The highlight of our trip to Egypt was a very much jam packed day and a bit in Luxor. Luxor was the ancient capital of the New Kingdom with most of the sites dating back to up to 4000 years ago. First port of call was Luxor temple which we were able to see under moonlight - sure helped with the moodlighting.
The next day we must have set the world record for Egyptian sightseeing - visiting 7 sites in a little over 10 hours (it still didn't mean I was able to get to sleep on the overnight train back to Cairo - not one of the more pleasant experiences in Egypt - so much for the romance of train travel).
We visited Karnak which is a temple complex which was originally linked to Luxor temple by a 3km avenue of sphinxes - they are currently digging up most of the centre of Luxor to try and unearth the entire avenue.
The West bank of the Nile is definately the highlight of Luxor, which includes the Valley of the Kings and Queens housing the tombs of the pharohs including Tutankhamen. Unfortunately you are not allowed to take photos inside the tombs but they are amazing - covered with colourful and really well preserved paintings (Dave reckons the paints would do Dulux proud - lasting over 3,000 years). Most of the important mummies that they have unearthed have been removed and are in the Cairo museum in some pretty macarbe exhibits.
I was very much impressed by the Temple of Hatchepsut - she was actually a chick who ruled Egypt for 20 years - she prevented her stepson from claiming the throne by convincing the masses that she was the result of a devine birth. She spent the years that she ruled dressing like a man and her tomb is actually in the Valley of the Kings. Unfortunately when she died her stepson did take revenge when he claimed the throne by removing her pictures and statues from all of the monuments and claiming her victories as his own - talk about holding a grudge - but she was left with a temple with an unbeatable backdrop of the Valley of the Kings.
I must admit by the end of a very long day the temples were starting to blur and to keep ourselves amused we started making up our own version of history. Below is Ibis - the god of rubbish dumps (actually the god of wisdom hard to see how they associated wisdom with an ibis) as well as Dave at the Temple of the Pidgeon and finally a picture of a guy Dave was convinced was the first cocktail maker recorded in history.
The next day we must have set the world record for Egyptian sightseeing - visiting 7 sites in a little over 10 hours (it still didn't mean I was able to get to sleep on the overnight train back to Cairo - not one of the more pleasant experiences in Egypt - so much for the romance of train travel).
We visited Karnak which is a temple complex which was originally linked to Luxor temple by a 3km avenue of sphinxes - they are currently digging up most of the centre of Luxor to try and unearth the entire avenue.
The West bank of the Nile is definately the highlight of Luxor, which includes the Valley of the Kings and Queens housing the tombs of the pharohs including Tutankhamen. Unfortunately you are not allowed to take photos inside the tombs but they are amazing - covered with colourful and really well preserved paintings (Dave reckons the paints would do Dulux proud - lasting over 3,000 years). Most of the important mummies that they have unearthed have been removed and are in the Cairo museum in some pretty macarbe exhibits.
I was very much impressed by the Temple of Hatchepsut - she was actually a chick who ruled Egypt for 20 years - she prevented her stepson from claiming the throne by convincing the masses that she was the result of a devine birth. She spent the years that she ruled dressing like a man and her tomb is actually in the Valley of the Kings. Unfortunately when she died her stepson did take revenge when he claimed the throne by removing her pictures and statues from all of the monuments and claiming her victories as his own - talk about holding a grudge - but she was left with a temple with an unbeatable backdrop of the Valley of the Kings.
I must admit by the end of a very long day the temples were starting to blur and to keep ourselves amused we started making up our own version of history. Below is Ibis - the god of rubbish dumps (actually the god of wisdom hard to see how they associated wisdom with an ibis) as well as Dave at the Temple of the Pidgeon and finally a picture of a guy Dave was convinced was the first cocktail maker recorded in history.
Did you get any photos of the towns folk playing their local sport shooting at dozens of spheres of all different colours following a semi-circular groove into a tomb? How big are they in real life, it's a bit hard to tell on a computer game?
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