Luxor and Karnak

We bid a sad goodbye to Cairo to continue our visit into the southern part of Egypt.  We arrived in Luxor after a short airplane ride and we were taken   to our ship on the Nile.  This would be our home for the next four nights. 

The area is so different. It is lush and green in stark contrast to the dusty, desert like conditions in and around Cairo.  Also Cairo is home to 20 million whereas Luxor has only 500,000.  It is therefore much quieter and not crowded at all.  The traffic alone is much calmer  and more like I am used to. 

After we settled into our cabin we had a quick lunch and the we left for a tour of Karnak.  This is a huge complex and we only visited a small area of it.  I was absolutely awe-struck. When built, over q period of over 1,000 years it was both a temple and a fort.  It offered protection in the event of invasion and has a lake which is fwd from the Nile to ensure a water supply.  It is a magnificent place.  One of the temples has more than 130 columns and, amazingly the colours in the plaster reliefs and on the lintels is still very evident.

  It is a huge complex and we saw but a small part of it.  Of particular interest is an Obylisk that commemorates the reign of Hatsheput who was a powerful female ruler of Egypt at a time when only men were permitted to do so.  Her successor attempted to erase all evidence of her existence but this artifact was only covered in a casing which effectively preserved it!

This we followed up with a visit to the Luxor temple.  This was built by Ramses II who wanted to create an annex to Karnak and who built a 2 km road connecting the two places, lined along its length by sphynx statutes.  This temple has been used also by the early Christians who remastered the walls and added their own icons.  We could see a rendition of the last supper in one faded corner.

Wonders of the Cairo Museum

The day started off with another early start and a long ride through Cairo in the busy traffic.  The congestion is epic and cars seem to move around with great smoothness despite there being 5 of them abreast in three lane roads!  There is much horn blowing and the traffic includes buses and cars, tuk-tuks and motorcycles, donkeys and scooters all vying for space on the same roads.  When pedestrians are also thrown into the mix it is a wonder to me that it runs smoothly at all!

We drove mostly on busy roads  with views of the city abutting the highways.  We were headed for the citadel  that is famous as it was built in the 1100's and it contains a mosque which was added in the 1500's.  

We visited the mosque that had an ornate solution area open to the sky and then visited the interior which had a fabulous chandelier that was donated by France and which includes 365 glass lights. 

Then we went to the Cairo Museum.  This is a treasure trove of egyptian artifacts, including displays of some of the contents of King Tut's tomb.

After lunch on the Nile we were off to old Cairo.  We walked through the old town with its narrow streets and were led to a church Abu Surga and which had housed the Holy Family during their escape from the Romans. 

Next we visited a Synagog called Ben Azra which marked the place where Moses was found in the reeds and also is believed to contain the ten commandments tablets.

Then we walked to Saint Barbara church where St. George is commemorated, and where we could see the prison he was kept in and the very instruments used to torture him (shudder).

Next we saw Saint Mary church also called the 'hanging church' because it was suspended between two towers. 

It was a day of religious education, and an education it was as we were exposed to many differing beliefs and learned some basics about them all.

We then made our way to the bazaar which is again in areas of winding narrow corridor like streets with vendors to either side calling for our business as we walked along.  We topped this off with a visit to an authentic style cafe.  There were men smoking hookahs and people sipping coffee and it felt very authentic.

We were approached by a woman offering henna tattoos and thought to have some fun with this.  Paul asked for a tattoo of an ankh, the famous egyptian symbol of life.  To his surprise and our hilarity,  the woman drew a very poor rendition  of an anchor.  She tried to produce a dove for me but she was no artist!  We laughed uproariously!

After this long day we arranged for a trip to a local restaurant where we tried traditional Egyptian dishes!  What a spectacular and full day!

Giza

What a wonderful day!   Since childhood I have dreamed of seeing the Pyramids of Giza and finally this has been fulfilled.

Our day started early and we soon realized that this allowed us to see the pyramids in the cool of the morning.  The pyramids were only 2 minutes away and we arrived as the gates opened at 0800.  The sun had just risen and was casting the pyramids in relief to a perfectly blue sky.

Words escape me in the description of these magnificent structures that sit in a desert under a scorching sun.  They truly strike one dumb!

Paul, Katie and I on our way to the entrance of the great Pyramid built for Cheops

Out tour included entrance to the great pyramid and we went in and climbed up a narrow tunnel with a low ceiling which led into the interior of the pyramid.  Then we climbed up the central shaft which had a soaring ceiling, all unadorned and showing the construction techniques of the building.  At the top of this area we had to crouch to get through a tunnel which was about 4 feet high and this gave access to the king's chamber.  It was astounding to think we were inside such a remarkable building built so many thousands of years ago!

We made our way to see a smaller tomb which was the resting place of a queen.  Again we were in close quarters but the climb was much shorter and went downward into the ground.

On my way downwards into the Queen's Pyramid

In the burial chamber in the Pyramid

During our visit we learned a lot about the very ancient history of the Egyptians, and topped it off with a ride on a camel...a strange and humbling experience.  I never imagined that sitting on a kneeling animal would require a ride to a standing position!  This is unnerving and feels very unstable!  Then the camel walks with an uneven gait that lurches along! I could not imagine doing it for long and couldn't help but marvel at those who traverse the desert on camel-back!

This was followed by a visit to the famous Sphinx which rises from deep within the desert itself.  It was also a majestic sight and as the sun was rising we could start to feel the heat. 

We bid goodbye to Giza and made our way for lunch, with obligatory stops at a perfume shop and a papyrus factory.

We then made our way to Memphis where we saw many remarkable artifacts which had been recovered from the site of this once bustling capitol city where Ramses II is celebrated.

Finally we visited Sakkara which is the location of the first pyramid which is known as the stepped pyramid.  This is the one that started it all when an architect so loved his pharoh that he wanted to create the grandest tomb.  His effort was the stepped pyramid.  It is very impressive and we were lucky to have a clear day where we could see this pyramid and also the great pyramids of Giza in the background.

Near this site we also went  to some tombs where the hieroglyphics are very lovely and still have original colours in evidence.

Checking One Off the Bucket-List

I am facing a big birthday, the big six-oh and I had spent the better part of nine months deciding what I might like to do to celebrate it.  I really could not decide and so Paul took matters into his own hands and made arrangements for a trip to Egypt.  I have long wanted to visit the sites of ancient Egypt and so this is a bucket-list trip for me.  Paul added to the overall surprise by arranging for our girls to come with us and it came together like magic.  So...here we are in Cairo at a hotel 2 minutes away from the pyramids at Giza!  We arrived late after a grueling 17 hours of travel and are looking forward to our first day of touring tomorrow.  We will be visiting the pyramids and it promises to be an exciting day!  We are on a tour with 6 other people so it is a very different type of travel for us as we usually travel more independently.  We are on an organized tour though because we have limits on our time as we had to fit this trip into both our crazy lives and our daughters' work schedules.  We will be touring for the next 10 days and it looks like it will be action packed.  Tomorrow we are starting at 0730 for a day filled with wonders of the ancient world!

Katie tried a new kind of pillow for sleeping on the plane.

In our hotel there are replicas of some of the treasures found in King Tut's tomb.