Trips

All of Luxor is a UNESCO Heritage Site. The surrounding area contains one-third of the Egyptian antiquities sites. Luxor, originally the Egyptian city of Thebes, was the capital of Egypt for more than 1500 years.

The first stop was at the Temples of Karnak complex. The site is dedicated to Amun Re, the supreme god of the Egyptian pantheon of gods. The temple complex was constructed between 2000 and 300 BCE (approximately). This means that it was built and added to by many pharaohs who reigned across that span of time. The Temple complex covers almost 250 acres and the area of Temple of Amun itself is about 230 by 88 feet.

We entered the Temple of Amun through the first pylon into the first or Great Courtyard that was once used to store the ceremonial boats that carried pharaohs or gods. In the courtyard are: a large red granite statue of Rameses II with his daughter standing between his legs; an alabaster sphinx, ordered by King Tut; and a large column honoring the Pharaoh Taharqa of the 25th dynasty; to name a few. The sandstone for the temple was quarried at and transported from Gebel Silsila, which we visited earlier in the trip.

Model of the Temples of Karnak - entrance - past the row of sphinxes, the 1st pylon, and into the Great Courtyard. The entrance faces west toward the Theban Hills on the opposite side of the Nile. Temple orientation.	Model - viewing the Temples from the 10th (left-most), 9th, 8th, and 7th pylons and the sacred Lake of Mut (on right). These are on an axis at right angles to the axis of entry through the first pylon.
One end of the Avenue of Sphinxes provides a grand entry to the Temple of Amun. Each sphinx has the head of a ram and body of a lion. They each hold a statue of Rameses II under their chin.	Beyond the first pylon, in the Great Courtyard, is a mound/pile of dirt and rubble thought to be the remains of the ramp used to build the pylon. Some of the other structures/monuments found in the first courtyard, are illustrated below.
Column of Taharqa, a Pharaoh of the 25th dynasty	Statue of Rameses II with his daughter standing between his legs
Alabaster sphinx ordered by King Tut	The great pillared Hypostyle Hall contains 134 columns arranged in 16 rows. The main aisle has open lotus flowers on the capitals and the architraves (the lintels or connecting beams) are generally decorated with cartouches, often painted. The columns were once painted and work is being done to reveal /restore the colors. Every column has the cartouche of Rameses II.
Columns and architraves (lintels)	Column detail
Colorful capital
	Carrying the solar boat
Restoration in progress	Restoration in progress
Cartouches on the underside of the architraves	Cartouches on the underside of the architraves
The bee is the symbol of the king of Lower Egypt
Thoth, the Sacred Ibis	Horus and Thoth purifying Hatshepsut
Obelisk of Queen Hatshepsut - the second largest of all of the ancient obelisks. It was built in 15th century BCE.	Obelisk of Thutmose I
Details on the Obelisk of Thutmose I	Statues of rulers of the Middle and New Kingdoms on the north side of the 7th pylon
Sacred lake of Mut	The Scarab Beetle (or dung beetle) is the symbol of the god Khepri, a form of the sun god which represented the sun rising on the eastern horizon.
Gale in front of the Scarab beetle	Restoration work on the 8th pylon
Thutmose III smiting his enemies - on the 7th pylon
North, outside wall of the Great Hypostyle Hall - reliefs depicting the victories of Seti I - here he is shown marching prisoners toward the border fortress town of Tcharu.	North, outside wall of the Great Hypostyle Hall - reliefs depicting the victories of Seti I
We checked into the Winter Palace Hotel for two nights. It was built in 1887 and feels like it! Three of us got stuck in the elevator - we exceeded the weight limit!	Winter Palace Hotel
Winter Palace Hotel	Winter Palace Hotel - gardens
Really old fashioned elevator - you open the door (which looks like a door to a room), step in, close the door, the door automatically locks, and off you go (you hope). When you arrive, the door locks release and you have to know to open the door yourself to get out.	This key weighed a ton and would put a hole in any pocket if you tried to carry it!
At 5 pm our bus took us to the Temple of Luxor, just down the street from the Winter Palace Hotel. This temple also served several kings but Queen Hatshepsut, Rameses II, and Alexander the Great dominate the decorations. The first courtyard has 74 columns and a scene of Rameses II fighting the Hittites. A church was later built into one corner of the courtyard and it just incorporated several columns into its outer wall. The area is now used as a mosque. The great colonnade hall has 64 more columns and an open courtyard. In 1989 restorers found a cache of statues of gods and goddesses buried in the courtyard sand which probably protected them for many centuries. Further along is a courtyard that was thought to have been used by Romans during their occupation as a church. The painting we were told 11 years ago was probably a picture of the last supper is now thought to be a group of Roman rulers. We walked on to the Holy of Holies. The outer walls around it have cartouches of Alexander the Great. There is also a Room of the Holy Birth. Hatshepsut had to be born of a god to become a pharaoh so a myth was created that Amun Ra’s spirit descended into her father and her mother “sat on a bench with her legs over his and the goddesses of fertility held their feet and Hatshepsut resulted.” The depiction on the wall is unique. It was too dark for photos.
Avenue of Sphinxes	Avenue of Sphinxes
A sphinx on the Avenue of Sphinxes	First Pylon of the Temple of Luxor with statues of Rameses II -4 standing and 2 seated. The obelisk is one of a pair Rameses II had built. The second is in Paris in the Place de la Concorde.
Rameses II	Baboons - interpreted as greeting the dawn
Minaret of the Abu-el-Haggag mosque	Abu-el-Haggag mosque over a pharaonic temple
Rameses' Court - the statues were originally of Amenhotep III but Rameses usurped them to represent himself.	Rameses II - originally Tutankhamun
Rameses II - originally Tutankhamun	Relief and hieroglyph representing the throne of united Egypt
Seshat, the Egyptian Goddess of Math and Archeology, Wisdom, Writing, and others	Column, capital and the moon
In 2011 this was a "Last Supper" - recent interpretations suggest this is not the case but rather a group of Roman rulers.	Setting sun
Luxor Temple at night	After touring the Luxor Temple, the group walked across the street to have a dinner of “pizza” and ice cream. The pizza was unique - a thin crust, lots of veggies, and a cheese topping. It was another relief from dry chicken. Our group really likes ice cream.

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