Africa, Egypt


A Trip to Luxor

Africa Egypt

In April, a friend and I made a day trip from our resort in Port Ghalib to Luxor. We were very keen on it to be able to look at something from ancient Egypt. Very early at 4 o’clock in the morning, we were picked up by a bus from the hotel and along with 14 other tourists and a tour guide, we started towards Luxor. During the bus ride, the tour guide told us facts about culture of today’s Egypt.

Pharaonen-Statues in the Karnak Temple

Arrived in Luxor, the first stop was the Valley of the Kings. It was pretty hot in the mountains, in spite that it was only in early April. It was a little disappointing that we were only allowed to look at just 3 graves with a ticket and that photography was forbidden. In the burial chambers, we could marvel at the colorful paintings on the walls full of hieroglyphics. Besides the paintings, there were unfortunately not really much to see, because all the treasures are no longer in the tombs.

Next, we went to the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut. Our tour guide told us in detail the history to the temple. I think we had really good luck with him, because he made the history interesting and we gladly listened to him. After all he had shown us, we were running around ourselves to look more closely at things and to take pictures.

Temple of Hatshepsut

Then with a small boat ride on the Nile, we reached a restaurant where an extensive buffet was waiting for us. Here, we had a bit of time to comfortably eat and had some time to relax. The tour of Luxor was already on a tight schedule.

Boat-Tour on the Nile

We went to the Karnak Temple, which was the highlight at Luxor for us personally. The great hypostyle hall was particularly impressive because the columns are full of texts and representations and quite colorful paintings can be seen. The Holy See is located in the rear part of the temple and before it is a columnar statue named Scarab. It is said that if you run around 3 times, it brings luck  and 7 times is for love and 10 times for money. Of course, we are running around a few times! Finally, we also had time to explore the temple and take pictures.

The great hypostyle hall in the Karnak Temple

That was the end of the tour in Luxor! We arrived back at our hotel happy and tired!

My conclusion to Luxor: The Valley of the Kings is to have been very interesting at one time, but in my opinion, don’t only see that. I think in a museum, you will see more. The intrusiveness of the Egyptians on the small markets is slightly annoying, which you need to pass to get to the temple. Everyone will call at you to get your attention. The temple, however, is really worth a visit, because there are so many well-preserved columns, statues and representations. The temples are just perfect.

Statue Ramses II in the Karnak Temple
Contributed by Jenny Knee