Luxor Egypt

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November 25 - 26 - 27 --- Luxor - Cairo Egypt
Our hotel in Luxor is the Sonesta St. George. I had originally hoped to post my blog entries for Kenya from Luxor, but unfortunately the internet server was down.

Luxor was the capital of Egypt during the Middle and New Kingdom periods. For those more familiar with some of the ancient Greek names the city was called Thebes by the Greeks. The largest temple in the world was created here, the Temple of Karnak, dedicated to Amun-Ra” the sun god”. his wife Mut and their son Khonsu “the moon god”. Since the sun sets in the west the burial place for the Pharaohs was on the west side of the Nile River in the Valley of the Kings.

On our first night we had dinner outside overlooking the Nile, the next day lunch was served in a Felucca, a large sailing craft common on the Nile and dinner was across the Nile at an outdoor restaurant where we were served local dishes and entertained. The highlight of our visit to Luxor was floating high above the Nile Valley in a hot air balloon. We were up early on the 27th for a flight to Cairo for a quick visit to the Pyramids and to the Sphinx. Up to our departure from Cairo I was impressed with Egyptian airports in how efficiently they processed us. However all this was to be lost upon our planned departure for Prague. When we arrived at the airport we were held in our bus for some time. Our boarding passes had been printed up in advance to speed up things, but then the person who did this then locked them in his desk and went home delay #1. Next we were told to go to gate #7 then to go to gate #1 only to be held up there for some time delay #2. Then we were told to return to gate #7, but no one was there, finally a woman came by but it took her some time to have security staff come by to run the x-ray machines, delay #3. Finally they put in an appearance but couldn’t get the machine to work, delay #4. Then when we try to leave the waiting lounge for the busses that have been waiting for us, we find the door has been chained close, so again we wait until a man finally saunters over and opens it. I need that orange juice and champagne when we finally got on board.

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Photos

Luxor Egypt
Sunrise as we ferry across the river on our way to our balloon ride

Luxor Egypt
Shortly after takeoff

Luxor Egypt
Iur balloon's shadow

Luxor Egypt
Some ide of how tall these statues are. This was taken in the Temple of Karnak

Luxor Egypt
After thousands of years the colours remain

Luxor Egypt
The entrance into the great temple

Luxor Egypt
Mare at the entrance to the great temple

Pyramids
One of the Wonders of both the Old and New Worlds. The base of the Pyramid is large enough to hold 71/2 football fields.