Egypt Explorers: Lovely Luxor

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Today we left our fabulous Nile Cruise and headed to our hotel in Luxor. Luxor is a lovely city that is clean and beautifully manicured with the Temple of Luxor in its center and the Temples of Karnak at its edge.

On the way to the hotel we stopped at the Luxor Jewelry Market. It was a great shopping excursion. The store had beautiful creations made of gold and silver in the form of many different designs representing ancient Egyptian culture like the key of life, the Eye of Isis, cartouches, and the sacred scarab.

We traveled to the hotel where we all decided it was time for a McDonald's run for lunch. On the way to the restaurant we encountered some children on the street who did not have any shoes and were very dirty. They said, "Madame, one Euro please!" They also begged us for shoes and kept pointing at their little dirty feet. I don't know how they stood walking on the scorching concrete. The temperature was 120 degrees so I can only imagine what the pavement temp was. We had been warned not to give them money, but I felt very sorry for them and did give each of them one pound. They begged Missy for her super sized Diet Cola. There was a problem since two girls wanted the drink. She instructed them to share it, but the Egyptian girl who got it first ran as fast as she could away from the other girl, so she wouln't have to share it! When I saw that happen it caused me to think about how blessed we really are in the USA.

Later this afternoon we went to tour the temples of Karnak. We learned that these temples cover 200 acres and each Pharoah would add to them. Although badly ruined, no site in Egypt is more impressive than Karnak. It is the largest temple complex ever built by man, and represents the combined achievement of many generations of ancient builders. The Temple of Karnak is actually three main temples, smaller enclosed temples, and several outer temples located about three kilometers north of Luxor, Egypt situated on 100 ha (247 acres) of land. Karnak is actually the sites modern name. Its ancient name was Ipet-isut, meaning "The Most Select (or Sacred) of Places".

After the Karnak tour we went on a horse drawn carriage(Kalesh) tour of the back streets of Luxor and the village market. This area showed how the poor native Egytians survive from day to day. We saw their market, homes, and their daily struggles. It was a very eye opening experience.

Later this evening we had our tour farewell dinner with the whole tour group. We ate Italian cuisine in the hotel restaurant where we laughed, talked, and celebrated Missy's birthday for several hours.

By Michele

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Photos

Egyptian Boy Selling Flowers
One of many children from the village in Luxor trying to help his family by selling flowers to the tourists.

McDonalds in Luxor
The 15 minute walk to McDonalds was well worth it!

Row of Sphinx at Karnak Temple
This led up to the entrance of the temple. They are still excavating them under homes throughout the village.

Ramps at Karnak
Since this temple always had new additions, the ramps were left and it shows us how the builders got these huge blocks put in place.

Karnak Temple
Free standing column

Columns at Karnak
Original paint on the underside of the columns.

Karnak Temple
Hieroglyphics on Hatshepsut's Obelisk.

Scarab
Legend says if you walk around this scarab seven times counterclockwise your wish will come true. Needless to say, I sat in the shade while I watched the rest of my group circle it!

Model of Karnak Temple
This model is found inside the visitor's center at Karnak.

More Columns
Every inch of this temple was painted. This photo shows remnants of the paint.

Ramps
Ramps were built to lift the blocks in place.

Luxor
The streets in Luxor.