EGYPT PART TWO: I want to live on the Avenue of Sphinxes

 

Avenue of Sphinxes, Luxor

Karnak Temple of Amun

Temple of Karnak

We are whisked off the plane into a world of wonderment in Luxor stopping first at the Temple of Karnak, the largest religious structure in the world, with a great hall of 54,000 square feet. They say there is enough room in it to house the Cathedral of Notre Dame, but let's not give anyone the idea. 

 

Colossi of Memnon

The Avenue of Sphinxes runs 1.7 miles and connects Karnak to Luxor Temple, slightly less grand than Karnak and by that I mean tremendously grand.

Luxor Temple

On the Nile

We boarded the ship Blue Shadow, which became our home for the next four nights. The Nile Cruises are a big business. There can be up to five ships tied together and when you dock, you walk through their lobbies to get out or they pour through yours. One day Darr compared the exodus of passengers to a clown car emptying out. 

Cruising on the Nile is about as dreamy as it sounds. You get a break from continuous khaki and see verdancy all along the banks. The days are brutally hot but as soon as the great orb goes down, it is mild and lovely and cool. We sat on the pool deck on top of the ship, watched the sunsets and stars and heard the evening calls to prayers up and down the Nile.

Tomb of Ramses IV in the Valley of the Kings

 Tomb of Ramses IV

A woman in our group who had been to Egypt before told us that the best was yet to come. We refused to believe it, but The Valley of the Kings is truly magnificent. The valley served as the necropolis to the New Pharoahs, and has 63 subterranean tombs in the limestone hills. Up to 11 tombs are open to the public every day. Because the tombs are underground, many of them have maintained their amazing colors.

Temple of Queen Hatshepsut

After the Valley of Kings we went to the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, which resembles a high tech office building in Arizona.

Temple of Horus in Edfu

The next morning, docked in Edfu, we were whisked by horse-drawn carriage to The Temple of the Falcon God Horus. Protected by the Goddess Isis, Horus was able to take revenge on his oddly named Uncle Seth who had killed his father Osiris.

Temple of Kom Ombo

That afternoon we docked across the street from the Temple of Kom Ombo. You can see the the influence of the Greeks, those newcomers, in the column design.  

The Great Temple of Abu Simbel

We took a flight to Abu Simbel, yes there is an airport there, and then had lunch at a Nubian restaurant. How many people can say that? The only Nubian restaurant in the US, in Newark, is closed. The Abu Simbel Temple was moved, piece by piece in 1968 to prevent its being flooded by Lake Nasser.

Dog on the Dam

The last day was the least day. We went to the Unfinished Obelisk, which fittingly I left unviewed. Darr noted that it was the first time he wasn’t awed. Some of our group went instead into the shade to drink cokes and browse through a bookstore and spice shops. Finally, we went to see the High Dam at Aswan. What? No hieroglyphs? No paintings? No obelisks? We had certainly reached the bottom of the barrel, but by then we were ready to barrel on home.

I want to thank the Egyptian nation, the fields of archeology, anthropology, ancient history, and the philanthropists who support them, and maybe even the grave robbers who tipped off a few of the tomb locations. Thank you for preserving these breathtaking sites and and allowing millions of us to see them.

Tomb of Rameses 1 in living color