Luxor and the Nile! ( part 1 of 2)

Karnak

Our ship started at Luxor and unfortunately the tour starts with Karnak. Unfortunate, I say, because its pretty amazing, its the largest complex, with the biggest ruins this side of the pyramid you get to visit and the public is only allowed in part of it. Its big. Afterwards you start comparing everything to it and most come up short, so you look for other interesting things.

 

Roman mural over heiroglyphs

Luxor Temple

For instance, Luxor temple which we saw later that first day (the 26th). Not as big, but it was used by Romans,Christians and Muslims as well as ancient Egyptian (you can see the later people's "re-usage" of the temple on the right).

The second day we saw the Valley of Artisans, which housed the work force for the Valley of the Kings. It was interesting in that we saw non-temple & grave ruins for the only time in Egypt. It also had two small very well preserved tombs for overseers. The painting was still amazingly vibrant after 3000 years. Valley of the Kings was also very cool, we weren't allowed to take any photos there though. Its amazingly unassuming, and looks like pretty much any other dusty valley in Egypt except the massive tombs beneath the hills.

In the Nile valley it is incredibly green

Valley of the Artisans - outside the Nile it looks like this

That actually brings me to another thought, we were amazed at how green Egypt was. I know we shouldn't have been, but the area near the Nile was verdant, then as if someone drew a line, the landscape changes to dusty scarp as soon as any elevation over the plain.

The trip up the Nile was pleasant but uneventful. We saw several more temples but none that could compare to Karnak. ('Its a well-preseved 3000 year old temple but is it perfectly preserved?') One promised crocodile mummies but that exhibit was closed at the time. Part 2 (Aswan and Cairo) coming soon!

The temples have amazing color even after millenia