Luxor sits on the west bank of the Nile River and was once the capital of Egypt. Luxor means palace and the city surrounds the huge Karnak Temple (think back to Johnny Carson skits). Today we have a 13-hour excursion called Valley of the Kings & Queens. The ships port docked in Safaga which is located on the Red Sea. The weather was forecast to be a mere 101 degrees, and it was.
We are a convoy of 15 buses and everyone seeing us smiles and waves. They all know the Americans are here and they have money to spend. Tourist safety in Egypt is of utmost importance because without tourism they have no economy. Lots of farming going on; saw men and boys working in the fields with their donkey’s and carts. Each small town had a Mosque. Didn’t see many women; those we did see wore the black garb. We were told girls in Cairo are revolting and wearing colors and not covering their faces. During our 3 ½ hour bus ride, we had to go through about 30 check points; each with armed guards, towers with men and machine guns, and benches occupied by men armed with rifles. Believe it or not, we weren’t scared, it was just really weird. Our guide earned a BS in Egyptology from Cairo who speaks perfect English. We could also discuss other issues like the pervasive guns, and who controls them the current government or remnants of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Our first stop was Karnak Temple which is a journey into the heart of ancient Egypt. This huge complex of temples, the largest ever constructed in the world is a sacred place of worship with the god Amun as its head. There are 134 massive columns arranged in 16 rows. 122 of these are 33 feet tall; another 12 are 69 feet with a diameter of 10 feet. Rocks on top the columns weigh up to 70 tons. How’d they get those rocks up there? There was a sacred lake, and the Avenue of Sphinxes and on and on…hard to believe what we were looking at. There is nothing I can write that would do this day justice so if interested just use Google.
Next stop is Valley of the Queens where wives of the Pharaohs were buried. We visited tomb of Queen Nefertari, who was the most beloved wife of Ramesses II (there were IX total.)
On to the Nile River where we hopped aboard a type of house boat that took us from the West to the East Bank while we had a 5-star lunch that was actually a dinner. We’ve not yet had a bad lunch in any of these countries.
Last stop was in the Valley of the Kings where we walked down 3 different tombs; King Tut, Seti I and Ramesses II. This was an exciting day; however, nothing sounds better than a shower and a bed.
