Heeeeeeere's Johnny!!!

Our Trafalgar tour officially began this morning when we received our 2:30am wakeup call at the hotel.  Yup!  You read that correctly.  Our travel group was scheduled to fly to Luxor on an early flight from Cairo.  Once we arrived in Luxor, the tour would continue on the Nile River.

Check out our luxury riverboat for the next five days!

Luxor, often called the "world's greatest open-air museum," is a must-visit destination for its unparalleled concentration of ancient Egyptian temples, tombs, and monuments.  Luxor was the ancient city of Thebes, the capital of Upper Egypt during the New Kingdom.  Among the highlights of Luxor are the 3400-year-old Luxor Temple and the Karnak Temple Complex, the Valley of the Kings (and Queens), and the massive stone statues known as the Colossi of Menmon.

Upon arriving in Luxor we started our day by visiting the Karnak Temple. 

In ancient Egypt, Karnak was not a person, but rather the name of a vast temple complex dedicated to the Theban triad of gods: Amun, Mut, and Khonsu.  

One of the most memorable spots at the Temple of Karnak is Hypostyle Hall, which today looks like a large courtyard filled with columns that touch the sky. The columns did not always stand in the open air.  At one point in time, they held up a roof, which would have made the hall the largest covered building in Ancient Egypt.  The columns are 70 feet tall and arranged into 16 rows. Standing beneath them, it’s hard to imagine how the Ancient Egyptians—without modern technology—could have found and placed so many enormous columns.  Here's a quick lesson on How To Build A Temple.

Honestly, all morning while our tour guide was regurgitating information to us about the Karnak Temple.....I was thinking about Johnny Carson.  Yup!  You read that correctly!  I'm guessing if you're at least 50 years old (and older!) you'll know where this is going.  One of Johnny Carson's most well-known characters on the Tonight Show was Carnac the Magnificent who could psychically "divine" unknown answers to unseen questions sealed in an envelope.  They sure don't make late night talk shows like they used to!  

Another ancient Egyptian marvel are the hieroglyphs carved into the temple walls and columns.  The hieroglyphs themselves tell unique stories. Egyptologists continue to study the columns for clues about their age and the number of pharaohs who left their mark on them. Some evidence suggests pharaohs would hide their predecessors cartouches, or markings, by smoothing over them and carving their own symbols into the granite—effectively rewriting history to promote their own reigns. These actions contribute to the challenges hiding Karnak’s stories.

Our morning history lesson finally ended as the temperature continued to creep up into triple digits by 11am.  The plan was to return to our cruise boat for lunch and leisure time before returning to town later this afternoon to visit the Luxor Museum and Temple. 

Several years ago we traveled to China for a grand tour of the country.  Included on that trip was a river cruise on the Yangtze River which offered us very few luxuries like we traditionally expect on a typical Caribbean cruise ship.  So, needless to say, we didn't have high expectations for this Nile River boat.  Of course, it absolutely feels great when reality exceeds your low expectations! And, that's exactly what happened when we returned to our river boat for the afternoon in Luxor.

What can we say?  This Nile River boat was lookin' pretty good for the next 4 days!  Leonard even liked the food!  Yup!  You read that correctly!  Salads, fruits, soups, meats, pasta, and desserts.....and, it was all-you-can-eat, baby!  Oh.....and lots of bread!  These Egyptians love carbohydrates!  So does Leonard!

It goes without saying that Egypt is hot.  I'm just a gym teacher, but I'm guessing that's probably why 92% of this country is a desert.  We were tasked with returning to the heat for another Luxor field trip scheduled for late afternoon.

While the Luxor Museum was very underwhelming when compared to the museums we toured yesterday in Cairo.....the next stop on our tour was another story.  

Standing in front of the Temple of Luxor, looking past the two seated statues of Ramses II that flank the entrance, we had to consider how close we were to both the modern city of Luxor (just a few hundred yards to our left) and Egypt’s lifeblood, the Nile (just a few hundred yards to our right).  The Temple of Luxor is one of the best-preserved ancient sites in the world, and much of it still exists as it did centuries ago.

Like Karnak, Luxor boasts its own Hypostyle Hall, although it appears a bit less grand in appearance. Only 32 columns stand in a space that is much smaller than what we saw at Karnak.  

The Temple of Luxor has always been used as a place of worship, and the Abu Haggag Mosque was built directly on top of some of the ruins and intrudes on the courtyard for Ramses II.

Upon leaving the Temple.....directly in front of you stretched the 2 kilometer Avenue of the Sphinxes.  The Temples of Karnak and Luxor are just a couple of miles apart, and it’s not surprising that they were both physically and ritually linked.  Sphinxes were believed to bring protection to pharaohs, and the road lined with them was built as part of a very important ceremony: the Festival of Opet.

What time is it?  I think it's about time to enjoy another Nile River cruise ship amenity......cheap drinks!