We had one other family with our tour group, it was a father and son from Colorado Springs. Milan and Cody were celebrating Cody’s 16th birthday with a trip to Cairo. They were very nice and we enjoyed spending time together on our trip.
In Aswan we went to the Temple of Philae, which is a temple for Isis and an unfinished Obelisk, which was huge. It was amazing to hear how they would move these huge heavy stones for their building. That afternoon we set sail and stopped that night to see a temple called Kom Ombo, built to honor two gods, Horus (falcon god) and Sobek (crocodile god). Horus’ eye is a very common symbol for protection and Sobek could be dangerous. This temple was built showing honor and a balance between these two gods. Kind of like the balance between the Yin and Yang.
We sailed that night to Edfu, where we toured a cool temple that was built to honor Horus who was also the son of Isis and Osiris. We took a horse and carriage ride from the boat to the temple. It was interested to see that statues to Horus in his Falcon form. We liked the spiral staircases up and the straight staircase down from the roof. There was also a model of what Horus’ boat to the after life would have looked like. Both Kom Ombo and Edfu are from the Greco-Roman period between 300-150 BC.
We spent the rest of the day sailing and relaxing. We ate and slept and read and swam and relaxed. We went through a lock, which was interesting. Egypt has built a reservoir to store water and so we had to go into a lock which they had water at our level, then they pumped out the water till it was level with the lower level of the Nile and then we sailed out into the lower level of water.
That night we arrived in Luxor. Because of the world economic crisis, tourism has dropped by about 40% in Luxor. Luxor is probably the second most popular tourist site after Cairo. Luxor was the capital of Egypt for a long time, including when Ramses II was the ruler and in Moses’ time. The temples and burial sites are from that period between 1500-1200 BC, and are incredible. They are in excellent condition.
We went and saw the Temple of Luxor. Many different pharaohs contributed to it during its long period of use. Temples were only open for the high priests and Pharaohs. They were not open for the general public. It is amazing to think that Moses probably walked here at the Temple of Luxor.
The next morning we woke up and went to see the Valley of the Kings. Originally, the Pharaohs were buried in the large pyramids, but then had so many problems with grave robbers that they went to smaller pyramids that were easier to guard. There were still problems so then they went to burying the kings in tombs in the valley. They could guard the valley entrance and then it was difficult for people to get in or out. They chose a valley that has a very high mountain peak in the shape of a pyramid. So far they have found over 60 kings burial chambers in this area and they are still excavating more. King Tut (ruled in 1354 -1345 BC for only eight years) was buried in this location. Ramses II was buried here. He may have been the ruler at the time of Moses. Ramses II ruled Egypt for 65 years, 1298-1235, the longest of any pharaoh.
Each burial chamber is unique based on what the current thought was of the afterlife. Some are dug deep into the mountain, others are long and far back into the mountain, others climb up the mountain and then you climb down. Some are big and some are small. The tombs are dry because they lie under the desert floor and this preserved the paint color in the tombs. It was very crowded and very hot inside of the chambers. I’m glad we were there in March and not July.
After the Valley of the Kings, we went to the Funerary Temple of Hatshepsut (ruled 1504-1484). She was the only female pharaoh. Her temple was stunning and built right into the mountainside. She is not buried here, but in the Valley of the Kings. This site is where people would go to pray for her and do funerary rituals after she died.
We relaxed on the boat and then that night went to see the Sound and Light Show at the Temple of Karnak. During the New Kingdom period of glory (1550-1069 BC), Thebes (Luxor) was the all-powerful capital of Egypt and Karnak was its “forbidden city”. Even in its ruins are amazing. It is possibly the largest temple complex every built. It was a place of worship, the residence of the priests and pharaohs, and the center of the administration. It employed tens of thousands of workers. Ordinary people were again, not allowed inside. Only the priests and Pharaoh entered it. I think this was the favorite place of everyone in our family. It had an amazing feel about the place.
The next morning we went with our guide and saw the Karnak temple by day, which was even more amazing. It is such a huge complex. It is 247 acres. It grew in stages during over 1,500 years. Each pharaoh contributed major monuments such as sanctuaries, kiosks, pylons and obelisks. There is a large sacred lake inside.
One highlight is a scarab. If you run around it three times you get good luck, if you run around it seven more times-you will marry, if you run the opposite direction seven more times you receive virility and have children. When Todd and I married, he proudly showed me his picture after running around it his 17 times. This time Jonah and Nick completed the ritual as well. Everyone else completed our three times around.
We returned to the boat and relaxed on the boat for most of the day. The weather was gorgeous. The water in the pool was a little too cold for everyone except the boys. Actually, they spent quite a bit of time in the small bath pool, which had warm water. We had a great time visiting with Hanaa’s family and just relaxing.
That night we went to dinner at a local kabob place right on the Nile River. It was a beautiful sunset. After the sunset, the wind picked up and soon there was a full on sand storm. This is the season for sandstorms. Everyone in Luxor told us this was the worst one in several years. Our flight was scheduled for 10:20 pm, but there was no visibility. Our flight finally took off about 3:00 am. We arrived home exhausted about 5:00 am.
