5. Cairo to Luxor - Sept 29
We’re up early to take our flight to Luxor. We’re down in the lobby by 5:55am and Yousef texts to say that he’s had car trouble and will be a few minutes late. Yesterday our guide Dalia suggested we find a picture in the hotel lobby that showed the Sphinx prior to being dug out. There were pictures everywhere on every wall, so we walked about until we found it.
Picture of the Sphinx before it was excavated. It is believed that the face of the Sphinx was carved to represent the face of Khufu. During excavation, a fragment the Sphinx’s ceremonial beard was unearthed and was moved to England. It is now housed in the British Museum.
We are picked up by the driver Ashra and proceed out of the hotel area. In a couple of minutes we pick up Yousef who was stranded by his dead car, and take the hour drive to the airport.
We flew Air Egypt from Cairo to Luxor, about an hour. The waiting room is full; I estimate about 200 people. There is no zone seating; so about 200 people swarm the counter area when boarding is announced. Our plane uses ramp stairs to board and it’s already warm outside. Our seats are right behind the business class section behind the bulkhead, giving us additional legroom (not that I need it).
It’s an hour flight from Cairo to Luxor. I amuse myself by looking out the window. The area is flat and brown. It looks like Saskatchewan without any water. But when we start to fly over the Nile River, there are lush green agricultural lands blanketing on both sides of the Nile. It’s interesting how the agriculture lands form a continuous green blanket all the way down the Nile River.
After landing we walk off the plane and look for a person holding our sign. There are many guides holding up names of the tourists they will be looking after for the next few days. We find our sign being held by Yasser, who is in charge of getting us through the airport and handing us over the guide who will look after our Luxor stay.
We get introduced to Osama, who will be our guide for the next few days. Today we will explore the temple of Karnak and the Temple of Luxor.
The Temple of Karnak or the Karnak Temple complex is the largest of its type in Egypt. It comprises of temples, pylons (a type of entry gate), chapels and other buildings. It started in 2000 BC and continued to be added and used for almost 2000 years. The area around Karnak was considered to be “The Most Selected of Places:” and was the main place of worship for a significant portion of that period. It was added as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979.
The Karnak Temple complex is a vast open site and is the second most visited site in Egypt. Only one section of the site (the Precinct of Amun-Re) is open to the public as the other 3 precinct areas are not yet restored and thus closed to the public. What sets this temple apart from the other Egyptian temples is the length of time over which it was development and used. About 30 pharaohs (kings) contributed to the buildings which enabled the location to reach a size and complexity that isn’t seen in other temples. The features of Karnak aren’t really different from other temples. It’s the size and number that sets it apart.
The Temple of Amun itself occupies about 61 acres. Within this site, some parts are closed off for restoration.
First Pylon or entry gate. It was never finished or decorated. It stands at 113 m (371 ft) wide and 15 m (49 ft) thick. The taller tower is 31.7m (103 ft) and the shorter tower is 21.7m (71 ft).
This structure was constructed around 656 BC
Leading up to the First Pylon is the avenue of sphinxes. These sphinxes are ram headed, symbolizing the god Amun.
Rear view of the First Pylon. Note the earth mound against the wall. The earth ramp is seen to confirm how these walls were built.
After the First Pylon is the Great Court, which holds the Kiosk of Taharqa and the Second Pylon. Construction of this Great Court required that the rows of Sphinxes were moved to their present location along the sides of the area.
Sphinxes. These would have been relocated to make the Great Court.
View of the Great Court area. I missed taking a close up shot of the colossi of Ramses II. But if you zoom to the towers the statue is in front of the tower on the left.
Inside the second pylon is the Chapel of Ramesses III. This court is lined with statues of the king.
Beyond the Chapel is vestibule which leads to a small hypostyle (a building having rows of columns supporting a roof) hall.
Here is the small hypostyle hall. There would have been a roof structure overtop of this area. There is a vestibule at the back of this area which has two smaller rooms accessed from the back corners of this vestibule.
One of the rooms had an opening in the ceiling that provided this cool light shaft effect. We waited a long time to get into this room because people were taking a long time to take pictures. Our guide, Osama, complained to the temple staff about people taking too long and one went into the room to hurry people along. We could clearly hear an offender complain that the person ahead of her took twenty pictures and so she should be able to as well.
As we go travel through Egypt, we have seen a couple cases of bad tourist behaviour. It does seem to be coming from what I’m guessing to be rich young Chinese female tourists looking to create TikTok moments. They’re wearing flowing white dresses and high heels, which seem incongruent with touring historical sites. They spend their time finding and posing in spots often changing their poses as their camera person clicks away.
The most impressive space I’ve seen came next. This is the main Hypostyle Hall. These column absolutely dwarfs anyone there. There are a total of 134 columns. The 12 going down the center of the space (the ones you see in the picture - 6 on each side) are a mind boggling 24 m (80 ft) in height.
The rest of the 134 columns are laid out in a grid pattern on either side of the larger center columns. The hall covers 5,000 sq meters (50,000 sq ft). It is reported to still be the largest room of any religious building in the world.
After that grand Hypostyle Hall, we passed through a 3rd pylon (gate).
Here was the Obelisk of Hatshepsut. At 29.5m (97 ft), it is the tallest obelisk in Egypt. It was erected by the female pharaoh who reigned during 1473-1458 BCE. There were two obelisks erected but the other one fell long ago. It is rumoured that the obelisk was deliberately toppled to erase the memory of Hatshepsut, but that when it was toppled, it caused so much damage that the other obelisk was left standing to avoid further damage to the temple.
The toppled obelisk lay on its side for centuries but in 2022 the top part of that twin obelisk was erected by the Sacred Lake.
The next stop was the Sacred Lake. It is the largest of its kind and was dug by Tuthmose III who lived until 1425 BC). The lake was used by priests for ritual washing and other religious purposes.
After this we passed through another pylon known as the Thutmose III pylon and Temple of Khonsu.
By this time my brain was having a hard time catching all the information being presented. We finished the Temple of Karnak and proceeded to the next site.
Getting back into the air conditioned car allowed me to refresh a bit and recharge enough to see our second Temple: The Temple of Luxor. It is also a large temple complex not far from Karnak. It was constructed about 1400 BCE and is dedicated to devine Egyptian Ruler (as opposed to a god). The site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as of 1979.
This is the avenue of Sphinxes. It connects the temples of Karnak with Luxor. The head of the sphinx is a ram, signifying the God Amun.
The route is lined with 1200 Sphinxes.
This is the first pylon at Luxor Temple. The temple was constructed to worship three Gods, Amun, Muy and Khonsu. Worship transitioned to focused on the pharaohs as they ascended to the thrown. According to Egyptian belief, the Royal Ka (soul) inhabited the legitimate king and migrated from the old to the new when the older king died. The temple is thought to be dedicated to the rejuvenation of kingship and a place where Egyptian Kings were crowned.
In front of the pylon are enormous colossal seated figures of Ramses II alongside shorter standing figures. The pylon itself is decorated with scenes of Ramses II’s victorious battles.
The 25m pink granite obelisk stands on the left side near the opening. The base of the other matching obelisk stands nearby. Apparently the matching obelisk was made from softer limestone and toppled over.
The area after the first pylon is the Court of Ramses II. There is a double row of papyrus bud topped columns and behind that, huge standing colossi of Ramses II.
We pass through the inner sanctuary which is the original part of the temple. Known as the Colonnade of Amenhotep III, the walls here depict the annual Opet festival where images of the original three gods were carried to Karnak via the Avenue of the Sphinxes.
After the open court is a hypostyle hall. Here there are 32 papyrus columns in 4 rows of 8 columns.
After the hypostyle hall was were two antechambers. These are full of carvings depicting various religious scenes.
I’m fully overloaded with information and it’s only 12:30. We head to our next destination which is to board our boat for a 4 day cruise down the Nile on the Soleil.
Our boat looks like a floating box. It really does have a bow.
And finally we get to check into our room. It will be great for the next few days.
From here we go and have lunch. Lobster for me…Judith is still working on finding food she can eat so she gets something other than lobster. It’s late by the time we get back to our room, so that calls for a nap before dinner at 8:00. And dinner was great too. I chose the beef option.
We go for an early sleep as tomorrow is an early rise to catch our balloon ride over Luxor.
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