LUXOR, EGYPT
Last night at 8 pm I boarded an overnight sleeper train to Luxor, which actually turned out to be pretty comfortable. There are two bunks to a cabin, and I shared mine with a friendly young French guy named Raphael ("Everyone knows my name now thanks to the Ninja Turtle"). He lives in New York City where he works as a photographer's assistant, but right now he's on a three-week holiday with his family, who still live in France. They just finished a trek through Egypt's White Desert, which sounded really interesting.
After waking up early for breakfast and watching the sun rise over passing farmland, stands of date palms and mud brick villages, we arrived in the town of Luxor around 6:30 am, and I was met at the station by my new guide, Hossam, who will be showing me stuff in Luxor and Aswan. He then took me to check in at the five-star Nile cruise boat where I'll be staying for the next three days. There are dozens of these big square boats parked side-by-side along the riverbank, so I actually had to walk through the lobbies of five or six boats to get to mine, the Miss World. All of the vessels are pretty posh, with lots of brass railings, marble floors and grand staircases. When I checked in they offered me a welcome drink of hibiscus tea, which tasted suspiciously like cranberry juice.
Then we were off to our first sightseeing destination, the Valley of the Kings, where many of the great Pharaohs were buried. It looked exactly like it does in the pictures, a barren limestone gorge with a series of excavated tunnels leading to underground tombs. From the parking lot we had to take an electric tram to the tombs, presumably to cut down on damage from air pollution. There are dozens of tombs there, but only a handful are open to the public, and for some reason, each ticket only allows access to three tombs. Not knowing which were the best to visit, I sort of chose at random, which perhaps wasn't the best way to go. Still, the ones I went in (the tomb of Ramses IX was one I remember) were pretty cool, with elaborate painted scenes on the walls, long sloping tunnels, and multiple interior chambers. I decided to pay extra to go inside Tutankhamen's tomb--it's the smallest one there, and there's not much to see, but of course it's the most famous, and significant for being one of the only undisturbed ancient tombs ever discovered. All of the loot from the tomb is now in the Egyptian Museum, but they've left his mummy in the tomb, which was exciting to see.
We then drove to the temple of Queen Hatshepsut, a three-tiered columned structure sticking out of the side of a mountain. Legend has it that the temple was severely damaged by her stepson (who resented her rule), and it is pretty beat-up. But the main design of the temple, with dozens of columns along its front, is still very dramatic, and there are some other interesting sculptures and paintings still visible in the ruins.
That temple was small change, though, compared to the next one we drove to: the temple of Karnak, which is supposedly the largest ancient religious site in the world. It's a massive temple complex built over a 1300-year period, and I have to say it's the most impressive thing I've seen yet in Egypt. There's way too much there to describe, but some of the most impressive sights were a couple of towering obelisks, some great statues of kings and queens, and an amazing Hypostyle Hall of giant columns, considered to be one of the world's great architectural masterpieces. All of the columns are absolutely massive, with scenes and hieroglyphics carved into them all the way to the top. I just wandered through the hall, staring up at them for ages.
After Karnak, any other temple would seem rather insignificant, and that's too bad, because we then visited the nearby temple of Luxor, which is pretty magnificent in its own right, although smaller than Karnak. It's right smack in the middle of the city of Luxor, which was kind of strange to see. Interestingly, part of the temple had been converted into a Coptic church, so there were Christian crosses everywhere as well as the familiar Egyptian gods and goddesses. And at one time, an avenue of sphinxes connected the temple with the temple of Karnak--I kept thinking how amazing it would have been to see them both back in the day.
Conveniently, my cruise boat was parked right across the street from the temple, so after tramping around for a while, I then walked over, hopped aboard and got settled in. It feels a little strange to be the only person on the boat traveling solo, and it looks like I'm the only native English-speaker as well--I'm sharing my cruise with about 50 French tourists and some Eastern Europeans, I think. Like I said, it's a nice boat, and it turns out I have an entire two-room suite, complete with big bed, TV, fridge, bathroom, sleeper sofa, and a great floor-to-ceiling window with a railing, so it functions almost as a balcony--I can watch all the scenery on the Nile pass by while sitting on the couch. Very cool. And there's a sun deck on the roof with a swimming pool, which is pretty sweet, too.
Last night at 8 pm I boarded an overnight sleeper train to Luxor, which actually turned out to be pretty comfortable. There are two bunks to a cabin, and I shared mine with a friendly young French guy named Raphael ("Everyone knows my name now thanks to the Ninja Turtle"). He lives in New York City where he works as a photographer's assistant, but right now he's on a three-week holiday with his family, who still live in France. They just finished a trek through Egypt's White Desert, which sounded really interesting.
After waking up early for breakfast and watching the sun rise over passing farmland, stands of date palms and mud brick villages, we arrived in the town of Luxor around 6:30 am, and I was met at the station by my new guide, Hossam, who will be showing me stuff in Luxor and Aswan. He then took me to check in at the five-star Nile cruise boat where I'll be staying for the next three days. There are dozens of these big square boats parked side-by-side along the riverbank, so I actually had to walk through the lobbies of five or six boats to get to mine, the Miss World. All of the vessels are pretty posh, with lots of brass railings, marble floors and grand staircases. When I checked in they offered me a welcome drink of hibiscus tea, which tasted suspiciously like cranberry juice.
Then we were off to our first sightseeing destination, the Valley of the Kings, where many of the great Pharaohs were buried. It looked exactly like it does in the pictures, a barren limestone gorge with a series of excavated tunnels leading to underground tombs. From the parking lot we had to take an electric tram to the tombs, presumably to cut down on damage from air pollution. There are dozens of tombs there, but only a handful are open to the public, and for some reason, each ticket only allows access to three tombs. Not knowing which were the best to visit, I sort of chose at random, which perhaps wasn't the best way to go. Still, the ones I went in (the tomb of Ramses IX was one I remember) were pretty cool, with elaborate painted scenes on the walls, long sloping tunnels, and multiple interior chambers. I decided to pay extra to go inside Tutankhamen's tomb--it's the smallest one there, and there's not much to see, but of course it's the most famous, and significant for being one of the only undisturbed ancient tombs ever discovered. All of the loot from the tomb is now in the Egyptian Museum, but they've left his mummy in the tomb, which was exciting to see.
We then drove to the temple of Queen Hatshepsut, a three-tiered columned structure sticking out of the side of a mountain. Legend has it that the temple was severely damaged by her stepson (who resented her rule), and it is pretty beat-up. But the main design of the temple, with dozens of columns along its front, is still very dramatic, and there are some other interesting sculptures and paintings still visible in the ruins.
That temple was small change, though, compared to the next one we drove to: the temple of Karnak, which is supposedly the largest ancient religious site in the world. It's a massive temple complex built over a 1300-year period, and I have to say it's the most impressive thing I've seen yet in Egypt. There's way too much there to describe, but some of the most impressive sights were a couple of towering obelisks, some great statues of kings and queens, and an amazing Hypostyle Hall of giant columns, considered to be one of the world's great architectural masterpieces. All of the columns are absolutely massive, with scenes and hieroglyphics carved into them all the way to the top. I just wandered through the hall, staring up at them for ages.
After Karnak, any other temple would seem rather insignificant, and that's too bad, because we then visited the nearby temple of Luxor, which is pretty magnificent in its own right, although smaller than Karnak. It's right smack in the middle of the city of Luxor, which was kind of strange to see. Interestingly, part of the temple had been converted into a Coptic church, so there were Christian crosses everywhere as well as the familiar Egyptian gods and goddesses. And at one time, an avenue of sphinxes connected the temple with the temple of Karnak--I kept thinking how amazing it would have been to see them both back in the day.
Conveniently, my cruise boat was parked right across the street from the temple, so after tramping around for a while, I then walked over, hopped aboard and got settled in. It feels a little strange to be the only person on the boat traveling solo, and it looks like I'm the only native English-speaker as well--I'm sharing my cruise with about 50 French tourists and some Eastern Europeans, I think. Like I said, it's a nice boat, and it turns out I have an entire two-room suite, complete with big bed, TV, fridge, bathroom, sleeper sofa, and a great floor-to-ceiling window with a railing, so it functions almost as a balcony--I can watch all the scenery on the Nile pass by while sitting on the couch. Very cool. And there's a sun deck on the roof with a swimming pool, which is pretty sweet, too.
posted by John Kuge at 10:52 PM
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