Craig's Photos - Karnak and Luxor Temples and McDonalds

The Karnak tour began with a nice welcome center, with a bit of air conditioning (nice to have on a 115 degree day), various photos on the walls showing the condition of the temple during early stages of restoration in the late 1800s, and this large model. Since the temple is the biggest in the world, stretching over 3 kilometers, the model itself had to be huge. I believe the model here is oriented with the north (the main entrance) to the top. We liked our guide Mohammed. We finally got him to admit it was hot. He said the government would not admit the temperature to be 50 degrees C because that was considered dangerous and workers must be allowed to go home. So therefore the government would only allow a forecast and report of 49 degrees C.

We were entertained by the outfits of other tourists. We unfortunately didn't capture the best, but some were a bit provocative. We saw a few pot bellied men without shirts...they were not Americans. We really didn't see that many Americans in Luxor or elsewhere during our trip.

Here we are in the Hypostyle Hall at Karnak. This goes to show you that it takes a great number of really thick columns to hold up a stone roof.

Mohammed checks out a shady spot with two obelisks in the background. The one on the right really was leaning a bit. We assume it's been that way for a few thousand years.

Jacob admires the huge columns. Note the plain cement sections where the missing pieces have not been found. Can you imagine the jigsaw puzzle challenge of trying to sort out which piece goes where for the entire temple?

Nancy and Jacob pose under a huge slab of stone.

Here's a Christmas card picture, standing under a statue of Ramesses II in Luxor Temple.

Towards the back of Luxor Temple there's a wall with these Christian paintings, done on plaster covering the original Egyptian carvings. Our guide said that in the early ADs that the Egyptian religions were fading and Christianity was coming into vogue, so the temple priests allowed a sort of sharing arrangement withthe Christians. The temple also features a mosque which was built much later.

This is the area where the nave and the altar were located in the Christian church.

Now we are in the "Holy of Holies" in the back of Luxor Temple. This area was built by Alexander the Great (or his brother?) and we were told that the carvings, to the god of fertility (rather embarassing images) indicated that Alexander was infertile.

Here Craig works on his Egyptian sun tan in the middle of Luxor Temple.

Before our van headed out of town to Hurghada (it was about 5 pm and we had had no lunch) we needed to grab some food for the road. When we suggested a quick sandwich, our guide and the driver immediately pounced on the idea of McDonalds. I guess that's what they think all Americans want. Jacob decided this was appropriate so off we went. Note the delivery motor scooters out front.

We were loving the air conditioning, which was cranked down almost to a chilly level. Inside we ran into other Americans.

Except for the McArabia combo meal, you really could have been in a McDs in America. The variety of offerings was a bit less, and the lettuce was pretty wilty, but otherwise it was the same as America.

Craig's Photos - Luxor Part One

After touring Edfu before breakfast, we returned to a day on the ship cruising down the Nile toward Luxor. Of course the Nile flows northward so that was our direction. Here Jacob is working on pictures in his room (shared with Craig) on the ship. Note the ever present bottle of water nearby. Along the way we moved through the locks at Esna. We first navigated through the old, not functioning locks, which looked like something out of the late 1800s. We then moved along with three other ships through the real locks. We estimate the water level dropped about 20 feet during the transition.

We arrived in Luxor around 5 pm and being dedicated bloggers went in search of an internet cafe. We found the cafe, and after making a few postings, Craig and Jim went to the Cleopatra Cafe to catch some World Cup action.to be confused with Stella A The photo below shows the fly doing the backstroke in Craig's glass of Stella, which we decided was the go to Egyptian beer. Stella is an old Egyptian beer which is now a subsidiary of Heineken.

Craig and I got split up from Nancy and Jacob so we went on our own horse cart ride to the market. It turned out to be quite an adventure. Our driver's name was Mohammed.

Traffic lights are interesting in that they have countdown clocks which help drivers time their approach to intersections. I suppose if you are driving a horse cart this could be important information.

As we moved toward the market, the neighborhoods lost any semblance of "tourist" and became more or less purely local. Here's a local shop with a great deal of merchandise out on the dusty street. Unfortunately it was getting dark so we don't have photos from the best part of the tour.

We were directed to a papyrus shop (there are only about 10,000 of these in Egypt) and made a few small purchases. In the background you can see the huge stacks of various pictures produced on papyrus. They had everything except an Elvis on black velvet.

The next morning we got an early start and headed straight to the Valley of the Kings. No cameras allowed. From there it was on to the Hatchepsut Temple, shown below.

Our guide told us this temple was a "fig"....a fake, restored by a Polish group from bits and pieces. We thought it was pretty impressive for a fake. Our guide said it was OK for us to call it "Hot Chicken Soup" since most of us had a hard time with the name. Jacob was appalled by this, which just encouraged us to say it all the more.

These guys are in the temple ruins next to the Hatchepsut Temple. This is another huge temple that will be rebuilt in the near future. Craig likes this picture because the guy with the shovel is digging in the sand and can obviously enjoy a lot of work for a long time.

On this day we got a little tired of being approached by the "staff" member clad in their gallabiyahs whose sole function was to hustle tips for performing generally worthless "favors". We took to avoiding them at all costs. Here Jim is getting ready to play hide and seek with one around the columns.

We haven't wilted yet, but we are starting to smolder coming down the long ramps of the temple.

From there it was on to the stone carving factory. This one came complete with the live demonstration outside the front door. They were completely coordinated and would perform the specific steps of stonework as the big boss told his story. Jacob was called into action to turn the crank of the tool that carved out the inside of vases.

Next came the Valley of the Workers. We visited two tombs there and were fascinated by the juxtaposition of the tombs directly above the ruins of the village.

On to the Colossi of Memnon, that would be two Colossuses. They really looked like something created for a Disney attraction, so huge and looking like they would collapse at any minute.

This side of a Collosses still had some colors to show off after the thousands of year. Of course there was a guy directing you over to that side to make sure you didn't miss it (and didn't miss the chance to give him a tip).

On our way back from the west bank of the Nile to the east, we saw this huge banner of President Mubarak, complete with his dark shades. We decided he was trying to look like a mobster or perhaps a tough guy movie star, like Sylvester Stallone.

Craig's Photos - Edfu Temple

We woke up on the ship in Edfu and headed to the temple for an early morning tour. We were briefed beforehand by our tour company to take a horse cart to the temple, and negotiate the "standard fare" of 40 pounds, round trip. Nothing like having to negotiate before breakfast. Craig took the lead and did a great job at being firm on the 40 pounds. The horse cart itself was cramped for 4 passengers, but the ride was short. Craig sat next to the driver on the way over and then Jacob did the "co-driver" duties on the return. They both commented that the horse poop was flying in their face. A nice morning pick me up! Our driver was quite the celebrity of the town and shouted and gestured to everyone as he guided us to the temple. Here we are outside the first pylon of the temple, which is dedicated to Horus, the falcon-headed god, and built from 237 to 57 BC (just like yesterday in Egyptian antiquity terms).

Even though this is not the most famous temple, the scale was immense.

It was interesting to tour a temple in the early morning light and not be broiling when not in the shade.

This temple, like most others, was "discovered" by Europeans in the 1800s who then chiseled their names into the walls, statues, basically anything that was rock. This made us realize that the practice of defacing places to memorialize your visit is not a recent development. For the record, we did not chisel our names anywhere in Egypt.

This temple was full of twists and turns and staircases. That made it extra fun to explore.

This is a cartouche, which contains the name of a god or other ancient celebrity. Our guides called them name tags or business cards.

We didn't hear Jacob ever say "I'm bored".

Here we are in the courtyard after walking through the first pylon. The walls are just towering.

Thanks to Nancy for this shot of the guys.

After our tour we caught the horse cart back to the ship and enjoyed a nice breakfast. Our ship featured the usually continental breakfast of rolls, pastries and a bit of fruit, plus our favorite...Mr. Omlette. Jacob tried an experimental mixture of coffee and tea in an attempt to wake up completely. He never repeated the experiment so I guess it didn't work.

We cruised for the rest of the day to Luxor. We alternated between napping, cooling off in the rooftop pool, and sitting in the shade and enjoying the mist (cranked out through pipes in built into the covering above us).

Craig's Photos - Abu Simbel and Kom Ombo

Here we are on our 27 passenger van ride towards the Sudanese border and Abu Simbel. Nancy has on her lap the little "boxed lunch" that the boat kitchen packed for us.

These are the jump seats in the middle, little midget seats that I'm sure weren't very comfortable, and prevented anyone else on either side from being able to lean into the aisle and gain an inch or two of comfort. Speaking of needing an extra inch or two of comfort, here are poor Craig's knees jammed in against the seat ahead of him. Craig had a wheel well to deal with, making the ride extra excruciating. If only we had a few screaming kids in the van...

At Abu Simbel, the two temples are right next to each other, separated by about 50 meters of hillside / sand pile. Craig saw paths up and down the hillside and decided he needed to explore up there. It didn't take long for one of the "staff members" to yell at him to come down. The yeller is in the lower left, Craig is at the upper right.

Here's Jacob in front of the Queen Neferteri Temple. The statues are merely mammoth but of course smaller than the seated statues next door at the Ramesses II Temple. Jacob liked this temple better than the Ramesses II.

Don't tell anyone but this is taken inside one of the temples, breaking the rules about no photos past the entrances. The level of detail of the carvings was incredible. Equally incredible was the feat of moving the two temples up the cliff and rebuilding them.

Here we are dwarfed next to one of the seated statues of Ramesses II. Note the carvings at the base of the statue. These depict enslaved enemies, likely the Syrians or the Hittites.

On the road to Abu Simbel there were a few security outposts. It must be punishment to get assigned to work at one of these, no fun at all! Plus, you have to hang out in one of these silly colored lookout towers.

We eventually made it back to the boat, enjoyed some lunch and a little rest, then stopped at Kom Ombo. For those keeping score, this temple is ddicated to the crocodile-headed Sobek, god of fertility and creator of the world, and Horus, the ancient falcon-headed solar war god. It is highly unusual, we are told, for one temple to be dedicated to two gods.

Kom Ombo exploration.

More exploration. The temple was divided by columns into two sides, each dedicated to one god.

We were happy to get back on the ship and chill. The rooms on the ship were more spacious than anticipated, the beds comfy, and each room had two showers / bathrooms. The ship was a wonderful luxury to enjoy.