Luxor, Capitol of the Middle Kingdom on the NIle

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  Luxor, Nile River Valley, Egypt
Sunday, December 19, 2010

We have planned 4 nights in Luxor, and there are many sights to see here. This was the capital of Egypt during the Middle Kingdom. One of our guides said that one third of all the Egyptian antiquity structures are here in Luxor Valley.  We first made two day trips, forays across the Nile River to visit the west bank. The west bank of the Nile here represented death and sunset. Over the two days we visited the Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, the Colossus of Memnon (2), the Temple of Hatshepsut, Temple of Habu, and the Ramesseum. Whew!` Lots of temples, Gods, struggles, offerings, and deification, mummification's and then the tombs.

The Valley of the Kings was full of tombs that were open to display, however, per normal,  there were no photos allowed. Not even photos of the valley itself, from a 1/2 mile away. Unbelievable.  Another thing that irked me a bit was the fact that you buy a ticket to visit the tombs, and you pay the 30-40 bucks to see them, then you find out that the ticket is only good for a visit to three of the many (50+) tombs available. They justify it by saying that the crowds are so severe that they need some control, and by limiting each group to three tombs, the masses can all see something. The problem with that is there were no masses there the day we visited. We did visit three tombs (King Tut's tomb is another special ticket and more bucks) We passed on Tut.

The tomb graphics were in great shape. They showed the King and told the story of his life. Inside the God's were shown welcoming the King to the afterlife and there were depictions of boat trips with Gods across rivers that would carry the newly dead King through the twelve stages of the underworld and into the world of the Gods, where he would reside forever. (sound familiar?)

I was very impressed with Hatshetsup's temple. It is the only temple that was designed by a woman and it is special indeed.  Wide and  long with three levels, it is split down the middle by ramps and stairways. It looks as though it was wheel chair accessible! Way, Way ahead of it's time!  It is one of my favorites so far. It was here in 1997, I believe, that a group of armed terrorists choose to attack unarmed civilians on tour. About 60 were killed. The terrorists  did not choose to attack the Karnak or Luxor temples as there are many armed guards there. Egypt has attempted to ramp up its security at the tourist sites, but they still have a long way to go. I have passed through at least 10 metal detectors and set them off; lights and buzzers announcing that I am packing metal.  The security personnel do not even look up. I have passed through another 10 machines that were in place, but are not turned on. Most of the time their security here, appears to be asleep at the switch. 

The first day, we visited the Valley of the Kings (sorry, no photos allowed), the Colossus of Memnon, and the Luxor Temple at night, the last two built by Rames II.   Ramses II was certainly a prolific builder, having left temples from the Sudanese border in the south to middle Egypt. He was prolific in other areas as well. He had 52 wives, fathered 170 children, and lived to the ripe old age of 97 years.  He actually outlived 12 of his children. When he died, his successor, a son, was in his 60s. The visit to Luxor temple in the evening was fabulous. The crowds were down, the night air cool, and the lights gave the place a golden glow. I tried my best to become a "Human Tripod" as I did not carry one. The shots are all hand held, sorry if there is some blurring.  

While I am aware of the terrorist attacks years ago, the people here seem very friendly. The mosques and religion is ever present in the cities. At 5AM, 10AM 12Noon, 5PM and 6 PM the sounds of the call to prayer are omnipresent. They all are singing on top of each other. It is a beautiful prayer when you can hear one alone at sunset or the quieter version at sunrise. It gets a bit gurgled when they are all going at the same time in different places in the call. In between the calls to prayer there are speakers blaring out messages from the Koran, this is most prevalent of Fridays, the Muslim Holy day. Schools also have children reading segments of the holy book during school sessions and these too can be heard with electric amplification.  Most stores and restaurants do NOT sell alcoholic beverages here. Occasionally we would find a restaurant or store that did, and I am assuming they were Christian. No pork is on sale anywhere.
 
Next, we will travel north to Middle Eqypt by car to visit Abydos and Dendara Temples. These two important temples were off limits for years. They are located in middle Egypt, which is quite conservative, and much more rural. There were some incidents there that caused the government to stop tourists visits to the area. More recently the government has organized armed convoys for the three hour drive through Qena, and onward to the temples. The convoys were stopped last year and now you submit your passports to the hotels and they arrange for permission to travel to Abydos and Dendara Temples. We choose to make the trip, submitted our paper, and we will post the report next.   

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Morning view from the top deck	They balloon here, over on the west bank.	View of Luxor temple from hotel rooftop	Hatshepsut temple in distance
Beautiful, wide and layered	Marching on to Hatshepsut	Ramp to third tier	Barb on the steps
Right side of temple	Large statues along the front	Barb at entry	Close-up
long shot	More columns	Behind the statues	Some scenes depicting her as a man
God Horus protecting her	Statue	Carving on the wall- Hathor the Cow God	Sometimes she is depicted as a male King
Temple setting is spectacular	Crowds were not too bad	Colossi of Memnon	Images of Ramses
Colossi	Lots of damage over the years	Frontal shot	Tele to face
Side shot	Wife, Nefertari, shown as much smaller than King	We then when to dinner and on to Luxor Temple	Barb ordering roasted Pidgeon at Sofra's resturant
Sunset over Luxor Temple	Luxor temple entrance	Obelisk and Ramses	entrance to forecourt
tele to statues	second shot of entrance	Wide vertical of entrance	A look at the obelisk
close up	Statue guards the entrance	side shot	In the forecourt
More statues and columns	tele to the fasce	lots of statues	Beautiful in light at night
A hallway of very large columns	Moving on toward the sanctuary	Colums and moon over Luxor Temple	Inner courtyard
Massive Columns	Vertical of same	Seated King	Fabulous when lit
Looking at you through the ages	Ramses II	extreme close-up	One obelisk the French & Romans did not get.
Goodbye from Ramses

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