Luxor, Egypt

It has been a while and so much has happened since my last blog. We spent
time in Safaga, Egypt, which is the port city where we docked. I didn’t do too much wondering around that area because there wasn’t much to see. The port itself was barren and covered in trash and debris. Not a great first impression but I’ve been to Egypt before and I know what kind of mind-blowing sites there are to see. This trip I took a crew tour into Luxor. I know in Vegas there is a Luxor hotel with a giant pyramid in front but actually there are no pyramids in Luxor, not that I saw anyway. They do have The Valley of the Kings though. This was our first stop on the tour. They drove us all through the desert for four hours to get there. Even though it was only sand and dirt, the view was amazing. The road winds through mountains until all of sudden the land becomes green. This is the area where the water from the Nile River irrigation reaches to. We passed through a small town and could see people getting ready to pray and kids running around outside. Their houses didn’t seem to have any doors or windows and the roofs were made of hay or straw. I kept thinking how different it would be to grow up in a place like that, but I guess if that was all I ever knew I wouldn’t know what I was missing. When we finally made it to the Valley of the Kings our guide informed us that photography was not allowed and we must leave our cameras behind. So unfortunately I don’t have any pictures but it was an
amazing site to see. The Valley of the Kings is where all of the ancient tombs
of Egyptian royalty were found. They haven’t even uncovered all of them yet
because each one takes so much work. When they built the tombs they would hollow out a passageway in the side of the mountain and decorate it and fill it with treasures so whoever was kept there would have everything they needed in the afterlife. All of the dirt and rocks they took out of the mountain they then used to pile on top of the entry way to hide it and preserve it. I’m not sure how people knew where to look but most of the tombs were robbed before anyone from present day was able to uncover them. But even without the treasures these tombs were amazing to see. All of the paintings on the walls and ceilings were mostly still intact and still with vibrant colors. We walked by the location of King Tut’s tomb but it wasn’t open to go into. After we drove away it seemed even more impossible that someone would know where to look because they were buried so deep in the mountains.

Now on our way to the Karnak Temple our guide gave us the opportunity to
ditch the bus and cross the Nile in a boat. That was one of the highlights of my day. I never imagined that one day I would be cruising down the Nile River on my way to see an ancient temple. The Karnak Temple was amazing. It’s continuously baffling how these structures were built with no modern equipment. I can tell you how they were NOT built however. Our tour guide informed us contrary to a very popular American belief, the temples and pyramids were not built by aliens. So all you Americans out there who thought aliens came down just to create a pyramid and then left, you are way wrong. Our guide wasn’t too found of the kids from the US. He didn’t think women were particularly intelligent either so you can imagine how much he loved me.

On the way home after our 12 hour day I was listening to my headphones and looking out the window at the scenery. A full moon lit sky bouncing off the desert mountains. It was very helpful that most cars on the road didn’t have headlights so they weren’t ruining my view. Just when I thought it couldn’t get more beautiful I saw a shooting star! I had never been so disappointed to end a four hour bus ride in my life. It was only slightly better that my usual route from Boston to New York.

Sidenote: The pictures are taking a lifetime to download so I will post them at another time!