Luxor!!!!

After getting up before dawn!!! (Yikes), I head out to the airport and board my EgyptAir flight to Luxor.  Definitely the security process here is not like the US.  You first go through security and then you get your boarding pass at the airlines counter.  No need to take off shoes, or have a quart size bag of less than 3oz liquids and creams, and no TSR agent potentially touching your “junk”. 

The taking off and landing is also a bit different than in the US.  We do get a quick security briefing but it’s very relaxed.  And you know you’ve landed because you will either see the plane landing or you will feel it.  There is no prep or announcement telling you to put your seat up, tray tables in the upright position, etc., etc.

I arrive in Luxor and this time I have Minu, the tour guide waiting for me who takes me to the car with Ayman my driver.  We’re on our way to check in at the hotel Iberotel and Minu explains what I’ll be doing the next few days in Luxor.  I will first visit the Karnak temples, then the Luxor temples and in the late afternoon a “Felucca” boat ride during sunset on the Nile River.

After a brief rest in my hotel room, I meet Minu in the lobby and my guide for the day, Samar, who will be with me during all of today and tomorrow’s tours and outings.

Off we go to the Karnak temple which is an amazing place.  Built over three thousand years ago, it has mass columns (134 of them) of gigantic proportions made of limestone spread over 60 acres. There are 2 huge walls in the entrance to the temples standing very, very tall (they told me how many in meters but I forgot!).  There are statues and obelisks in honor of the Pharaohs that built and added to the temple and to the God Amun-Ra.  Some of the statues are made of beautiful red granite and in some places you can still see the original colors painted on the ceiling of the temple.  The temple has a “Sacred Lake” which is where the priests used to wash themselves before the rituals.

Entrance to Karnak Temple

134 of these massive etched columns are in the Temple

The next stop is the Luxor temple which is much smaller in size but still impressive.  This temple was built by Ramses II and has distinct features.  Right in front is the avenue of the Sphinx which begins at the Karnak Temple and all the way to the Luxor temple about 3 meters long.  It is the road lined with sphinxes that Ramses II used to travel when he went from the Karnak temple to the Luxor temple.  In the Luxor temple, there is uniqueness in that it has archeological monuments of 3 religions.  Before the discovery of the Luxor temple, when the Muslims reached Egypt, they built a Mosque over where the Luxor Temple was buried under sand and stone.  Very close to that is a Coptic Church and of course everything rests on the Ancient Egyptian religion. So you can see remnants of 3 major religions all in one place. I’ve posted pictures that show you this.



Avenue of the Sphinxes



Entrance to Luxor Temple



Rameses II Statue

 Later Samar took me to a place called El Souk…which means “The Market”…..and I was in heaven!!  Don’t get me wrong I loved all the tours and temples, but now I was in the middle of a dream.  Beautiful & and  colorful silk scarves to one side, silver jewelry to the other, gold and silver ankhs everywhere,  pure Egyptian cotton sheets, Egyptian oil and perfumes and on and on and on….I knew I was in trouble!!!....LOL




El Souk



The Market place!

Samar takes me to a shop where she knows the owner and he has wonderful things there.  He has a large selection of perfumes. In Egypt the perfumes are made without alcohol and they are called “essence”.  He also has a wonderful variety of Egyptian perfume bottles that are beautiful.  Now Mahmoud, the owner is a born salesman….yup, and of course he offers practically everything he has in the store as an incentive for me to purchase it.  I finally decide what I want to buy and now the bargaining begins, back and forth with Samar watching and laughing until we finally settle on a price for everything I’m getting that I think is still too much and he thinks he’s giving it away…LMAO…but we part ways with a smile on both of our faces…. Off we go to see a few other things and then we leave to my hotel where later in the afternoon I’m taking a Felucca ride on the Nile River!!

My Egyptian friend Samar

After a nap (or snack as Seara used to say!) Minu picks me up and we go walking to the pier to catch the Felucca.  Here Mamouth, the boat’s captain and his 2 assistants, steer the boat out of the pier and off we go.  The Felucca is a small sailboat and has been used since ancient Egypt to travel the Nile or for fishing. We stop in a small island called Banana Island (because there many banana trees there of course!) and we take some back to the boat and eat them. Mamouth also makes Egyptian tea for me and we all drink tea, eat bananas and just chill..... It’s a lovely relaxing end of the day for me after so much walking and climbing on the Temples,  It’s very quiet on the river and I see a spectacular sunset that is breathtaking……Again I say….Life is Good!!.....



A Felucca



Eating banans on Banana Island

Titanic imitation....sort of...lol

Beautiful Sunset on the Nile River

Tomorrow a Hot Air Balloon Ride over the Valley of the Kings, I can’t wait!!!

Traveling Redheaded Lady (TRL)