Cairo to Luxor

 There is nothing quite as exhilarating as a 4am wake up call ( says nobody I know.)

Sadly, this would be the first of several, this week.

A 5:15am bus ride to the airport meant we were too early for breakfast at the hotel, but they did supply us with a boxed breakfast featuring enough buns and sweet breads to induce a diabetic coma. 

The flight to Luxor took just over an hour and once we collected our luggage we piled onto a motor coach for what would prove to be a fairly long day.

  Our first stop was the Temple of Karnak, a massive complex featuring an almost complete front wall fronted with several niches where statues probably once stood. The interior featured a central walkway surrounded by over 130 columns, several of which ( up to 70 feet tall) were being restored by workers. 

The walkway into the temple was lined on each side with several sphinx like statues with rams heads. The complex is believed to have been started about 2000BC and many years to complete. it was dedicated to the God Amun, among others.

 One interesting feature, located behind the front walls were the remnants of the original mud ramps used to drag the building blocks to the higher levels of the building during construction. 

Some of the columns themselves still had traces of the original paint colours used to decorate them.

Behind the main temple were a number of obelisks which still bore the details of the original engravings

 A man made rectangular  “sacred” lake was hand dug and then lined with stone. Measuring about 400 x 250 ft and about 20 ft deep it was apparently used by the priests in some type of ritual bathing.

A statue featuring a scarab beetle was apparently worshipped and today is supposed to bring good luck when one walks around it 3 times, marriage when walked around 5 times and for infertile women, pregnancy after 7 times. Of course an endless stream of tourists encircling it made it difficult to get a decent photo. 

 After our visit to the site we returned to our bus and we’re driven to the dock where our boat was waiting for us. The Nile Quest was a typical Nile Cruise ship- fitted with 3 decks of cabins and a fourth deck at the waterline where the dining room was located. The top deck featured a bar area  with wicker furniture a small pool and several areas for lounging. The cabins were fitted with either a double or two single beds and a full bathroom.

A second bar on the third level featured a small dance floor and adjacent to it were a couple of shops selling jewelry and replica “antiques” and articles of clothing.

 While our luggage was being loaded onto the boat by the ships crew we had a quick buffet lunch before returning to our bus for a visit to a second temple the Luxor Temple. Connected to the Karnak temple by a 2.8 Km long Avenue of Sphinxes, it was significantly smaller but of a somewhat similar layout, with many of its columns still standing.  Originally there were 2 tall obelisks in front of the main entrance but one was removed and currently stands in Place de La Concorde in Paris. 

Some parts of the temple showed that it had been converted by the Ancient Romans for their own religious purposes. There is also a mosque within its walls that is still used by local Muslims.

The Avenue of Sphinxes features several dozen statues with human heads and more are being restored in a project that will probably take several decades to complete..

Following our temple visit we were driven through the rather chaotic streets of Luxor to spend a well wasted hour to visit an Essential Oil producer.Forced to suffer through a half hour presentation on the benefits of the various essential oils some of our group had their wallets lightened as they purchased a variety of concoctions “guaranteed” to cure baldness, insomnia, stomach issues, aging, wrinkles etc. I’m sure our guide Michael was getting a slice of the action, as seems to be the case in many of these “educational visits”

 We then returned to our floating hotel for the evening, the boat remaining moored until the following afternoon. A view from the upper deck showed at least 2 dozen similar vessels anchored along the shore line.

The entertainment that evening featured a male dancer performing a contemporary version of Dervish style whirling followed by belly dancer who succeeded in embarrassing most of our group with her up close views of her rather well endowed cleavage! Most of the action was recorded by the ships photographer and will probably be good blackmail material should anyone of our group decide to run for public office!!!