Adventures of David and Paul: Luxor

Our trip to Luxor is divided into two separate posts. Our first one was for the west bank, and this one focuses on the east. The east bank is home to the modern city of Luxor (and the ancient city of Thebes), the temples of Luxor and Karnak, and the Luxor Museum. We spent most of our time in Luxor on the east bank, just taking a day trip over to the tombs and temples on the other side of the Nile. We spent the first half day at the Temple of Karnak, and spent our final (third) day at the museum and Temple of Luxor.

The first surprise of the trip - our plane tickets included the business lounge! We had breakfast and some tea before boarding our flight to Luxor. It was pretty hazy and the plane windows were scratched so we didn't have a great view, but we could see the stark contrast between the harsh desert and the fertile green Nile valley.

After landing, we caught a cab and took off for our hotel, the Hilton Luxor. So, usually we're not the type of travelers that end up at a place like the Hilton in a developing country. For whatever reason, the rates were really low and we figured it would be a bit of a respite from the chaos of Cairo that bookends our trip. In hindsight, this was a good decision. The hotel is beautiful and has wonderful common spaces (pool, bars, restaurants) right on the Nile. We paid just about $100/night (highway robbery for Egypt, but less than we typically pay for hotels in large American cities). We hung out for a couple hours by the pool before heading out to explore the ruins at Karnak.

David enjoying his complimentary business class beverage... a juice box.

Two out of three evenings were spent watching the sunset over the Nile.

The Hilton was really lovely.

Hilton lobby. Modern Islamic artistic design.

View from our room over the Nile.

Pool time!

It was a perfect place to relax.

Lanterns along the Nile.

Snack time!

We caught a cab from the hotel at around 3pm to visit the ruins at Karnak. This site is one of the largest religious complexes in the world at around two square kilometers. The site was built off-and-on throughout centuries, but was mostly constructed during the New Kingdom period (mid to early 1000s BCE). The main temple was dedicated to the worship of Amun-Ra. Two side sites, which were not open to the public were dedicated to Mut and Montu.

Karnak is likely the most impressive structure remaining in Egypt besides the pyramids. The main hypostyle hall of the site is over 50,000 square feet in area with 134 massive columns arranged in 22 rows. Most are around 10m tall, while the ones in the middle passage are over 20m tall. All the columns and walls are ornately decorated in heiroglpyhs and imagery that would have been brightly painted at the time. Some color still remains today. This site is very impressive to behold.

As is often the case in Egypt, if you stray away from the main site with tons of tourists there will be some groundskeepers that will very happily show you something or even open a gate to bring you to places you shouldn't be visiting, for a small tip. Usually, you don't even know this is happening until it's a bit too late. Twice in our visit to Karnak this happened.

Pylon entrance to Karnak, with ram headed sphinxes.

The central aisle of the hypostyle hall.

More proof that Hillary Duff is immortal.

Columns in the hypostyle hall, with a tourist for scale. They're really huge!

The columns are full of hieroglyphs, originally brightly colored.

Some original coloration remains in the shadier areas.

Hypostyle hall selfie.

Obelisk at Karnak. Many in Egypt were taken to Europe over the years.

Colorful columns.

Sunset at Karnak.

Chilling by some Egyptian carvings on the back of the temple of Ptah.

Another pylon at Karnak.

Bundle of heads of enemies that the pharaoh smote.

Secret chamber art that we tipped some dude to see.

Gates inside gates.

The hall in the Temple of Konshou Ramesses III.

A room in the Temple of Konshou that was restored by a team of Italian preservationists.

Random statue in the temple of Ptah.

After exploring Karnak for more than two hours, we strolled along the corniche to the south looking for a cafe or restaurant. We found a place called Marina that was right on the Nile and had a variety of small dishes and non-alcoholic drinks. We shared some lentil soup and and okra and beef tagine. The tagine was really great, and is probably one of the better dishes we've had so far in Egypt!

Paul enjoying his tagine & soup.

After running around the west bank on our second day in Luxor, day three was dedicated to visiting the Luxor Museum and Temple. Our first stop was the Luxor Museum. This museum is small-ish, but has a good collection of antiquities from the temples and tombs of the pharaohs. Highlights include a collection of mummies, including one returned to the people of Egypt by the people of Atlanta, and a series of statues and items unearthed in 1989 in Luxor.

At the museum we had another interesting cultural learning moment. Like we mentioned in our Egypt posts in general, there are a lot of Chinese tourists in Egypt now. They've helped fill in the gap European and American tourists have left since the revolution. The Egyptians have mixed feelings about them. One thing we have noticed is that some of them like to touch things in museums, much to our chagrin. While we were looking at a statue a Chinese woman walked up and reached her hand out over a barrier to touch it. David instinctively gasped and whispered "no!" and she panicked, looked at him and then walked off. David felt embarrassed to have done that to her, but DO NOT TOUCH is so ingrained in our American brains that it was just a reflex!

The hotel breakfast buffet was actually really good!

Statue of Thutmose III in the Luxor Museum.

Sopek & Amenhotep III from around 1350 BCE.

Akhenaten, depicted in the short-lived Amarna style.

Embracing the rays of the sun (also Amarna style).

Mummy that was likely a pharaoh, donated by the Michael C. Carlos Museum in Atlanta.

Mummy toes.

The lighting and quality of the exhibits at the Luxor Museum are really excellent!

Whatever the opposite of a six pack is.

After the museum, we walked along the corniche towards the Luxor Temple, a one kilometer stroll. This temple is 3km south of Karnak and originally had a line of sphinxes connecting the two. Now the government is working to unearth the sphinxes with the thought of eventually creating a pedestrian pathway between the two temples.

The actual temple of Luxor is a good bit smaller and less ornate than the one at Karnak. If you only have time for one temple, Karnak is the one to see. Luxor temple was partially preserved because of the addition of a church and mosque within part of the structure. The mosque is still active and has a separate entrance.

The Nile is polluted but still supports wildlife.

Lots of boats along the corniche. We talked to a little kid who works on one of the boats for a bit while sitting alongside the Nile.

Primary pylon with one remaining obelisk. The second was taken to Paris in the 1800s.

Tons of art in the Temple of Luxor as well.

David taking some photos in front of the papyrus columns.

Jumping shot!

Obelisk at Luxor.

Paul chilling at Luxor.

After touring the temple, we decided to walk to Wenkie's German Ice Cream for some buffalo milk ice cream. We found it by searching online, and it had great reviews (it's also listed in the Lonely Planet guide book). This little shop is a 1 km walk south of Luxor Temple, about a block off the corniche. Here a German married couple make and sell their own special ice cream. We sat for a while and talked with one of the owners of the shop, which was not very busy, despite having very nice ice cream.

She explained to us the impact the revolution has had on tourism in Luxor and how life has become harder for foreigners as a result; it was a two year process for her to get approval from the government to open an ice cream parlor for example. She explained that tourism has been hit so hard recently that shop owners, taxi/horse/boat drivers have all become more aggressive and it's become a concern for how it's risking putting off tourism in general. Their business has been hard hit by the lack of independent tourists, and we definitely noticed very few travelers like us, exploring Egypt mostly on our own. The majority of tourists we've seen have been large tour groups, especially Chinese tour groups. The rest of the tourists seems to mostly be older Americans or Europeans, also on organized tours. We sat and spoke with her for about 30 minutes above the situation in Egypt and the world at large before heading back to our hotel for the evening.

The rest of the day, our last in Luxor, was spent watching the sunset on the Nile and eating dinner at the Egyptian restaurant in our hotel called Olives. The restaurant features a variety of overpriced Egyptian staples, but the quality is pretty good.

Our last sunset on the Nile!

It was crazy windy and cold in the evening today!

David enjoying a trio of wines.

Dinner at Olives was delicious.

No trip to Egypt is complete without a trip to Luxor. The city, despite its rough edges, is attractive and houses a marvelous collection of antiquities and stunning vistas of the Nile and adjacent mountains. The people here are striving to create a better experience for visitors, and despite trouble caused by the drop in tourism from the Revolution, there are signs that people are returning and life is improving.