Pigeons, Temples, and Trains

---

Our last day in Luxor gave us time to explore Luxor Temple and Karnak Temple.

First up was Karnak which was already filled with tourists early in the morning. Lots of crowds here early in the morning which made it a bit harder to manoeuvre around. The first thing you see when you approach the temple entrance is the avenue of Sphinxes that line the walkway into the temple. The temple itself is quite huge- larger than the other temples we had visited because the outlying area of the temple contain smaller shrines and buildings in the sand. An old wall surrounds the entire complex. There is a lot to see here with the many pillars, an obelisk, a hidden lake, and statues. It’s worth taking a look around the smaller temples. One that we visited was the shrine/temple of Sekhmhet, the cat goddess. Away from the crowds we had a private showing of the temple after passing a few Egyptian pounds on to the guards at the entrance who then helped us see in the dark with their flashlights.

Next stop was Luxor Temple which we had seen from our felucca ride on the Nile. Smaller than Karnak, the complex is interesting since it was reclaimed and turned into a basilica at one point. Instead of demolishing the existing temple, the basilica was attached to the original structure and continued on from there. Parts of the Luxor temple were still clearly from the basilica, such as a fresco on the wall of the apostles that restorers were working on. It was also used as a mosque at one point so tiles were still visible on the walls.

Our lunch stop included the delicacy of stuffed pigeon that I was the only one willing to try. Pretty tasty, but really dry…overall, not bad!

Before re-joining the rest of our tour that we had left in Cairo and boarding an overnight train back to Cairo, we had time for a little shopping, a mummy museum, and henna tattoos.

The train from Luxor to Cairo wasn’t too bad. Small and cramped with our suitcases, the beds weren’t too uncomfortable and I managed to get some sleep, although earplugs would have helped with the constant noise of the train.

---

Photos

Sphinxes
Avenue of Sphinxes

Shops
Always something to sell

Entrance
Me in front of the Avenue of Sphinxes

Lake
Lake inside the temple

Sekhmhet
The entrance to the shrine of Sekhmhet

Karnak grounds
Outside the main temple area

Luxor & Me
So tiny next to the giant statues

Luxor
Part of the old mosque

Luxor
Fresco from the basillica

Temple face
Statue at the temple entrance

House
Buildings that line the street back up right onto the ancient sites