We flew from Cairo to Luxor. Luxor, besides being a lovely town, has Karnak, the Luxor Temple, and lots more. Yeah, if you are of a certain age it can be hard not to think of Johnny Carson.
Interesting that Luxor has been a riverboat tourist spot since the 1850s. Mostly Brits, Americans, and French. Good for a "rest cure," "good air for the lungs," - and work for the archeologists.
We met our elegant riverboat (with a gym and pool on board) in Luxor. The Sonesta St. George. The boat's lobby all set up for January Coptic Christmas (our Captain and many of the crew were Coptic and, as I mentioned earlier, few of the passengers were American or Brit) :
Some cool pics below the fold -
You can look up pics of Karnak and Luxor Temple online. Impressive of course, and good to have a guide to interpret the hieroglyphics - or some of them because they are endless and often still in vivid color. No rain...
We took a drive with guide over the Luxor Bridge en route to Valley of the Kings. As a "Turkish coffee" fan, we had to stop in a little farming village for some, plus some fresh-fried falafel:
Across from the coffee joint was a bakery (they gave us freebies) plus The Big Man Gym. What???
Over 60 tombs have been uncovered in the area of the Valley of the Kings. Just below that desert valley there are many tombs of lesser nobles. Most tombs were robbed of their goods in ancient times, which is why we all know of King Tut and his grave goodies. Big tourist spot now for good reason.
The mostly royal tombs are dug with fairly steep, highly-decorated corridors down to the underground rooms. As in the earlier pyramid time, tomb-building and tomb decor was an industry. Some tombs are the size of NYC apartments. The engraved wall and ceiling painting are mind-blowing - too much to take in and mentally process. The hieroglyphics are mainly Egyptian scripture, like The Book of the Dead.
Pointless to show pics, so here's just one:
