Al-Uqsur (Luxor)

Originally called Thebes in Pharonic Egypt and named Al-Uqsur (the Palaces) by the Arabs and giving way to the current name of Luxor.

Luxor temple

An uneventful but long (10hrs) train trip to Luxor brought us as close to the Nile proper that we've been so far. The Nile is a different river here, the water is greeny blue, very deep and flows incredibly fast. It's also much much cleaner than further downstream but we still saw the odd dead donkey or cow in the irrigation channels. It's definitely warming up though and must be averaging 30C during the day now.

Spent Sunday, our first day here just wandering around getting a feel for the place. The touts here are everywhere, as we expected selling Felucca trips on the Nile, trips to temples and every other site that could possibly be of interest to tourists. You've got to give it to them though, they do this day in day out, normally with a smile on their faces, most of them speak some English, French, German, Italian and Spanish, a testament to the huge and long lived popularity of Luxor as a package holiday destination. These guys could probably sell ice to an eskimo in no less than 5 languages!!!

Luxor temple glowing gold

The banks of the river here are lined with feluccas, small motor barges and big cruising boats filled with tourists that sail between Luxor and Aswan. The cruising boats are cumbersome, smelly and unsightly and the place would be both quieter and more beautiful without them. Package tourism at it's worst.

We fitted in a visit to the Mummification Museum, a small but fascinating display of the grisly tools of the trade, especially good was the brain scraper!! Not only did the Ancient Egyptians mummify their human dead, but also pets and sacred animals, sacrificed to their many Gods from cats to baboons, crocodiles to bulls.

In the cool of the afternoon we visited Luxor Temple, the first of many temples during our visit here. It is mostly in ruins but sits in the middle of the town almost right on the banks of the Nile.

Mummy, Mummification Museum Luxor

Architecturally it was added to by many Pharoh's and also Alexander the Great and the Romans later on down the track. It was built as a place of worship to one of the most important Theban(Ancient Luxor) Gods, Amun one of the Gods of Creation. As well as the impressive remaining columns and statues, part of the Avenue of Sphinxes also remains. Originally over 3km long and leading all the way to Karnak Temple, the identical Sphinxes lined a paved walkway used for religious processions between the two temples.

Smelly cat smelly cat

Wooden Ankh, sign meaning Life discovered in Tomb