Luxor, Egypt

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From Cairo, we flew on Air Memphis to Luxor (Thebes). We arrived at our hotel and then proceeded to the Karnak Temple. It is a vast open air museum and the largest ancient religious site in the world. Karnak is from the era of Ramses II in 1391-1351 B.C. It is located on the West Bank of the Nile River and consists of three distinct sections. The Precinct of Montu (son of Amun-Re and Mut) near the front. The Precinct of Amun-Re in the center and the Precinct of Mut (the wife of Amun-Re) near the Sacred Lake (used by priests for purification). On a frieze there are many battle scenes and many sections of sandstone with very clear images of ancient characters.

After the Temple of Karnak, we proceeded to the Luxor Temple. It was built in the era of Amenhotep III and Amenhotep II and finished by Ramses II. This temple is located on the East Bank of the Nile River. There were two original obelisks at Luxor Temple. One is still there and the other one is in Paris and is known as the Luxor Obelisk in the Place de la Concorde. On our way from Karnak Temple to Luxor Temple we saw an avenue which connected the two temples and it was lined with human-headed sphinxs. Inside Luxor Temple we saw an Islamic mosque (Abu el-Haggag) built over a pharonic temple. There were children on the balcony. We also saw a Roman mural in one of the inner chambers. There were two seated statues of Ramses II and four standing. It was a small but impressive temple.

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