The Way of the Pharaohs

Trip Start Aug 05, 2006
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Trip End Ongoing


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Flag of Egypt  ,
Sunday, November 26, 2006

My journey had continued south from Cairo to the Nile side cities of Luxor and Aswan. Luxor is located on the site of the ancient city of Thebes and is chalk full of temples and museums. The two largest temple complexes are those of Karnak and Luxor. The Karnak complex was added to by dozens of pharaohs for more than 1000 years. The columns here are an immense site to behold and there is graffiti on many of the columns that is over 150 years old. Luxor temple was also added to over the years not only by the Egyptians but also by Alexander the Great, the Romans, and later by the Muslims who built a Mosque on top of the ruins. I also took some time while in Luxor to explore the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens, which contain the tombs of many of the ancient pharaohs included the tomb of King Tutankamen.

After Luxor I boarded a train to Aswan which is a frontier town in the far south of Egypt. The attitude here is much more relaxed than in other places but there are still a fair number of hasslers especially near the riverfront. I visited a few more temples here including the Temples of Abu Simbal built by Ramses II and located along the shore of Lake Nasser very near the Sudanese boarder. Since anywhere south of Aswan is considered unsafe everyone has to get together in a big convoy which is escorted by police to the site. The last activity I participated in while here was an enjoyable ride in a Fellucca, traditional sailboat, along the Nile for a few hours. This section of the Nile is absolutely beautiful and the water very calm thanks to the Aswan and High dams located a few kilometers away.
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Comments

dmartin
dmartin on Nov 26, 2006 at 06:48PM

temples
Gee, nothing old like these temples in the US! Glad to hear that the Nile is clean! So do people there get their drinking water from the Nile?
Did you hear about the MU last game against KU yesterday? MU won! Great game! Weather was terrific, in the 60s. Stay safe, son! Love, MOM and DAD

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