Luxor

Last Thursday, most of our Arabic group went to Luxor for just a couple of days.  Luxor is a city around 700 kilometers from Cairo and is the home to some of the most priceless treasures of ancient Egypt.  We were all so excited see all the amazing temples and tombs, but first we had to get there, which ended up being an adventure on its own.


We took an overnight train to Luxor that left at around 9 PM.  The train we boarded looked to be an artifact from the 1960's, but inside it was not too bad.  However the food was ridiculously bad.  We had some kind of mystery meat, tahini that had a weird taste, and spongy bread.  It's a good thing that I came prepared and brought 2 baguettes, Nutella, Gouda cheese, and Laughing Cow cheese for the journey.  I actually had a pleasant experience on this train, as I slept extremely well.  This was a stark contrast to most of the others on the trip, as many complained of bed bugs.  

Anyway, we finally arrived in Luxor at around 8 AM on Friday.  Seeing how our hotel did not have our rooms prepared, we decided to go to Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple.  As I got off the bus I experienced the hottest morning of my life (around 40 degrees Celsius), but did not mind as I was fascinated by the grandeur of Karnak Temple.  This is a massive complex of multiple sanctuaries and obelisks that are still somewhat well preserved.  You can still see the original color on some pieces of hieroglyphics.


We then went to Luxor Temple which had a really cool obelisk at the entry.  Inside it had beautiful columns, statues, and drawings of Alexander the Great.  Alexander ruled Egypt and during his reign he preserved the gods the Egyptians worshipped.  Thus he is in some drawings in Luxor Temple along gods like Amun, which really surprised me.

Finally, after a few hours of touring the two temples, we went to our hotel, the Iberotel.  It is a great hotel with a magnificent view of the Nile.  The Nile in Luxor is completely different than the Nile in Cairo.  While in Cairo you have see tall buildings and still hear the busy streets, in Luxor it is completely peaceful.  One one side there are hotels and a road, but on the other side you just see trees, making for a beautiful sunset.  We took a boat ride on the Nile that was truly spectacular.  The view was incredible at sunset and being able to relax for an hour and a half on the Nile was wonderful.  Also, our driver Ramadan stopped at Banana Island, where we were given fresh bananas that were quite good.  I should also mention that we lounged at the hotel pool for hours, where most of the group got severely burned by the punishing Luxor sun (my poor British friend Jamie received the worst).  It was so relaxing though to just sit back and swim for a few hours.  Our group culminated the day by going to a restaurant by the Nile.  There I split a hot dog pizza with my friend Jackie.  At first we were kidding about ordering the ridiculous sounding pizza, but then we were so curious, we had to order it.  Surprisingly, it actually wasn't bad at all.  Ultimately it was a great end to an amazing day.

The following morning, we left for the Valley of the Kings at 8 AM.  Under a scorching heat, we went deep into tombs that had beautiful drawings and hieroglyphics on the walls.  The sight of the valley with the tombs within was extraordinary.  After that we went to Hatshepsut's Temple, which was my favorite site in Luxor.  It was built right on the valley, almost giving the appearance of being carved into the rock.  We finished off the day by going to Medina Habu, a temple that really stood out to me because of its hieroglyphics.  The carvings in this temple were really deep, which really accentuated the drawings.  I will leave the pictures to describe these temples, as they truly show how spectacular these sights are.

After the tiring day in the hot sun, we went back to the hotel and lounged at the pool for a few more hours.  I then went with my friends Zack and Riley to Luxor Museum, where we saw two mummies and a couple of statues that are in excellent condition.  After this visit we basically left for the airport and flew back to Cairo. It was really nice to go to Luxor and be able to do tourist visits and relax, as it made this excursion feel like a mini-vacation.  In Cairo we constantly have class, work, and events planned out for us.  It was perfect to have a couple of days to relax by the tranquil Nile before returning to the chaos of Cairo.