Luxor, Egypt
Blog: By Way of the World - 27 August 2009
By: Erin
We did a whirlwind tour of Luxor. We were flying from Luxor to Qatar, and then from Qatar to Nepal. The flight through Qatar was literally half the price of the other flights, but only occured three times per week. Anyway, the result was that we only had two full days in Luxor. To be honest, I can't imagine spending longer in that heat anyway! The heat was brutal (112 degrees and up) especially in the intense sun in the desert.
After arriving and settling in at our hotel (we chose Nefertiti hotel near the Luxor Temple, which was pretty good), we negotiated for a taxi to take us to Karnak Temple. Wow. It was immense. Karnak was built by Ramses II, who ruled Egypt for 60+ years.
The walkway with lines of giant sphinxes are impressive enough. But the giant columns in the main temple area just made us speechless. Every column, indeed every wall, is covered with fascinating hieroglypics.
We just felt so small and insignificant compared to the enormity of the Great Hypostyle Hall, the ancient Pharaoh's tribute to the gods. The towering obelisks in the courtyard were almost as impressive. It seemed like everywhere we turned there was another giant statue of a Pharaoh or another huge sphinx or another wall filled with hieroglyphics. You just don't realize until you go there just how many ancient Egyptian artifacts there are still all over Egypt. They're everywhere!
We walked around until we couldn't stand the heat and sun any longer, and then headed back to the hotel. The next day we went on an organized tour (the only way to see several sites efficiently in the time we had) of the Valley of the Kings, and Hatshepsut and Habu Temples, with the requisite shopping stop thrown in.
The Valley of the Kings was HOT. Especially inside the tombs, which were incredibly humid and overbearing. I never thought I'd say I was relieved to be back in the desert, but coming out from inside the tombs, you'd understand. Three tombs are included in the admission price (King Tut's tomb is a lot extra, and not much to see, apparently, since all the artifacts are at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, so we skipped). Some of the tombs are more accessible than others. The first tomb we went into, we had to climb a steep staircase, before descending many meters into the inside of the hill. There were two chambers, one with lots of hieroglyphics and the other with the sarcophagus of the pharaoh. In one of the tombs we saw Greek "graffiti" in the stone, and our guide told us it was two thousand years old. It explains a lot when you remember than tourism has existed in Egypt since the Roman times -- no wonder they've got it down! Unfortunately, no photos were allowed inside the tombs.
Hapshetsut's Temple was also very impressive. Actually, her temple is only the middle one; her stepson and successor built his next to hers and claimed the whole thing as his own after she died of mysterious causes. The temple is built in the bottom of a huge cliff, which makes for an excellent view.
I have to admit I could barely pay attention to our guide's ramblings at the last one, Habu Temple, because of the heat, but like the rest, it was immense and had giant walls of hieroglyphics depicting wars. There are many other temples like this near the Valley of the Kings, but you'd need several weeks to explore them all (preferably in the cooler weather!). Our final stop was the Colossi of Memnon, which were built by the Romans.
After an exhausting two days, we were ready to have a nice dinner and relax. Afterwards, we took a stroll around the beautifully lit-up Luxor Temple, a smaller version of Karnak.
You don't actually need to pay the entrance fee; you can see most of it from the street.
Despite the exhausting heat, Luxor's archeological and historical sites were well worth it. Someday we will have to return (in winter) to see the rest!
After arriving and settling in at our hotel (we chose Nefertiti hotel near the Luxor Temple, which was pretty good), we negotiated for a taxi to take us to Karnak Temple. Wow. It was immense. Karnak was built by Ramses II, who ruled Egypt for 60+ years.
The walkway with lines of giant sphinxes are impressive enough. But the giant columns in the main temple area just made us speechless. Every column, indeed every wall, is covered with fascinating hieroglypics.
We just felt so small and insignificant compared to the enormity of the Great Hypostyle Hall, the ancient Pharaoh's tribute to the gods. The towering obelisks in the courtyard were almost as impressive. It seemed like everywhere we turned there was another giant statue of a Pharaoh or another huge sphinx or another wall filled with hieroglyphics. You just don't realize until you go there just how many ancient Egyptian artifacts there are still all over Egypt. They're everywhere!
We walked around until we couldn't stand the heat and sun any longer, and then headed back to the hotel. The next day we went on an organized tour (the only way to see several sites efficiently in the time we had) of the Valley of the Kings, and Hatshepsut and Habu Temples, with the requisite shopping stop thrown in.
The Valley of the Kings was HOT. Especially inside the tombs, which were incredibly humid and overbearing. I never thought I'd say I was relieved to be back in the desert, but coming out from inside the tombs, you'd understand. Three tombs are included in the admission price (King Tut's tomb is a lot extra, and not much to see, apparently, since all the artifacts are at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, so we skipped). Some of the tombs are more accessible than others. The first tomb we went into, we had to climb a steep staircase, before descending many meters into the inside of the hill. There were two chambers, one with lots of hieroglyphics and the other with the sarcophagus of the pharaoh. In one of the tombs we saw Greek "graffiti" in the stone, and our guide told us it was two thousand years old. It explains a lot when you remember than tourism has existed in Egypt since the Roman times -- no wonder they've got it down! Unfortunately, no photos were allowed inside the tombs.
Hapshetsut's Temple was also very impressive. Actually, her temple is only the middle one; her stepson and successor built his next to hers and claimed the whole thing as his own after she died of mysterious causes. The temple is built in the bottom of a huge cliff, which makes for an excellent view.
I have to admit I could barely pay attention to our guide's ramblings at the last one, Habu Temple, because of the heat, but like the rest, it was immense and had giant walls of hieroglyphics depicting wars. There are many other temples like this near the Valley of the Kings, but you'd need several weeks to explore them all (preferably in the cooler weather!). Our final stop was the Colossi of Memnon, which were built by the Romans.
After an exhausting two days, we were ready to have a nice dinner and relax. Afterwards, we took a stroll around the beautifully lit-up Luxor Temple, a smaller version of Karnak.
You don't actually need to pay the entrance fee; you can see most of it from the street.
Despite the exhausting heat, Luxor's archeological and historical sites were well worth it. Someday we will have to return (in winter) to see the rest!
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