Luxor

The minute our flight landed in Luxor early Wednesday morning, we were glad we had made the decision to change our itinerary and visit this city. We were originally going to stay in Cairo a couple of extra days, but decided about a month ago that a true Egyptian experience would not be complete without a visit to Luxor.

Luxor was so different than Cairo. The Nile has created a beautiful, fertile valley on the East bank of Luxor. Downtown Luxor is fairly small and centers around Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple. Across the Nile, the landscape is dominated by sandy desert and tall mountains, creating a stunning contrast between the East and West banks.  Also, the drivers in Luxor are not nearly as crazy as the Cairo drivers. It was a much quieter, more serene area of Egypt.

We landed at 7 AM on Wednesday morning and headed to the hotel for check-in. Our hotel, the Sonesta St. George, upgraded us to a suite on one of their top floors when we arrived – which was very generous and surprising!

At 9 AM, we met our tour guide, Safara. First on the agenda was a visit to Karnak Temple. Our hotel was closer to Luxor Temple, so we drove along the ancient Sphinx route to Karnak. This route stretches for a little over a mile, running through the center of town from one temple to the other. A government-sponsored archaeological dig is currently ongoing to uncover all of the Sphinx lining the road. The problem is that a modern city has been built over the ruins, so the new road is completely dug up in places and buildings have been relocated. Once the project is complete, though, it will be pretty amazing that people will be able to walk from one temple to the other between the rows of hundreds of Sphinx just like they did thousands of years ago.

Much like in Cairo, the Nile used to flow right up to the banks of Karnak Temple. With time changing the course of the river, the Nile now runs further back but the entrance to the Temple is still pretty lush.

Karnak was originally built during the 11th dynasty back in 2,000 BC. The site covers 100 acres and was the most important temple complex of ancient Egypt. As most things in Egypt go, the site was eventually neglected, forgotten, and buried under layers and layers of sand. It was just re-discovered about 150 years ago so there is still a lot of restoration ongoing. There are a lot of workers on the site daily, but what was discovered back in the 1800s is amazingly intact. There are still colors on the walls from the paints the ancient Egyptians used. One of our favorite parts was Great Hypostyle Hall, an enormous hall supported by 134 columns, many of which are still standing today and in great condition. We also toured the old botanic gardens, which housed one of the first-ever zoos of the world. Then we walked along the temple to the sacred lake where the priests used to bathe themselves before performing their daily rituals.

We ended our tour with Safara at the giant scarab beetle statue. If you walk around the beetle 3 times, you’re supposed to have good luck. We were planning on going into King Tut’s tomb the next day when we visited the Valley of the Kings (which is very, very bad luck) so we were hoping to offset the bad with the good luck of the scarab beetle.

After Karnak Temple, we headed back towards Luxor Temple. The façade of Luxor Temple is dominated by statues of Ramses II and an obelisk. The obelisk is missing its twin, though, which throws off the symmetry of the temple face. As we mentioned in the video from the courtyard of the Mohammed Ali mosque in Cairo, France was gifted the obelisk from Luxor Temple in exchange for a clock (that doesn’t work) from the French King. Definitely not the best trade, Egypt.

We explored inside the temple for about an hour and then headed back to the hotel for some lunch and a much-needed nap. For dinner, we decided to take a break from Middle Eastern cuisine and ate at the first and only Japanese restaurant in Luxor. The sushi was great and tempura ice cream for dessert hit the spot.

Safara picked us up early the next morning at 7:30 AM. We had to meet earlier than usual to avoid the heat of the West bank. But actually, it was really windy on Thursday so that ended up being the coolest day of our trip so far. The wind also meant a lot of dust and sand in the air, which reminded me a lot of El Paso.

There are no cameras allowed in the Valley of the Kings or Queens, which is unfortunate because the tombs there are absolutely amazing. Some have only recently been unearthed, so the inside is still much as it was when first decorated thousands of years ago.

After driving across the river and into the mountains, we took a tram into the Valley of the Kings to the tombs. The pyramids are wonderful, but they also screamed ‘Hey – there’s a pharaoh buried here with lots of treasure!’ So they were basically a treasure map for grave-robbers. So the pharaohs started building their tombs in the mountains instead to avoid thieves. Once we got off the tram, we had to hike even further to reach the tombs that are open to the public. The first tomb we visited was that of King Tuthmosis III. Trying even better to avoid thieves, he built his tomb 30 meters above ground, so we had to climb a metal staircase to enter his chambers. The inside was beautifully decorated and his red granite sarcophagus still remained. The second tomb we visited was Ramses IV, which is probably the most well-preserved. The sarcophagus is massive and fit inside a room at the bottom of three white corridors. We also visited the tomb of Seti I, which is the longest tomb in the valley. Finally, we saved the best for last – King Tut’s tomb. This tomb is not decorated as much as the others, but King Tut’s gilded coffin and his mummy are still inside. His body is mostly covered by a sheet, but his feet and head are visible to the public. You don’t really think of the pharaohs and their stories as actually real until you see their mummified faces.

After the Valley of the Kings, we visited the Valley of the Queens where the queens and princes and princesses are buried. Obviously there are many more tombs here, about 80 total, but these ones are even more fragile so very few are open to the public. To see Queen Nefertari’s tomb, the most famous of all, the cost is 20,000 Egyptian pounds (about 2,000 GBP) and you must have special permission from the Ministry of Tourism. But we did get to see the tomb of Queen Titi, a woman married to one of the Ramses pharaohs. Her tomb had some nice paintings on the walls, but nothing elaborate like we saw in the Valley of the Kings. The only other tomb we saw here was the Tomb of Amunherkhepshep, son of Ramses III. The paintings here depicted father and son paying homage to the gods of the underworld. The boy’s coffin is still inside, without the body. But there is a body of a 5-month old mummified fetus inside the tomb in a separate area, which was disturbing.

After quickly leaving that place, we drove down the road to Hatshepsut Temple, a terraced temple complex built directly into the side of the mountain. Queen Hatshepsut built the temple in an attempt to prove herself fit to rule, since she was a woman. Many of her statues inside the temple depict her in male form as an added sign of her strength as a ruler. Unfortunately, her successor destroyed many of the images as revenge for stealing the throne.

We ended our tour of the West Bank at the Colossi of Memnon. These are two giant statues of Amenhotep III that once adorned his temple, which has been completely destroyed. The statues were also heavily damaged in earthquakes.

After finishing our tour and thanking Safara, we said our goodbyes and had lunch outside our hotel on the banks of the Nile.

We had a great time in Luxor, but were looking forward to our flight the next day to Sharm el Sheikh. After days and days of early morning wake-up calls and constant site-seeing, we couldn’t wait to relax at our all-inclusive resort on the shores of the Red Sea.