Day 18
Yesterday at breakfast I walked up to one of the Chefs standing by a large hot plate and asked for an omelette. Then with a flair and panache reminiscent of Bryan Brown and Tom Cruise in a scene from “Cocktail”, he dutifully made then tossed his culinary chef-d'oeuvre onto my plate. A few feet away, tucked in a corner next to a wood fire pizza oven, was a middle aged local woman, (wearing neither a restaurant nor hotel uniform and could easily have just wandered in off the street), kneading dough and baking piles and piles of beautiful, light, soft, fluffy pita bread rolls. Salivating and floating toward her on a current of aroma, she caught sight of me, smiled and gave me her best and freshest baked roll straight from the oven. All day yesterday and all last night, I thought of little else than that breakfast. So when we rose with the sparrows this morning I was very eager to be first in line (I had a very small window of half an hour before we left for the airport headed for Luxor), to taste this wonderful feast one last time. However, Kareem our travel liaison and both my companions decided we should go immediately so I didn’t get the chance, trying very hard not to sulk and hide my disappointment as our driver, Amr, sped us to the airport.
Upon arrival, Kareem left us with what was laughingly called a “breakfast pack”, and morphed into someone named Pegu. As airport Liaison, he wizzed us through check-in then also vanished about two hours before takeoff. Upon arrival in Luxor, we met our driver Zachariah (or the Zac Attack as we call him) and our guide Shenouda.
Shenouda must’ve got the memo from Kareem because, (just like the whole breakfast thing and no I hadn’t quite let it go), it was “Yallah, Yallah, Yallah” as the Zac Attack zoomed us off to visit the Karnak Temple complex.
For over 1000 years the Karnak Temple complex lay buried under water and sand until the mid-19th Century, when some minor archaeological discoveries led to a full scale excavation of the site. It was built between 2055 BC and around 100 AD in the ancient city of Thebes (modern day Luxor), as a temple dedicated to the gods Amun, Mut, and khonsu. It consists of a huge mix of columns, obelisks, statues, avenues, temples, chapels, and other buildings in the form of a village, and it is for that reason that it was given the name Karnak which means “fortified village”. Being the largest building complex for religious purposes ever to be constructed, (approximately thirty pharaohs contributed to the buildings, enabling it to reach a size, complexity, and diversity not seen anywhere else), the Karnak Temple was known as “most select of places” by the ancient Egyptians.
It was just brilliant and Shenouda did a great job ensuring we had plenty of time (we spent a good couple of hours walking round, imagining how awe-inspiring it must have been for those living and working here all those years ago), exploring this huge complex, drawing our attention to, and painstakingly explaining the many impressive sights within it.
As we were leaving the Karnak Temple, Shenouda proposed that we check-in at our hotel and have a spot of lunch and some R&R for a few hours before he and the Zac Attack whisk us off to the Temple of Luxor. I didn’t need convincing as it was getting pretty hot and all the sites we were visiting today were mostly outdoors. So we checked-in, grabbed some lunch at the hotel’s Italian restaurant and relaxed for a few hours mainly catching up on emails etc. Then right on queue, it was “Yallah, Yallah, Yallah” as we sped off in the direction of the Temple of Luxor.
The Luxor Temple is a large ancient Egyptian temple constructed approximately 3400 years ago. It was known as “the southern sanctuary", and along with Karnak, was one of the two primary temples on the east bank of the Nile. In fact, both are connected by a fantastic 3 kilometre long avenue (known as “The Path of God"), which is lined on both side with hundreds (if not thousands), of human-headed sphinxes.
Now, unlike the other temples in ancient Thebes, Luxor Temple is not dedicated to a cult god or a deified version of the pharaoh in death. Instead, it is dedicated to the rejuvenation of kingship and may have been where many of the pharaohs of Egypt were crowned either in person or by proxy (as in the case of Alexander the Great, who claimed he was crowned at Thebes (Luxor) but may never have traveled south of Memphis.
Like Karnak, Luxor is a huge mix of columns, statues, avenues, temples, and chapels. To the rear of the temple are chapels built by Amenhotep III and Alexander the Great.
Other parts of the temple were built by Tutankhamen and Ramesses II. During the Roman occupation, the temple and its surroundings were converted into a legionary fortress and the home of the Roman government in the area.
Again, Shenouda did a great job ensuring we had plenty of time to walk around, watch the sun set over the temple and explore the place.
To cap off the evening we visited the Luxor museum. The museum is a two-story building playing host to a much smaller range of artefacts than those you would see displayed at places like the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. So think of it of as an aperitif to these bigger places due to the quality of the pieces and the uncluttered way in which they are displayed.
Unfortunately, about halfway through the museum, I hit the wall. It had been a really long day (we had been at it since before 6:00AM and it was now the wrong side of 8:00PM), and I was sapped of all strength like superman in a barrel full of kryptonite.
I was extremely glad to get back to the hotel and rehydrate (I drank about a litre of water in under a minute), in the bar with Maria and Father Wim. Bed had never looked more inviting.
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