Temples, Valleys and a little bit of Pool Action

July 23-26

After some of the most rejuvenating sleep I have ever encountered, we were up and ready to tackle Luxor and its overabundance of ancient treasures.

Our first stop was Karnak Temple: one of, if not the most impressive (and largest) religious structures ever built. Construction started in the Middle Kingdom, when Egypt's capital was in Thebes (modern day Luxor), and continued through the Ptolemaic period.

We spent hours exploring its multitude of rooms, colossal pillars, innumerable statues and imposing obelisks. It never ceases to amaze me that an ancient civilization was capable of such enduring architectural and structural feats over 3000 years ago, while Josh and I couldn't even put up an Ikea shelf in our apartment that lasted more than 30 minutes!

As usual, we sauntered through the temple at midday, and due to the 50 degree Celcius weather and unrelenting sunshine, we were exhausted and dehydrated rather quickly. We sought refuge in our hotel, the wonderful and hospitable Oasis Hotel, and would wait until late afternoon before venturing out again.

Just before sunset, we set out for the lovely Luxor Temple. While many times smaller than Karnak, it always holds a special place in my heart. I'm not sure what it is about it: maybe the layout, the intactness of its statues, or how many rulers during Egypt's long history have built upon it; from Tuthmosis III (the founder), Alexander the Great to the Arabs, who integrated a mosque into its structure.

The following day, we had arranged a guided tour of some of Luxor's famous West Bank monuments. We were joined by a group of international med students doing an internship in Mansoura, Egypt: Chris and Matt from Poland, Yasmin and Doina from Romania and Delphine from Quebec. The final member to round up our crew was Hiro from Japan.

We had a great day exploring the Valley of the kings, visiting the tombs of Ramses I, III and V. We also viewed the only three accessible tombs at the Valley of the Queens. The tombs chosen by our guide were all very beautiful, with the colours and hieroglyphs looking as though they had been painted a few years ago rather than a few millennia! They're in this state because photography is not allowed, so sorry, no pics.

Later, we visited the impressive mortuary temple of Hatshepsut, the first female 'King' of Egypt. While 80% of this temple is reconstructed, it is in no way less impressive and remains one of Luxor's iconic temples and what most Westerners have in their mind as the quintessential Theban temple.

On our way back, we stopped at the Colossi of Memnon for a quick pic just seconds before ten tour buses stopped and swamped the monument.

That evening, we accompanied our new friends for dinner and followed it up with some sweets, tea and a game of cards.

Having seen all the antiquities we intended to in Luxor, we had most of our third day to relax before boarding our night bus to Dahab on the Sinai Peninsula.

Our friends were kind enough to invite Josh and I to their hotel pool, and with the outside temperature soaring to an incomprehensible 53 degrees Celsius, nothing could have been sweeter, or more refreshing!

Luxor, while not having as many tourists as my previous visit, still boasted an impressive amount of Westerners, providing a glimmer of hope that Egypt has the potential to recover faster than I had pessimistically predicted.

Inshallah Misr, Inshallah