Breakfast is at 5:30, so we can pick up the balloonists and begin our day before the heat sets in.
That makes for a really short night; but never mind!!
After breakfast we all meet Sultan at reception and walk through another boat to get to land and our land yacht!
There is plenty of room to spread out as we drive to our first stop.
We’re visiting the west-bank sites in the morning, then returning to the boat for lunch and down time before visiting the east site ones.
We visit the Colossi of Memnon, or the Ghost Kings, which are about all that is left of the temple which was here.
They are called “ghosts” because a queen passed by and heard a noise which she thought was the spirit of her dead husband calling to her!
Most of the temples in Egypt suffered severe damage from the earthquake in 27 BC, which registered 8.9 on the Richter scale. Conveniently enough, the hot-air balloon has landed quite near here and we take our photos while Sultan goes to retrieve the adventurers.
Our first “real” stop is the Temple of Hatshepsut, the queen who ruled Egypt for twenty-one years as a man, dressing in men’s clothing and wearing a false beard. She assumed the throne through subterfuge, with the help of the high priest, who convinced the people that her father was really Amun-Ra, the Sun God! Unlike all the other temples which are built of sandstone, this is made of marble.
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| The earthquake caused part of the mountain to crumble and cover most of the temple. |
The third is Ramses IV, even more beautiful and much more accessible, with almost no slope at all. He had is architect disguise the entrance so that grave robbers would desecrate it. It’s just so hard to believe that these wonders are so well preserved! We could have bought an extra ticket to see the tomb of King Tut, but Sultan told us that there is nothing there now. Everything has been removed in preparation for the opening of the new museum in 2020.
It’s been a long, hot morning, and on our way back to the boat we stop at Luxfour. The family who runs this establishment is the only family in all of Egypt that can trace their lineage back 3,200 years and they still have the original tools that their ancestors used to created the alabaster jars that were used in the burial chambers of the kings. They are working with the University of Chicago and another group on the many restoration projects that are on-going. We watch how alabaster is shaped, hollowed out, and carved, and then have an opportunity to explore the shop.
There is a point in the demonstration when the teacher asks us to guess how much a piece weighs. The guy sitting on the ground behind him catches my eye and holds up eight fingers. I should have guessed eight kilos, because that was the right answer! The guy looked at me as if to say, “Why didn’t you guess?” Good question! But it gave us both a giggle!
Nearly everyone found something they couldn’t leave without. At least mine was little!
Back to the boat for lunch and we stop by our rooms first. Ginger and Juan are ahead of us and when they open their door there is great howling and giggling! The stewards have created a wonderment on their bed! And there are disco lights to accent it! When we get to our room, our sculpture is light by Christmas lights!! We go down to lunch and my buddy posed for me with the vegetable flowers display.
We have a bit of down time after lunch, letting the heat of the day dissipate a bit, and then we’re off to the east side of the Nile, where the temples of Karnak and Luxor are located. I’ve always wanted to see Karnak, site of all those incredible old Egyptian movies! I had no idea just how vast the site it, It isn’t really a temple, but a complex of temples covering two hundred and eighty acres! It is supposed to be connected to Luxor, which was the temple of Ramses II’s queen, Nefertari, by the avenue of the sphinxes. There are fourteen hundred of them! When restoration work began on the complex, it was discovered that much of the avenue was now covered by people’s houses,. The government paid to relocate them! Work continues today.
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| This is a model of the complex of temples we call Karnak. |
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| You can't see all fourteen hundred of them! |
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| All the priests who lived and worked in the temples had to purify themselves each morning in this pool. |
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| We were told that we needed to walk around this sacred scarab three times to guarantee good health, long life, and a happy marriage. But some guides told their clients it was five times! They needed to make a longer phone call! |
Sultan showed us so much! If I get caught up, I’ll try to come back here and add more data! Right now, let me say that we got there just a bit before sunset. These temples are in the middle of Luxor and, as a result, they are lit at night and stay open until nine o’clock. All the other sites close at six or at sunset.
When we get back to the boat we have ANOTHER surprise in our cabins!! Ginger and Juan have a monkey and we have a crocodile! The guys get a big charge out of how tickled we are. We’re leaving in the morning at 5:30 and probably won’t see them again, so we give them a little appreciation, even though they will share in the general tip fund downstairs. They really went above and beyond and we wanted them to know!
We go downstairs to dinner and bring our computers to see if there is any hope of Wifi. There isn’t, despite the receptionist saying he’d restart the server. Sultan finds us and makes final arrangements for the morning, including getting us breakfast boxes that DON’T include tons of bread. We request hard-boiled eggs, Egyptian cheese, and grapes. The party is starting upstairs with a belly dancer and he really wants us to go - but it’s been a really long day and it will be an equally short night! We give him his envelope and good-bye hugs and it’s off to dreamland.
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