Karnak & Luxor Temples & The Light Show at Night

This entry is about day 10 of the trip, Friday 12/10

Today we got to sleep a little bit later (woo!) but unfortunately I woke up with my stomach issues again.Luxor, which means “the palaces,” was definitely a change from the places we have been in the last few days. It seems to be a very desirable place for tourists (there are so many hotels), and there are great markets. We learned that Luxor has been the place where most antiquities have been found all throughout Egypt, over 35% being those belonging to the great King Ramses II. Even to this day there are new discoveries being made.

The first stop of the day was Karnack Temple, which is the largest temple in Egypt. This temple was humongous! It wasn’t in amazing condition because it had been destroyed and was reconstructed, but you could tell that in it’s day it was colossal. It had so many columns full of hieroglyphics and obelisks in amazing condition.There were a number of unique things we saw at this temple. One were the sphinxes at the main opening of the temple in that they all had ram heads rather than the traditional lion heads. Some of the hieroglyphics here are the largest hieroglyphics in all of Egypt. We also saw a scarab monument that belonged to Amenhotep III. Zack told us that if we ran around the monument 7 times, it would bring you love and fertility. Naturally the group of us couldn’t resist looking like doofy tourists, so we all did it!

Next we went to Luxor Temple, which was built by King Ramses II, but like Karnack Temple, other people added onto it. On our way to this temple we learned something very interesting; apparently the 2 temples used to be connected by an avenue of sphinxes, which wasn’t discovered until recently. Many buildings that have been built on top of this avenue will eventually be demolished in order to restore the sphinxes to their former glory. Part of the temple was even built by Alexander the Great, and Zack pointed out his name to us in the hieroglyphics. Up until this temple was discovered, it was completely covered with sand, and therefore, other buildings were built on top of it including a Mosque, which still exists today.

After lunch, we got back to the hotel, and Ben and I were able to finally go to an internet café next to the hotel (at another hotel) and catch up on what’s been going on in the world, and our blog entries. After our glorious hour with internet, we hopped back on the bus to go back to Karnack Temple for another light show. Unlike the lightshow we saw at the pyramids earlier in the trip, we walked through the temple as the lights and narrative told the story of the greats who had to do with the temple’s history. The later half of the show was very cool because it incorporated one of the pools into the show.

After this, Professor Ghaly took a bunch of us to this really great market, but it was a bit overwhelming. These people who own shops in the markets in this country are so impressive to me; the way they lure you in when you’re not interested in buying anything is unbelievable. I bought a few knick-knacks of course.

Hurghada is the next stop for us, which is supposed to be beautiful. Always looking forward to how each day tops the last!

Edfu Temple, Afternoon off, and Party at Night

This entry is about day 7 of the trip, Tuesday 12/7

This morning at 7am the cruise docked at Edfu where we saw the Edfu Temple. This Temple was created at the time when King Ptolomy XII, the last Greek king of Egypt, ruled and therefore there was a significant Greek influence in the architecture. Zack told us that this temple was completely buried in the sand for thousands of years, and therefore was preserved and is still in terrific condition today. The temple was mostly devoted to the Egyptian God Horus, God of Protection. He is symbolized by the falcon, so there were a number of falcon statues all over the temple. He is also symbolized by a falcon head with a human body, and that hieroglyphic was in a number of places as well. Zack also told us that the people who discovered this place spend 40 years deciphering and publishing all the hieroglyphics in the temple! (Random note* There were really adorable stray cats here, as a matter of fact there are a ton of cats at most of the places we go and they look different; They seem to have bigger ears, smaller bodies, and piercing eyes!)

After an hour or so we went back to the cruise ship for breakfast, which was so good because they had an omelet station (woo!) We had the rest of the day off to relax on the cruise ship, which was fabulous; The top of the ship had a pool and a bunch of lounge chairs so it was great getting some sun.

After dinner the whole group of us had a party in the cruise lounge where we played games and danced and had fun with each other. It was a very cute group bonding experience. There was also a belly dancer and those spinning dress things again (I really have to find out again what it is called). This was the first day we had some down time and it was great, but I can’t wait to see what happens next!

The Beautiful Aswan: Temple of Philae, the High Dam, & the Nubian Village

(Didn't have my camera on me at the time, but pictures are coming soon!)

We started this morning by waking up on the sleeper train, which we had spent about 12 hours on. To say the least, the sleeper train was definitely not my favorite part of this trip. Luckily I was extremely tired from the lack of sleep I got the night before and the busy day we had, so I WAS able to fall asleep. I also had a bit of motion sickness because the train was extremely bumpy so I took some Dramamine and I conked out around 9:30. The beds were extremely small and hard, so when I woke up at 3am to go to the bathroom, I basically didn’t fall back asleep. We were woken up at 7am for breakfast, which included, a roll, a croissant, a corn muffin thing, more bread, etc… Haha, so basically I had a little bit of starch for breakfast (Don’t worry mama I’m watching myself!)

We got off the train around 8am and arrived in Aswan, which right off the bat we could tell was completely different than Cairo. Aswan is a city in Southern Egypt, which we learned was a very important city in ancient Egypt. We also learned that the land of Nubia occupied the lower region of Ancient Egypt and Northern Sudan, so much of the culture in Aswan is still Nubian today. The people here look different in appearance; because we have traveled significantly further south, the people have darker skin compared to those living in Cairo.

Our first stop in Aswan was the High Dam. On the way there we drove over the Low Dam, which was constructed before the High Dam and is smaller. Prof. Ghaly told us that the difference in water elevation on each side of the High Dam is about 70 meters and was constructed to better regulate agriculture and irrigation in Egypt; the site was very impressive to say the least. Lake Nasser was created as a result of the High Dam, which was named after President Gamel Abdel Nasser (the person responsible for starting the project). Unfortunately this is not my area of expertise so you can probably refer to Ben’s blog entry on this for more details.

The next stop was to the Island of Elephantine to see the Temple of Philae. The Temple contained remains mostly for the Goddess Isis and was originally located on the island of Philae but was relocated to the island of Elephantine to better protect degradation of the structure. It took many years for the temple to be relocated exactly how it was on Philae. There was a clear Greek influence in the structure of the temple, and the hieroglyphics displayed in every inch of the place was remarkable. The detailing in the carvings was still so clear despite many years of damage.

Next we went to the unfinished Obelisk, which was left from the ancient time carved into granite. It was at this site that the ancient Egyptians would carve granite stones and bring then to other locations to build structures. Before the construction of the Dam, the Nile would reach this location and they would use boats to move the stones. When the ancient Egyptians were carving the obelisk from the granite, cracks began to form and they stopped completion of this project. Considering how hard the material is, it is pretty unreal they were able to complete such a feat in those times.

For lunch we went to a Nubian restaurant where we ate chicken cooked in a pot with tomato sauce (not the tomato sauce you might be thinking of) and some other vegetables. Unfortunately my stomach still isn’t 100% so I didn’t get to enjoy the food completely, but it tasted good.

Finally we checked into our hotel, Pyramisa Isis Island, which is so beautiful and has an amazing pool. We quickly freshened up and took a boat to see what a typical Nubian village looked life. We went into a home that was made out of mud and had paintings on the wall. Here we got to hold a baby crocodile (yes! Seriously!) And get henna tattoos (many of us got an Eye of Horus (symbolizes protection) tattoo on our ankles to symbolize our experience in Egypt. They had a lot of kittens here too that we got to play with (so cute!) and gifts to look at. We had a lot of fun here. There were a number of shops outside this location as well (unfortunately I didn’t get anything, I’ve been very picky with the stuff I’m buying!)

After this we headed back to the hotel to eat some dinner. A bunch of people went in the pool at this point as well (wanted to go in but I wanted to finish blogging!). We are only staying in this hotel for the night and then tomorrow we are heading to the Abu Simbel Temples, which should be very exciting! We have to get there very early and it takes 3 hours to get there so we are leaving the hotel at 3am! (A.k.a I’m getting no sleep tonight! Boo!) Tomorrow we will also be starting our cruise. Hopefully Internet works well!