Fly To Luxor - Temple of Karnak / Temple of Luxor / On Board The Viking Osiris!

 September 16

Today we were up EARLY and on the bus by 6 am to get to the Cairo Airport.  Considering there were nearly eighty of us (including the program directors) we sailed through two levels of security, checked bags and were on time for an 8 am flight.  Landed ten minutes early at 8:50 in Luxor and identified our luggage before the Viking staff whisked them away to the ship.

At the Temple of Karnak we discovered it was a massive complex.  In ancient Egypt it was believed that this was where creation began and so it was a HUGE elaborate complex.  Here's a overhead diagram of what it looked like in ancient times with the places we visited labeled......

The first thing that you just cannot see in the photos is the massiveness of the entire thing.  The "First Pylon" which is one of ten "gates" had to be at least forty feet thick and over 100 feet tall.  Just enormous - AND the entire complex was surrounded by a 50 foot or more mud wall.  And as you approach there is an avenue of Sphinx leading to the gate.  This "avenue" went from this temple complex all the way to the Temple of Luxor several miles away, which we visited later in the afternoon.

The First Pylon

The First Pylon - CLOSE UP

The Avenue of the Sphinxes

The Avenue up close

Temple in the courtyard

Close up of one of the Sphinx

Once through the first pylon you enter the first, open courtyard which is as far as the average citizen could go.  In the courtyard there were dozens more Sphinx statutes.  The last paired pic is a close up of one of those - at least twenty feet tall and these were NEVER USED.  Lined up on the side of the courtyard for later use, but never used.  WOW.  But clearly the highlight of any visit here is the Great Hypostyle Hall Of Pillars.  The 134 pillars - yes, ONE HUNDRED THIRTY-FOUR - cover over 50,000 square feet.  All of Westminster Abbey in London would fit in this hall!  The pillars in the middle are tallest and are nearly EIGHTY feet tall.  It would take - and our guide has tested this - at least ten people holding hands arms extended to encircle ONE pillar.  They were JUST STUNNING.  And to think that they are over 3500 years old.  The colors you can still see - ALL original, restoration policy is that there can be no altering of the colors.

And SO many of the inscriptions are still SO clearly defined.  This is a "cartouche" which is like the name or signature of the pharaoh.

The last thing of note in the complex we visited was the obelisk of Queen Hathshepsut.  It stands nearly 100 feet tall and it was originally one of a PAIR of obelisks.  It is the tallest obelisk in Egypt.  The other toppled over and was destroyed in Biblical times during an earthquake.  The top 1/3 was originally covered in pure gold.  After this we saw the Sacred Lake, the Inner Sanctum and then headed back to the bus as it was much hotter here in the south of Egypt - and drier.  In fact we were told if you had a standard sized pool in your back yard here in Egypt and the water was 12 feet deep.  If left standing the water would be completely evaporated in less than a year!

We departed the Temple of Karnak, stopped for a brief movie at the Luxor Heritage Center and then traveled five minutes to our waiting ship, the Viking Osiris which is one of the newest ships in the Viking fleet.  Let me tell you - we've been on many Viking ships (this is our 15th cruise with Viking!) and this is the most gorgeous ship we've been on, especially as a river ship.  And EVERYTHING is bigger including our stateroom (a veranda stateroom on the second level).  We learned that the two couples we've spent a lot of time with, both are in suites on the third level which has a living area and a separate bedroom.  They took us up for a tour and those are NICE set-ups, but for me personally I wouldn't want to spend the money for it.

We unpacked, had the obligatory safety drill and took a break before it was time for the "Port Talk" detailing tomorrow's activities.  Then we set out on our final excursion of this long day as we went to the "other" temple at the opposite end of the Avenue of Sphinxes, the Temple of Luxor.  In many ways this was a close-copy of the Temple of Karnak.  The complex itself was smaller and it was nearly over run with Ramses II statutes and writings/carvings.  When Ramses II took it over, more than 100 years after it's completion he re-did the temple to honor himself :)

Temple of Luxor First Pylon

Ramses II at entry of Temple of Luxor - closeup

There were originally two Ramses obelisks but Egypt gave one to France (see the write up from Day 2 when we visited the Mosque of Mohammed Ali in Cairo)

A relief on one wall with SIXTEEN princes of Ramses II (who had over 100 children).  Note not only are EACH son depicted in different clothing and hair style, but in the blow up on top, EVEN their facial features are different!

What's noteworthy here is that these carvings are on the back of one of the Ramses II statutes in the courtyard.  But between the rock and the carvings dirt had settled and stayed there for over 3,000 years so when uncovered these are as precise and clear as when they were originally carved!

We returned to the ship at 7pm just in time for dinner.  Enjoyed the evening with the two couples we've begun to hang with and turned in around 9 pm.  Tomorrow we set sail northward to Qena where we have an afternoon (2 pm) excursion to the Temple of Dendera.  I'm excited to see this because several months ago on a Viking TV preview of this itinerary I asked which temple would impress us most and I was told this one!  Check out that clip below.

NOTE:  We were told today that the Internet connection on the ship is via telephone so it is often slow and spotty.  So patience please if there are days when pics/journals are late in being uploaded!