Luxor - 5/1/12 - Karnak Temple

 After a great buffet breakfast of pancakes or omelets, cheese, cereal, tomatoes, jam and coffee we were well prepared to set out.  This was our day for Karnak Temple.  We walked down to the main street and eventually found the relevant local taxi route.  We caught one (no doors) and paid 1LE each to get to the temple.  We had again debated getting student cards for the children, but decided against it.  Fortunately the ticket man (after some discussion with his friend) accepted both of them as students (for once, no requirement for extra payments) and we were on our way.


The temple was very large and very well maintained.  There was a big visitor's centre  with information on the work done on the temple.  A wide open area separated this from the main temple where, after passing what was once a dock, one is confronted with a road lined with sphinxes ending in the first of a number of pylons - or large gates - providing a very impressive entrance to the temple.  







 Although complex, the temple had a number of distinct areas, each of which was impressively decorated walls with scenes from  'offerings to the God Amun' to 'battles with the Hitites'.  The temple had a huge hall called the Hypostyle hall with 134 enormous column.  Outside the hall is the first ever peace treaty and in another direction, Obelisks and a number of statues of leaders and gods.  

First Peace Treaty

 We wandered through the huge buildings, totally awed by the magnitude of the surroundings.  Once through the Hypostyle hall, you stood gazing up at the two huge Hatshepsut and Tutmosid obelisks before going through to the Central court and Festival hall.


At he end of the festival hall there was an area that had been a botanical garden.  There we were approached by a guy who wanted to tell us some of the history.  At first we tried to avoid him but it turned out that he was a guide - specifically for Swedish people (he was married to a swede) so in the end we were grateful for his input.





At the end of the temple was a large square pool next to which was a Nilometer (which was enclosed so we couldn't walk into it) and a scarab statue where we sat to eat some food and watch an arab family playing soccer with each other.  We then went to see some of the other  outside parts of the temple.





 This included the 8th, 9th, and 10th pylons where we had to avoid a couple of guards and policemen trying to make a buck before the day ended.  These pylons were effectively the gate to the long avenue of sphinxes that lead to the the Luxor Temple.  Eventually after 4 hours at the temple we decided to head back to our hotel for sundowners.


I should mention here that its very hard to fully explain the magnitude of the Karnak temple without making is sound like all the others, but  the quality of the paintings - many of which still had their original colouring - and the size of the walls all of which were covered with hieroglyphics  and scenes from various events made this the most impressive thing that we had seen since we had arrived many weeks before.

 We headed home along the Nile past some of the new developments that have been happening in Luxor.  Its in the process, but it seems that there is going to be a very impressive waterfront developed along the Nile including shops and restaurants.  It will probably be a tourist trap - but it will look good!  We then cut across and passed through the main (tourist) market before heading back to the hotel.

   That evening we did some practical stuff like buying an extra memory card for my camera, cell phone time and of course money to pay for it all and the bus tickets that we would have to buy soon.  We walked a fair distance before we eventually found a restaurant on the other side of the  main road.  Fiona, Guy and I had chicken curry and Lauren had kebabs.  Everyone was happy except Guy who thought that the food was too salty and too little (not easy to feed the beast!)  On the way home we consdiered buying some sweet stuff and decided against it.  Later Guy let us know that he had actually wanted some so I walked back with him while Lauren and Fiona went back to the hotel.  Having got a slightly better deal on the sweet stuff, we also returned but I had to go out again to change my memory card (at great cost) before I could finally return for an evening drink (back to proper whisky brought from SA again!)