Day 4
The day started early with a 5:30AM pickup at the hotel to head to the airport to catch a flight to Luxor. Ahmed had boxed breakfast ready for us as we got to the airport a good 2 hours ahead of time and were the first in line to check our bags. The flight itself was just 2 hours, but once we got to the Luxor, we had to wait for a long time to collect our bags. First to check in, but last to receive them!
We were met by our guide outside the airport as we headed towards our first destination, the Temples of Karnak. The city of Luxor, which was situated on the east bank of the Nile River used to be the pharaohs capital during the 16th-17th century. We crossed over a bridge, that ran over a path underneath, also called the Avenue of Sphinx, that stretched 2.7 miles. The significance of this stretch was that it connected the Temple of Karnak and the Luxor Temple. The path the king used to take once a month between the temples to perform his prayers.
The Karnak temple was built between 1970 BC and 100 AD which began during the reign of Senusret I and continued through the Middle Kingdom and into the Ptolemaic dynasty to worship the gods of Amun-Ra (sun), Amun (air), Mut (mother) and Khonsu (moon)
The entrance to the site is flanked by several still standing sphinx statues with ram heads which is a symbol for the God Amun (God of sun and air) at the end of which were the statues of Ramses II. As we walked through the main entrance, we were immediately greeted by a large courtyard with walls on either side filled with engravings that were crystal clear even after 1000s of years. On we went into what was the most striking feature of this massive complex, the Hypostyle Hall that was lined with massive, towering pillars on either side. These pillars were filled with hieroglyphics and restored color, but there were some sections that were yet not restored with colors still on them.
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Seti I erected this great hall that occupied 54,000 square feet, with 134 colossal sandstone columns supporting a high roof which after 3300 years still remains substantially intact.
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This is such a massive complex that it extends beyond the hall into the temple of Amun and beyond into the temple of Ramses II. The whole sight, every wall, every pillar told a story as successive pharaohs, roman emperors, high priests, and even common Egyptians kept adding to it as they made architectural alterations and restorations through the ages. The New kingdom pharaohs such as Hatshepsut, Thutmose III, Seti I and Ramses II made significant contributions to the complex during their reign.
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There were many noticeable obelisks in the Karnak temple like the one for Ramses, but none more popular than the 90-foot one for Hatshepsut (daughter of Thutmoses I and future wife also), who reigned between 1479 BC and 1458 BC. After Thutmoses I died, her half-brother Thutmoses II became king. Hatshepsut later became Thutmoses II’s wife and he died she became the sole heir to the kingdom. Being a woman, she still represented herself as a man and a pharaoh when she took over the responsibility after her stepbrother died prematurely at the age of 15. Her reign was a very successful one where she won wars, established trade routes, and brought a long peaceful era to Egypt. After she died Thutmoses III, son by another wife of Thutmoses II took over and after ascending to the throne he began to erase Hatshepsut from history, but was unable to completely erase her, instead he tried covering some of them up like the obelisk in Karnak, which is now visible after some of those walls have come down over the years.
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We headed back to check in to our boat to start what was going to be the next leg of the tour on the Nile cruise. The rooms were spacious, and we were lucky to get my brother and my room to be next to mom’s. After some lunch and a 2-hour break, we were picked up again to see the Luxor temple.
The Luxor temple was built by Amenhotep III in approximately 1400 BC and later completed by Tutankhamun and then by Ramses II who re-built another entrance in front of the old one to make it his with 6 different statues of himself and 2 obelisks.
Only 1 of the 2 obelisks remains on site as the other was removed and taken away by the French. Once you enter the temple you are greeted by an impressive array of statues right in front of you and to your left placed in between pillars. The most impressive were the 2 sitting statues of Ramses II made of granite. This is the court of Ramses II and this is also where I got the true perspective of the statues size, standing next to those gigantic statues and how the ancient Egyptians were able to achieve such a feat back then.
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Alexander the great was coronated here at the temple to be named one of the pharaohs and ruler of Egypt at one time. During the Christian era, the temple’s hypostyle hall at the rear of the temple was converted into a Christian church. Then for thousands of years, the temple was buried under sand and then
beneath the streets and houses of Luxor. Eventually the mosque of Sufi Shaykh Yusuf Abu al-Hajjaj was built over it which is still used today. You can see evidence of this as you immediately enter the Temple and look up to the left there is still what would have been the old entrance to the mosque above your head before the temple was excavated below it.
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As you keep moving ahead from the Court of Ramses and through the seven pairs of 52-foot Colonnade of Amenhotep III still supporting their massive blocks you enter another large hall surrounded by 72 pillars bordering it. Apparently, UNESCO took these pillars down, raised the floor and then reinstalled them so that they don’t get buried by the flooding of the Nile again.
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Keep walking forward and here is where you will see the altar of the where ancient Egyptians used to keep the idols before switching it back and forth between the Temple of Karnak and Temple of Luxor every 6 months. The idols were moved by sacred boats who would have been received at the temple by musicians, dancers, priests, soldiers and chariots with flowers and offerings. On the walls of this altar there is still visible a partial fresco of Jesus’s disciples which was later added by Alexander when he ruled Egypt. Once inside the chapel you are greeted by the most exquisitely preserved hieroglyphics you would ever see on every inch of all the walls and rooms. So clear that you would think they were just made yesterday. Its walls and walls of inscriptions.
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We walked around the complex for a bit to see the many recovered stones with engravings, but not enough to recreate the entire piece. Once back outside we took an extremely short stroll onto the Avenue of the Sphinx, the path connecting the 2 temples with the ram-headed sphinx statues on both sides lining the path, placed so perfectly in line all the way till the eye could make out. You could however make out the distant outlines of the Temple of Karnak where they path ended.
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That brought the day to a close as we headed back to the boat for an ala carte dinner and to bed. The boat was going to stay anchored here at Luxor for the night.