Temple of Karnak
Trip Start
Aug 09, 2008
1
29
34
Trip End
Sep 16, 2008
Luxor,
Egypt
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Rames met me in the lobby, and gave me a box that contained breads, fruit, yoghurt and orange juice. The hotel prepares these breakfast boxes for its guests that must check out early. The trip to the airport took approx forty minutes, so I consumed the contents of the box along the way.
At the airport I'm met by another guide who helps me through check-in process to make sure that it is as smooth process as possible.
The flight was, once again, uneventful although this time it was because I was fast asleep
Temple of Karnak
. As soon as I settled into my seat I was out like a light. The flight took approx fifty minutes; I slept right through only waking when the tyres hit the tarmac.Another rep met me at Luxor Airport and there, I was joined by four Australians from Adelaide. From there we were taken to the Cruise ship the Nile Admiral. It didn't look like much from the outside, but it was pretty classy and posh within. The cabin was more spacious than I had expected and very comfortable indeed. It was about 9am by this time and we had some spare time before lunch was being served at 1pm, and our first tour of the day to the Temple of Karnak, which was scheduled to depart at 2:30pm. So I went to bed.
I woke at noon, freshened up and headed for the upper deck to take a look around only to discover it had a swimming pool and a sun deck with loungers. By chance I found the bar, and the Aussies were already in there. We had a chat, and a beer, before heading to the restaurant for lunch, which was located on one of the lower decks.
After lunch, a group of us 36 tourists, including myself, met in the lobby to meet our guide for the next 4 days, Abdallah. From there we boarded a bus and headed to the Temple of Karnak.
What a site! A grand temple that covered some 65 acres of land whose entrance is a massive façade that is 47 metres high. Statues of rams, on either side, line the path to the entrance as you walk down towards the façade. Inside, is an area that has 134 incredibly tall and wide columns, statues, obelisks are everywhere
Temple of Karnak - Rams
. Yet another impressive legacy of ancient Egypt, which we can only admire with awe.Next was the Temple of Luxor, which is about 2 or 3 kms down the road. It is a smaller temple, but nonetheless just as impressive as the Temple of Karnak. Outside the entrance to the Temple of Luxor is an area that is lined along the length of this area, with 60 sphinxes. At the entrance, on the left hand side is an Obelisk. On the right is an empty space where another Obelisk used to be. That Obelisk is now sitting in the centre of Place du Concorde in Paris.
The tour concluded there and we headed back to the Cruise ship to relax before tea, and the a Belly Dancer show afterwards. The show was good, but I was disappointed that the belly dancer wore a full-length dress, so no belly. In the end, she was just a dancer. Oh well!! I still enjoyed the show.
