We said farewell to Cairo today as it was time to transfer for the next part of our trip and head to Luxor for our Nile cruise. It was also time to pick up our 4th travel buddy as Matt was joining us for the remainder of the trip! We had a crushingly early start as our transfer to the airport was scheduled for 4am – Mohammed was there to meet us as well as our driver, Karim, who’d been with us for our whole Cairo trip. The drive took about 45 mins (less traffic at 4am!) and finally I got to meet up with ManpanionTM again! He’d arrived late afternoon the previous day and we decided it made more sense for him to stay at the airport hotel where he could get a good sleep in, rather than drive all the way out to meet us, only to turn around a few hours later and drive back! The reunion was smooth and sweet and short as our airport guide (the same guy who’d met us when we arrived) was there to efficiently shepherd us through the check-in process again (that dude walked fast!). I do love this VIP Meet and Assist service – I’m usually the one figuring out what to do and where to go, so it was lovely to have someone else handle all of the logistics for a change. We had to wait for a bit to get through security first before we were able to check-in – I was starting to get a little nervous about the time – but our guide was not in the least worried, so I chilled the F out. After another set of security screens, we were at the gate and ready to board!
Our flight was at 6.30am on Egypt Air (we were able to use our Star Alliance Gold to check-in via the business class line and also not stress out anymore about baggage weight – yey!) and was a very short flight, less than an hour. We landed safe and sound in Luxor and were then met by another driver who helped us with our luggage. By this time it was about 8am and we weren’t able to check into the boat until at least midday, so we were all expecting to have to sit around at the airport (or somewhere) to wait – but no! We picked up a brand new guide called Peter – and we were off!!
Our new guide was a nice enough chap – but unfortunately Peter’s English was not as good as Gina’s (I think we’d been spoiled) and so I honestly struggled for a bit to understand what he was saying (the early start, lack of caffeine and heat wasn’t helping). We were also unfed too as the take-out breakfasts from the Marriott had had to get dumped as we couldn’t take them through airport security and it was too early to eat at 4am anyway. As we were soon to discover, he would go into a LOT of detail about what we were looking at, rattling off dates and names and factoids, and I just KNEW I’d pretty much forget everything anyway, so after about an hour, I’m afraid I started tuning out (this blog post will have a strong assist from Wikipedia!). But, despite that, I did pick up some knowledge (more through osmosis and repetition, I guess) so by the end of the day, I could tell my Anubis from my elbow.
He did try really hard – but he also had this interesting (OK, OK – it was kinda annoying) habit of speaking in verbal lists – which is fine, I guess – but a bit depressing when you know you will struggle to remember item 1 from his 5 bullet point list of Interesting Things About These Ancient Hieroglyphs. He had also “warned” us about how passionate Egyptians can sound when they are Just Talking. They are not having a blazing row, simply engaging in lively dialogue. He had a bit of that himself too – a couple of times he was on the phone and we wondered What On Earth Was Going On – and then it just turned out to be a quick update from the travel agent. So he was a bit harder work than Gina, but c’est la vie. There’s still no way you’d want to try and do this yourself – along with all the narration, he took care of buying all the tickets and stuff and keeping us on schedule (or not – ahem) so we were all grateful for that.
Our first stop was the Temple of Karnak – a huge and impressive complex of decayed temples, pylons, chapels, and other buildings near Luxor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karnak. We started by walking down the Avenue of Sphinxes (though with Peter’s accent, it sounded like he was saying “sphincters” which Matt and I found funnier than we probably should have!). Karnak is divided into three compounds: the precinct of Amun, the precinct of Mut, and the precinct of Montu. The Karnak Temple dates back from around 2055 BC to around 100 AD. It was built as a cult temple and was dedicated to the gods Amun, Mut, and khonsu. Being the largest building for religious purposes ever to be constructed, the Karnak Temple was known as “most select of places” by ancient Egyptians. During the New Kingdom, the Karnak Temple Complex was the center of the ancient faith while power was concentrated at Thebes (modern-day Luxor) and its significance is reflected in its enormous size. In addition to its religious significance, it also served as a treasury, administrative center, and palace for the New Kingdom pharaohs. It is to this day considered as the largest temple complex ever constructed anywhere in the world. One of the cool features of the Karnak complex was seeing how it had developed over a period of 1500 years, added to by generation after generation of pharaohs and resulting in a collection (some may say hodge-podge) of temples, sanctuaries, pylons, and other decorations that is unparalleled throughout Egypt. It was also very interesting to see how the newly minted kings tried to out-do their predecessors or – in some cases – try to erase evidence of their existence altogether (looking at you, Hapshepshut). Nice to see that keeping up with the Joneses is not a recent phenomenon!
While the height of its importance was during the New Kingdom and during the reigns of famous pharaohs such as Hatshepsut, Tuthmose III, Seti I and Ramesses II, all contributed significant additions to the complex, construction continued into the Greco-Roman Period with the Ptolemies, Romans, and early Christians all leaving their mark there.
The precinct of Amun contains all of the most famous sections of the Karnak complex, including the dizzying Great Hypostyle Hall. This hall contains 134 massive columns and is incredibly impressive and hard to describe in a way that captures their imposing presence. As impressive as their sheer size are the intricate carvings and paintings that adorn the columns – some of which still have really vibrant coloration. Also you can see how the style of the carvings and architecture changed over time – for example, there . Here are some pictures which might give you some idea of the scale of the complex. It really is hard to believe that they are around 2000 years old! Peter pointed out a ton of stuff I can’t remember – with the exception of a painting where the person had two hands – a very rare mistake by the ancient artisans! And – right next to that one – was another painting of an ancient Egyptian with a giant, ahem, member. Oo-er, vicar. Finally we finished the tour and stopped to get a very overdue cup of coffee and some snacks by the Sacred Lake. Next to Sacred Lake, there was a monument where it was said that if you circled it three times, it would bring you wealth and happiness. Matt and I dutifully trotted around it just to be on the safe side – another 2 times and it would bring you marriage, 2 more times and children – so we made sure to just do the minimum 3! It was about 11am by the time we left – and by this time it was absolutely heaving! You could barely see the Avenue of Sphincters for all the people so we were very glad to have got in and got out early.
No more rest for the wicked, because our next stop after Karnak was straight to Luxor Temple. As well as the number of people increasing, so was the temperature so we were starting to seek out the shade a bit more. The Luxor Temple is located on the east bank of the Nile River and was constructed approximately 1400 BCE. In the Egyptian language it was known as ipet resyt, “the southern sanctuary”. Unlike the other temples in Thebes, Luxor temple is not dedicated to a cult god or a deified version of the pharaoh in death. Instead, Luxor temple is dedicated to the rejuvenation of kingship; it may have been where many of the pharaohs of Egypt were crowned in reality or conceptually.
To the rear of the temple are chapels built by Amenhotep III of the 18th Dynasty, and Alexander. Other parts of the temple were built by Tutankhamun and Ramesses II including the very imposing and impressive statues of Ramesses II that flank the first pylon . During the Roman era, the temple and its surroundings were a legionary fortress and the home of the Roman government in the area. During the Roman period a chapel inside the Luxor Temple originally dedicated to the goddess Mut was transformed into a Tetrarchy cult chapel and later into a church.
There was also another Avenue of Sphinxes at Luxor which actually used to connect with the one in Karnak. Also known as Rams Road, its a 2.7 km (1.7 mi) long avenue (dromos) which connects Karnak Temple with Luxor Temple having been uncovered in the ancient city of Thebes (modern Luxor), with sphinxes and ram-headed statues lined up on both flanks. Construction of the Avenue of Sphinxes began during the New Kingdom era and was completed during the Late period during the reign of 30th Dynasty ruler Nectanebo I (380–362 B.C.), the road was later buried under layers of sand over the centuries.
By the time we’d explored the Avenue, I was well and truly pooped out and starting to get just a teeny tiny bit hangry. Fortunately, it was time to return to the bus and to finally check in to the boat. Our home for the next 5 days/4 nights is the MS Movenpick Sunray. We were actually a little constrained as to which boat we could take as we were restricted to those that departed Luxor on a Thursday – and the vast majority of ships sail on a Saturday or Monday. But despite the lack of choice, the boat is actually pretty nice – especially the public areas such as the upper sundeck and the lounge area. There are only 50 guests on the boat and, after tonight, there will only be 30 of us so its almost like our own private trip! Our cabin is pretty basic but its a decent size (for a boat) so we got our room key, dumped our stuff in our room and then immediately headed to the restaurant for lunch. Lunch was pretty good and served buffet style, so there was plenty of choice (and plenty of food!). After lunch, we finally had a chance to rest, so we had a lovely nap – before it was then time to get up for dinner! We met up for a cocktail in the lounge bar beforehand (I had a St Clements which was a bit tart!) and then descended down to the lower deck for dinner. Dinner was again buffet style and really quite delicious. We’ve all become obsessed with the various mushes (as Lee Ann refers to them!) and are becoming quite the aficionados, comparing the hummus and baba ghanoush and tahini from place to place! All the staff on the boat are very friendly and like to joke around with you (ie pretending to take your plate when you still have food left). After dinner, we were all pooped and decided it was time for an early night – particularly as it was going to be another early (and exciting!) start the next morning!
