Luxor, Egypt

June 2002

Built on the site of the ancient city of Thebes, Luxor is one of Egypt's prime tourist destinations. People have been visiting the magnificent monuments of Luxor, Karnak, Hatshepsut and Ramses III for thousands of years. 

I took the 14 hour train option down to Luxor with a couple of the people from the truck to check it all out as well.  It was well worth the visit especially after years of reading books and  seeing movies and documentaries about the place.

Here are the photos.

Temples Of Luxor and Karnak

Here are the photos of the temples of Luxor and Karnak.  I can't remember which is which from the photos and the materials I have available so I've put them together.

Tourist entrance

Grand entrance to the temple.

Lions or Sphinx statues.

The main entrance.  Originally, the whole temple was painted - not the stone and mud brick ruins you see in the pictures.  The rectangular niches originally contained masts with flags.  It would have looked spectacular during the time of the Pharaohs.

If you want to get a great idea of how things were during the reign of the Pharaohs, then read Wilbur Smiths trilogy of Egyptian novels - The Seventh Scroll, River God and Warlock.  Not only do they give you a sense of how things were, they are ripping good yarns as well.

One of the Obelisks out the front of the Temple.  Originally there were two.  The other was taken back to Europe to stand in a city square somewhere but for the life of me I cannot remember whether it was Paris, Rome or London.  All of the empires emanating out of these cities passed through Egypt at some point and took home a few souvenirs.  Damned tourists.

Inside the temple complex.

Pillars .... lots of them.  I think one of the scenes of a James Bond film was filmed here.

Pharaoh dude.

A plaque with hieroglyphics among the pillars of the temple.  I highly recommend getting the full Lonely Planet Guide to Egypt.  It has a great section on ancient Egyptian gods and hieroglyphics.  It was interesting trying to deduce the cartouches of the various Pharaohs and identify the different gods on the various plaques, pillars and walls of the temple.   

Animal sacrifices on the wall of the temple.

Procession of some sort on the wall of the temple.

The Temple of Luxor at night.

Other parts of the complex.  The place is huge.

Valley Of The Kings

Start of the Valley of the Kings

Entrance to a tomb.

Cindy and I at the entrance of Tutankhamen's tomb.

Another tomb entrance.  No mummies came out to attack us however but couldn't help but think about the curse of Tutankhamen's tomb when we went inside it.  The guys who discovered it all died one way or another very soon after.

Friezes inside one of the tombs that we went into.  Generally, these inscriptions are prayers and give instructions from the Book Of The Dead on how to get to heaven and avoid the underworld and other nasty things.  Or it might just be a recipe for camel pot roast.

This tomb was amazing to walk inside.  The colours were so vivid.  It's hard to believe they were created over 3000 years ago.

Temple of Hatshepsut

Hatshepsut was a female Pharaoh who built herself a grand funeral temple.  This is also the site where a whole lot of western tourists were massacred in 1994.

Statues of the Pharaoh and Horus.

The temple

Statues out the front.

Ancient pot plant.

The Nile

The Nile at sunset.

MacDonalds

MacDonald's in Luxor - complete with three armed guards out the front to protect tourists against terrorist attacks.  Was a great place to escape from the heat, enjoy air conditioned comfort and munch through a Big Mac (sometimes the safest food option available although I also became a big fan of chilled sugar can juice).

New Friends

Three Danish friends I met at the hostel.  They were on a short holiday from Israel where they were working as volunteers in an old folks home.  They painted an interesting picture of life in Israel under threat from terrorist threats - especially on buses.  People look at you suspiciously if you come aboard carrying a bag or wearing a big coat ... all of which could contain a bomb. 

The birthday girl.

Next:

Egypt, 1. Red Sea, 2. Mount Sinai, 3. Cairo, 4. Luxor, 5. Aswan