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Back in Cairo, I picked up visas for Sudan and Eritrea and on the following day, went early to the huge bus terminal behind the Ramses train station where I found a bus going south as far as Nag Hammadi about 100 km from Luxor. The driver, Ali Ahmed Ali was very friendly and felt responsible for me as I was the only westerner aboard. This is the main street of El Minya about 200 km south of Cairo.
It was getting dark when we reached the Nag Hammadi bus terminal. Ali warned me about the Islamic Brothers' strategy of attacking tourists to embarrass the government and told me to be very careful. The Luxor bus had left so Ali introduced me to the driver of a bus going to Qena, 50 km further. By now, it was dark and the police had installed several barrages. At Qena the driver, whose name I forgot, dropped me off at the barrage at the entrance of town and entrusted my safety to the police on duty there.
The police told me they were on the alert because a local branch of the Brotherhood had killed a Dutchman some weeks ago in Hurgada on the Red Sea coast. I was quite safe with them but it was a bit exciting nonetheless. Four armed policemen jumped into a jeep and took me 5 km across town to the Luxor road barricade. There, they stopped a taxi that was going to Luxor with a norwegian couple and I got in with them.
It was late when I got to Luxor but there were still a lot of people in the main streets and I had no trouble finding a budget hotel. I had no trouble falling asleep either for it had been a long day.
The next day I rented a bicycle and went sightseeing starting with the Luxor Temple shown here, right in town. There is a lot to see around Luxor for it is the site of the "City of Amon", capital and burial place of the Pharaohs of the New Kingdom (1570 to 1070 BC), later called Thebes by the Greek.
Built by the New Kingdom Pharaoh Amenophis III, the graceful Luxor temple was added to over the centuries by Tutankhamun, Ramses II, Alexander the Great and various Romans. Arabs even built a mosque in one of the courts.
The Oasis Hotel in Sharia Mohamed Farid had rooms for 2 US$ a night and rented bicycles.
South gate of the great Karnak Temple complex built on a site reserved for worship for over 1500 years. During the Old Kingdom (2600 - 2200 BC), the object of worship was a triad of gods, Amon the male reproductive force, Mut the mother and her son Khon the moon god. In the Middle Kingdom Amon became predominant and the original Amon sanctuary of Karnak's main enclosure was built. Finally most of what can be seen today, the great pylons and colonnaded halls, were built during the New Kingdom (1570 - 1070 BC) while Amon evolved into Amon-Ra linking with the old kingdom sun god.
West entrance of Karnac Temple (first pylon)
Below on the left, the First Courtyard of the temple and on the right, the First Hall of Columns.
Below on the left, the Hatchepsut obelisk. On the right, the Second Hall of Columns.
The modern tourist boats in the background tie up on the right bank of the Nile where Luxor and Karnak await them. The fabled Valley of the Kings is about 12 km inland from the other shore of the Nile. You can get across on a ferry or on one of these traditional feluccas.
The Pharaohs were buried in the Valley of Kings and their wives in the Valley of Queens, both hidden in the hills behind this ridge. The desert plain from the Nile to here was a vast city of the dead studded with temples such as this magnificent Hatchepsut Temple and the tombs of nobles.
Valley of Kings
Valley of Queens
The Ramses III Temple at Medinat Habu near the road leading into the valley of Queens.
The colonnade in the first courtyard of the Ramses III Temple.
Ramses III, of the 20th Dynasty (new Kingdom, ), was the last great military Pharaoh. His successors were weak, past her zenith, Egypt would be taken over by the Kushites from the south who formed the 25 Dynasty, By the Assyrians who created the 26th, by the Persians, by Alexander the Great in 332 BC and finally by the Romans in 30 BC. After Ramses III, Egypt began its long descent that brought it to what it is today.
