Luxor

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On Thursday night, we took an overnight train from Cairo to Luxor. The food was quite bad, and the car was smoke filled with no ventilation, so we were happy to disembark early in the morning. After a nap, we went to the Luxor Museum where we saw mummies, statues, items retrieved from tombs, and Roman coins. For dinner, we enjoyed Japanese sushi and teriyaki chicken.

The next morning, we boarded the Moon Goddess cruise ship for three nights on the Nile River. The first day we stayed in Luxor and visited the Karnak and Luxor Temples, each built for only one god. Karnak was the largest temple we visited in Egypt with obelisks still standing and a small manmade lake that was used by the ancient priests for cleansing. In the evening, we saw a belly dancing and whirling dervish show.

With over 100-degree weather on Sunday, we explored four tombs at the Valley of the Kings (including King Tut’s), two tombs at the Valley of the Queens, and Queen Hatshepsut’s Funerary Temple. Queen Hatshepsut is the only female pharaoh, and she built this huge temple for her own funeral. The tombs have doorways at the base of the mountains and you descend on ramps or stairs to reach the room at the bottom where the sarcophagus would have been kept. All the walls and ceilings are decorated with hieroglyphics and drawings, some still retaining their original colors from around 3000 years ago.

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Photos

Scarab (Beetle) Statue
At the Temple of Karnak. Rumored to bring love to those who walk around it three times.

Comments

[Stephanie Kobylarz]

Queen Hatshepsut
I did a project on Queen Hatshepsut in 6th grade where I had to dress up and pretend I was her. I've heard very little about her since and am really happy to know that other people know she exists because everybody in elementary school just thought I was crazy. Sounds like you are having a great time as usual. So happy your having such great adventures!!