretend that I can remember half of what they told us during our trip. If you're interested in more details, you can look most of it up on Wikipedia, or better yet, jump on a plane to Egypt for the experience yourself. Everyone we met in Egypt wants YOU to visit and they wanted us to tell you how safe we felt. They are starved for tourism and are eager to get tourists back. The Revolutions of 2011 and 2012 have severely devastated their tourism economy. 

After our three nights in Cairo, we headed to Luxor for three nights. We had the Hilton arrange for a driver to take us to the airport and we flew to Luxor. Our guide, Ahmed was waiting with a driver for us and took us to the Sheraton Hotel. We spend about 3 hours getting settled in and got some lunch at the hotel before Ahmed picked us up. The view from our room was great. We had a nice view of the Nile and watched the felucca boats floating up and down the river, as well as a few of the Nile Cruise Ships. Ahmed told us that prior to the 2011/2012 Revolutions in Egypt, there were about 280 Cruise Ships regularly sailing on the Nile between Luxor and Aswan (just south of Luxor about 260km), now only a handful remain and the ghosts of the old ships sit docked along the Nile. A few have become restaurants or stationary hotels. 

This photo has some of the old cruise ships I was talking about above. They are just lined up, docked along the Nile. The smaller sail boats are the felucca boats. 

 The top two photos are the view from our room. The bottom two photos are of one of the swimming pool areas.

The top photo is a sunset view from our room and the bottom two pictures are of three men who sat outside the hotel playing little ditties on the Oud (the guy next to Chris in the left photo), Tambourine, and Bongo Drum. They were funny and playful.

Karnak Temple

At around 4PM, we went to visit Karnak Temple. It is a large temple located on the East Bank of the Nile. 

From: http://discoveringegypt.com/karnak-temple/  Cult temple dedicated to Amun, Mut and Khonsu. The largest religious building ever constructed. The temple of Karnak was known as Ipet-isu—or “most select of places”—by the ancient Egyptians. It is a city of temples built over 2,000 years and dedicated to the Theban triad of Amun, Mut, and Khonsu. This derelict place is still capable of overshadowing many wonders of the modern world and in its day must have been awe-inspiring.

For the largely uneducated ancient Egyptian population, this could only have been the place of the gods. It is the largest religious building ever made, covering about 200 acres (1.5 km by 0.8 km), and was a place of pilgrimage for nearly 2,000 years. The area of the sacred enclosure of Amun alone is sixty-one acres and could hold ten average European cathedrals. The great temple at the heart of Karnak is so big that St Peter’s, Milan, and Notre Dame Cathedrals would fit within its walls.

The Hypostyle hall, at 54,000 square feet (16,459 meters) and featuring 134 columns, is still the largest room of any religious building in the world. In addition to the main sanctuary there are several smaller temples and a vast sacred lake – 423 feet by 252 feet (129 by 77 meters). The sacred barges of the Theban Triad once floated on the lake during the annual Opet festival. The lake was surrounded by storerooms and living quarters for the priests, along with an aviary for aquatic birds.

From Wikipedia: The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak (/kɑːr.næk/^[1]), comprises a vast mix of decayedtemples, chapels, pylons, and other buildings. Building at the complex began during the reign of Senusret I in theMiddle Kingdom and continued into the Ptolemaic period, although most of the extant buildings date from theNew Kingdom. The area around Karnak was the ancient Egyptian Ipet-isut ("The Most Selected of Places") and the main place of worship of the eighteenth dynasty Theban Triad with the god Amun as its head. It is part of the monumental city of Thebes. The Karnak complex gives its name to the nearby, and partly surrounded, modern village of El-Karnak, 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles) north of Luxor.

The key difference between Karnak and most of the other temples and sites in Egypt is the length of time over which it was developed and used. Construction of temples started in the Middle Kingdom and continued through to Ptolemaic times. Approximately thirty pharaohs contributed to the buildings, enabling it to reach a size, complexity, and diversity not seen elsewhere. 

 A diagram of the Karnak Complex. Tourists can't see the whole complex, but it spans something like 61 acres of space.

The front of Karnak Temple. You can see the Avenue of Sphinxes in front of the temple walls. The wall on the right is supposedly the highest point in Luxor. And it's also interesting to know they built the temples from the inside out. First room built in the temple is the Holy of Holies room, where only the Pharaohs and High Priests can enter, then they build an area that only the wealthy or higher status can visit, then a common area. But they build from the inside out so the workers building the temple aren't ever really inside the most sacred place. 

 Avenue of Sphinxes with Rams heads and Lion bodies. The Avenue of Sphinxes lines the 3km between Karnak and Luxor Temples, on both sides. These carved sphinxes are very similar and are virtually the same size. Many were buried beneath years of soil and buildings were built on top of much of the trail, not knowing they were below. They are currently excavating and restoring the trail.

This is the inside of the outside wall of the temple. The really interesting part of this wall is the mud-slopes at the bottom of the wall. This is the only indication of how the Ancient Egyptians were able to get these huge, heavy stones up so high. It is believed they build mud-brick ramps and moved the stones to the top and then removed the mud when they were through. According to our guide, it is believed that this is how the pyramids were built as well.

There are 134 of these columns in the temple. You can see how tall they are in the picture below with Chris and Jake. It's hard to imagine how they got the stones up so high, even with the mud ramps. You can also see how BIG the stones are in relation to Chris. Our guide also told us they put the columns up and then carved the stones.

 

 You can still see the colors. They are approximately 4000 years old. This is the underside of large stones held up by the columns. The parts that weren't directly exposed to the sun and held the color better over the years.

 Jake was a little wound up during this visit. This is the same day we flew to Luxor from Cairo and he only had an hour nap on the plane. He ran around like a crazy man for most the this visit and about drove us nuts. This is the 2 seconds he slowed down enough for a photo.

 Our picture with the Obelisks in the background.

All of the sites we visited had a bunch of older men hanging around. They always "offered" (more like insisted on) to take pictures of us, then expected a tip. We conceded to having our picture taken. Normally, our guide was around and took most of our family photos, but this was during our free time to explore before moving on to Luxor Temple.

A statue of Ramses II. He ruled Egypt for 67 years so he is featured at a lot of the temples and sites we visited around Luxor. A statue with arms folded across the chest and feet together means it's a statue in memory of the person (above photo), completed after their death. A statue with the left foot forward means it was built during that person's lifetime while they were ruling Egypt (below photo).

This is an example of the left foot forward on a Ramses II statue built while he was the ruler of Egypt.

 Some of the scenes on the walls of the temple. Many of them making offerings to different gods and deities. The bottom photo of the god on the left is the god of fertility, with a special feature...

Luxor Temple

After Karnak Temple, we went to visit Luxor Temple. It was early evening so there are a lot of long shadows in the pictures and darker pictures.

Front Entrance into Luxor Temple.

This is a photo I snapped from the car on the way past as we were headed back to the hotel.

An interesting thing about Luxor Temple is how it was covered with rubble for a number of years and built upon, which is why there is a mosque inside or on top of the temple. You can see the mosque in the picture above or in the two below the Wikipedia info.

From Wikipedia:  From medieval times the Muslim population of Luxor had settled in and around the temple, at the southward end of the mount.^[1] Due to the Luxor’s past city population building on top of and around the Luxor temple, centuries of rubble had accumulated, to the point where there was an artificial hill some forty-eight or fifty feet in height.^[1]The Luxor Temple had begun to be excavated by Professor Gaston Maspero after 1884 after he had been given the order to commence operations.^[1] The excavations were carried out sporadically until 1960. Over time, accumulated rubbish of the ages had buried three fourths of the temple which contained the courts and colonnades which formed the nucleus of the Arab half of the Modern village. 

 These are Ramses II statues in the temple. Notice that the left foot is forward. There are 64 of these columns at Luxor Temple.

 Top left: Where is the weirdest place you've ever changed a diaper?? Middle left: The Avenue of Sphinxes leading from Luxor Temple. Bottom left: The Baldwin's in front of the temple. Right: Our guide, Ahmed explaining some of the meanings of the carvings on the wall.

The part Ahmed is explaining is about how Alexander the Great adapted some of the Egyptian ways of life and embraced some of their gods as his own. It was how he was able to rule Egypt for so long and the Graeco-Roman's ruled for 300 years. Each who followed Alexander followed his lead and also adapted some of the ancient Egyptian culture, rather than trying to assimilate the population to their ways of life. This temple had a lot of Graeco-Roman influence.

I thought this was interesting. Notice in the top photo that the carvings are carved into the stone? And in the bottom photo how they carved around the stone to make it stand out? Carving into the stone is easier and are newer carvings. The carvings that stick out of the stone are much older and took much longer to complete. 

Ramses II in front of the temple. 

This area of the temple was at one point used as a church during the Byzantine (??) years. You can see the paintings over top of the carvings. 

After Luxor Temple, we headed back to the hotel and ordered room service and went to bed. It was a long day.

Valley of the Kings

Ahmed came to get us at 8AM the next morning and we headed to the Valley of the Kings.  We couldn't take pictures at the Valley of the Kings. Apparently they used to allow cameras, but people kept using their flash and it degrades the colors, so they banned them altogether.

Valley of the Kings is where the Pharaohs tombs are located. Funerary tombs and temples are located on the West Bank, associated with the setting sun and death. Religious temples (Karnak and Luxor) are located on the East Bank, associated with the rising sun and new life.

I read in one of the guide books that although it seems Egyptians were so preoccupied with death that it seems they didn't enjoy life, but they actually loved life that they wanted to carry it forward into the next life.

They felt the afterlife was more important and as soon as a King came into power, his tomb construction would begin. They also used stronger and more withstanding materials for their tombs to survive over the years, but used less substantial materials for palaces, temples and castles, which is why so few have survived. 

They did believe in the afterlife and that they would need the things they owned during their physical life, not only for use in the afterlife, but to get past the gods on the way to the afterlife. Unlike the Pharaohs of Memphis (Giza/Cairo), the Pharaohs of Thebes (Luxor) determined that building giant tombs like the pyramids was too easy for thieves and destruction. They wanted to hide their tombs from thieves and keep them a secret so they built their tombs into the hillsides. Apparently, only the High Priests knew where the tombs were located and a Pharaoh couldn't see his tomb before his death. It was up to the High Priests to make sure it was built correctly and recorded all the good or wrong-doing of the king on the walls. If a king had done something bad, the High Priest would make sure it was recorded on the walls of the tomb. And then after death, on the way to the afterlife, the king would have to encounter the gods. His heart would be weighted against a feather and if his heart was heavier than the feather, it was not good and he would have to go through some trials to get through the gods to the afterlife. 

Our ticket allowed us to see three tombs and it was an extra ticket to see King Tutankhamun's tomb and mummy, which we paid for and went to see. King Tut is the only mummy that is kept in the Valley of the Kings. King Tut is really only famous for his tomb because is the only tomb that had not been robbed. There are 62 tombs in the Valley of the Kings (only 12 open for viewing) and King Tut's was the last one to be discovered in 1922. All of the others had already been discovered and all had been robbed before they were discovered by the Egyptologists or archaeologists. King Tut only ruled for 10 years. He took the thrown at age 9 and died at age 19. His tomb hadn't been built yet, so they used a tomb his father had built for another man. 

It was all very interesting. They believe there are another 8 tombs that haven't been discovered yet, so maybe another will be found un-robbed one day.  Below are some pictures of the postcards we bought. Since there is no photography, the postcard industry is probably booming. 

The boat scenes show up in a lot of places in the tombs and temples. It is carrying some of the gods and is supposed to help get you to the afterlife.

The snake with three heads is a bad thing. This is in Ramses III's tomb and he must have done some bad things to have the High Priests put this in his tomb. 

 The little black hook-like gadget is supposed to help pry the mouth of the dead open so when they are mummified, their mouths stay open so they can answer the questions of the gods on the way to the afterlife.

King Tut's mummy when it was found in 1922. It is now wrapped in clean white linen and basically just looks like a dead person laying in a glass case. We're great parents taking our 2 year old to go see dead people around Egypt for 10 days....

 

This isn't a great photo and it isn't great in the book I bought, but it's a list of the 62 tombs that have been found and you can see where they are on the map. 

 The top photo is the king meeting the gods and having his heart weighted against the feather on the scale. The bottom scene has Horus the falcon who shows up in a number of the scenes. The right photo is a Cartoushe, which contains the name of the king.

This is how they made the colors. They ground up stone to use for colors. The bottom two photos are from Dandara Temple where the colors were really vibrant, and also not as old as Karnak or Luxor Temples.

Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut

Queen Hatshepsut has an interesting story. When her husband died, he left a 6-year old son who was too young to rule on his own, so Hatshepsut was co-ruling with him for a while, but eventually wanted the thrown for her own. Women weren't allowed to be rulers of Egypt so she arranged to have a High Priest create a story of re-birth for her where she became a man and was the rightful ruler of Egypt. She ruled for 22 years and when her son became King, he wanted to strike out all evidence of her and tried to erase her name and face from history. That is why the statues on the temple are destroyed or faceless.

From Wikipedia: Hatshepsut (/hætˈʃɛpsʊt/;^[3] also Hatchepsut; meaning Foremost of Noble Ladies;^[4] 1508–1458 BC) was the fifth pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Ancient Egypt. Hatshepsut came to the throne of Egypt in 1478 BC. Officially, she ruled jointly with Thutmose III who had ascended to the throne as a child one year earlier. Hatshepsut was the chief wife of Thutmose II, Thutmose III’s father. She is generally regarded by Egyptologists as one of the most successful pharaohs, reigning longer than any other woman of an indigenous Egyptian dynasty. According to Egyptologist James Henry Breasted she is also known as "the first great woman in history of whom we are informed."^[5]

You can see the statues along the top floor of the temple. There were originally 22 of them and only 9 are partially remaining due to the destruction of the son, who wanted Hatshepsut erased from history.

You can see in these statues how Hatshepsut displayed herself as a man with the false beard. She also had her tomb built in the Valley of the Kings instead of the Valley of the Queens. 

 Beautiful colors still survive today.

 Jake marching across the temple complex.

 This was Jake's favorite part, the "train" ride from the ticket counter to the base of the temple.

 The holes or caves in the side of the hills are tombs of some of the workers. Everyone in ancient Egypt was mummified and placed in tombs. Some had a longer mummification process than others based on social status.

Horus the Falcon

Alabaster Shop

Then we went to Rock Shop and learned how they make alabaster vases and handicrafts. It was interesting to see how they are hand made and the difference between the handmade and machine made vases and bowls. Chris got to give it a try. We are the proud owners of two handmade alabaster vases.

Colossi of Memnon

We then moved on to Colossi of Memnon, two giant statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, which were severely damaged in an earthquake, but are still very impressive today. We didn't stay long here, but got out for a few pictures.

From Wikipedia: The Colossi of Memnon (known to locals as el-Colossat, or es-Salamat) are two massive stone statues ofPharaoh Amenhotep III. For the past 3400 years (since 1350 BC) they have stood in the Theban necropolis, across the River Nile from the modern city of Luxor.^[1][2]

The twin statues depict Amenhotep III (fl. 14th century BC) in a seated position, his hands resting on his knees and his gaze facing eastwards (actually ESE in modern bearings) towards the river. Two shorter figures are carved into the front throne alongside his legs: these are his wife Tiy and mother Mutemwiya. The side panels depict the Nile god Hapy.

The original function of the Colossi was to stand guard at the entrance to Amenhotep's memorial temple (or mortuary temple): a massive construct built during the pharaoh's lifetime, where he was worshipped as a god-on-earth both before and after his departure from this world. In its day, this temple complex was the largest and most opulent in Egypt. Covering a total of 35 hectares (86 acres), even later rivals such as Ramesses II's Ramesseum or Ramesses III's Medinet Habuwere unable to match it in area; even the Temple of Karnak, as it stood in Amenhotep's time, was smaller.

Buggy Ride

After Colossi of Memnon, we headed back to the hotel to rest for a few hours before meeting Ahmed for a Handsome Cab Ride or horse and buggy ride, which was probably Jake's favorite part of the trip. This was also one of my favorite parts of the trip. Ahmed met us at the hotel and we walked out to the street just a a buggy pulled up. We got a wonderful tour of Luxor and spend over an hour in the buggy. The driver spoke pretty good English too and let Jake do some of the driving. Jake and I sat up front with the driver while Chris and Ahmed sat in the back. My phone was in my bag in the back and I couldn't operate my camera and hold on to Jake, so I just had to enjoy the ride. We drove through so many areas that weren't where the tourists go and got to see real life in Luxor. It is a really beautiful, green city. The highlight of the ride was the souk or market. We got to the souk and I thought we would just drive past, but the driver turned and drove the horse right down the middle of the tight aisles of the souk, forcing the foot traffic to get out of the way. Surprisingly, the people didn't seem to be very upset with us for pushing them out of the way. All I could think was, "A$$-hole Americans," and felt guilty and amazed at the same time. 

 The horse was named Rambo, which is also the name of one of the horses we had at the Pyramids in Cairo.

 Driving through the souk in the buggy. It was really crowded, but everyone seemed to tolerate us and were happy to see tourists in Luxor again.

The buggy driver dropped us off at a restaurant where we were able to get some Egyptian food. Top right is mixed grill. Bottom left is fattarri (pizza-like food) and the bottom right is some of the delicious Egyptian bread.

After a full day and full night, Ahmed drove us back to the hotel. 

Dendera Temple

Ahmed picked us up and we drove the 60km to Dandara Temple. It was well worth the drive to see the amazing colors that still survive. Some of the temple was restored a few years ago and the colors, once cleaned, were beautiful.

From Wikipedia: Dendera Temple complex, (Ancient Egyptian: Iunet or Tantere; the 19th-century English spelling in most sources, including Belzoni, was Tentyra) is located about 2.5 km south-east of Dendera, Egypt. It is one of the best-preservedtemple complexes in Egypt. The area was used as the sixth Nome of Upper Egypt, south of Abydos.

The whole complex covers some 40,000 square meters and is surrounded by a hefty mud brick enclosed wall. Dendera was a site for chapels or shrines from the beginning of history of ancient Egypt. It seems that pharaoh Pepi I(ca. 2250 BC) built on this site and evidence exists of a temple in the eighteenth dynasty (ca 1500 BC). But the earliest extant building in the compound today is the Mammisi raised by Nectanebo II – last of the native pharaohs(360–343 BC). 

The all overshadowing building in the Complex is the main temple, namely Hathor temple (historically, called theTemple of Tentyra). The temple has been modified on the same site starting as far back as the Middle Kingdom, and continuing right up until the time of the Roman emperor Trajan.^[1] The existing structure was built no later than the latePtolemaic period. The temple, dedicated to Hathor, is one of the best preserved temples in all Egypt. Subsequent additions were added in Roman times.

Depictions of Cleopatra VI which appear on temple walls are good examples Ptolemaic Egyptian art.^[2] One depicts Cleopatra and her son, Caesarion.^[3] On the rear of the temple exterior is a carving of Cleopatra VII Philopator and her son, Ptolemy XV Philopator Philometor Caesar, fathered by Julius Caesar.


The photo on the left is Cleopatra and her son.

 The photo above shows the difference restoration made. The part on the right had been restored and the left still has the soot and dirt that covered the ceiling and columns.

 Photo on the are some of the columns in Hathor Temple. The photo on the right is on the roof.

 The photo above and below are of the church that was built in the temple complex. 

 The photo above is of a creature called Bes, which according to our guide, they placed in front of children to cheer up unhappy or unhealthy children.

Above and below are photos of Hathor Temple.

 This is on the outside of the temple. It's a scene of someone being cleansed.

 Jake finding rocks and things to get into. Above standing by a headless Sphinx. Below near the entrance to the temple complex.

 Amazing colors that are so well preserved.

 This is Chris and Ahmed trying to get Jake to smile or say "cheese" for the camera. Ahmed was incredibly patient with Jake.

 Above and below are photos of the ceiling. The goddess Nut was featured on most of the temples we visited. She is said to swallow the moon and give birth to the sun. The photo above is only part of her, she stretched across the room and on the other side of the room was her lower half giving birth to the sun. The Zodiac symbols were painted across the room touching her.

From Wikipedia: Nut was the goddess of the sky and all heavenly bodies, a symbol of protecting the dead when they enter the after life. According to the Egyptians, during the day, the heavenly bodies—such as the sun and moon—would make their way across her body. Then, at dusk, they would be swallowed, pass through her belly during the night, and be reborn at dawn.

 This photo you can see Nut's whole body because it's a much smaller room. She is swallowing the moon and giving birth to the sun.

 These two photos (above and below) show how they got the dimensions of the carvings so perfect. They used gridlines, as seen in red, then removed the lines when finished. This part of the temple was never finished and the gridlines still remain.

 There are many depictions of Hathor receiving gifts in this room. Hathor is depicted as a cow. She had a human face, ears of a cow, and horns.

On the way home we passed through a village that makes mud-bricks. There were bricks in different stages of the process. The bottom and photo on the top right are bricks as they are being formed and in the top left they are being cooked or fired so they hold together. Ahmed said they are located outside the city because of the pollution it causes and the smell.

I thought it was interesting to see the women carrying bread or whatever kind of food they have on the trays on their head, but I had my phone out to take this picture because I wanted to capture a picture of the narrow railroad tracks. Ahmed said the railroad track are used to get the sugar cane and other harvest out of the fields. 

Felucca Ride to Banana Island

After Dendera Temple, we went back to the hotel for a while so Jake could take a nap. We got lunch and went swimming. At 5:30, Ahmed came to get us for a felucca ride. We got on the boat and sailed the Nile over to Banana Island, which was directly across from our hotel. It was a lot of fun and Jake enjoyed it.

Jake planning to go "bishing" or fishing with that rope.

 Ahmed letting him drive the boat.

 A photo of another felucca boat on the Nile with the Luxor Mountains in the background. That is the West Bank and the large peak is right were Hatshepsut's Temple is and very close to Valley of the Kings.

I have no idea what he was asking for...

 The Sheraton Hotel, where we were staying. 

 A Mango Tree on Banana Island (above). An Orange tree below.

 Jake holding a Banana blossom. He's pointing to the yellow "baby bananas" that haven't grown yet.

 Banana trees. The leaves are huge. Bananas never ripen on their own. They have to be put in a ripening room in order to become yellow. The bananas in Egypt are much smaller than the kind we find in US grocery stores. But they are sweeter.

 Cheese!!!

 Pretty big leaves.

 They also had two crocodiles in this tank on the island. This kid got one of the stirred up for Jake.

 But Jake's favorite were the cows. And more than once mentioned Grandpa Casey's cows eating corn and Uncle Dylan's horses.

 The kid with the crocodile caught a little fish for Jake to look at too. 

 His favorite part was peeling the banana. He wasn't as fond of actually eating them. 

 In order to get Jake to look at the camera for pictures, we starting telling him to "Point at Mommy's camera." It works, but then he's pointing at the camera in almost all of the pictures we take of him.

Our felucca boat was named "Nice." We had a very nice time. We loved Luxor and I would definitely go back one day. Awesome trip.

The next morning we got up and Ahmed picked us up to take us to the airport. We flew back to Cairo.