Luxor is where the pharaohs who ruled Egypt from this southern city are buried. Tutankhamen is one such pharaoh. I spent two blistering hot days down there where the temperature reached 47 degrees Celsius (117 Fahrenheit).
The first day I stupidly rented a bicycle and rode 2 km to the Temple Karnak. I was sweating like crazy but managed to wander around the temple with 2 water bottles and without a guide. Here's a photo of some statues at the Temple.
At one spot in the temple, I managed to get a guard to show me around for 10 Egyptian pounds (2 USD). He took me all around this older part of the temple, even to the rooftop. He made me crouch down and sneak out there, acting like we weren't supposed to be there. I played along and kept my head low until he told me to stand up and take this photo. Afterwards, he made me promise not to tell anyone.
That evening, I took a felucca cruise on the Nile River. A felucca is basically an Egyptian sailboat. It was nice but didn't really blow me away. Below is a sunset photo.
Day 2 in Luxor was my visit to the Valley of the Kings, a temple and the Valley of the Queens on the West bank of the Nile. I went with an organized tour from my hostel and got a great guide. These two Americans went on the tour the day before and got a guide who didn't know anything. I was pretty impressed with our guides knowledge but sadly don't remember most of what she said. I do remember that all the colors were the original natural colors which is pretty impressive considering the age of things there. Photos were not allowed in the tombs.
We went to a temple built by a queen who ruled Egypt. Below is a photo of me and some Egyptian guy who insisted on getting his photo with me. Kinda odd but I went along with it.
Below is a photo of a drawing of the queen. Her head is missing because her son that succeeded her did not like her and ordered her image removed.
That night I got back to the hostel and plotted to get a train ticket back to Cairo. I had heard from others at the hostel that the train was sold out for the next 4 days. I decided to spend more money and take the sleeping train. I paid a premium at the hostel for my ticket because the guy told me the train was sold out and he got the ticket on the black market. It definitely was not sold out because I was in a double room on the train and no one showed up for the second spot in the room. I got a chuckle out of the sales job the guy did on me. Below is a photo of the bed on the sleeping train. It was much more comfortable than the train I took down to Luxor and I managed to get a couple of hours of sleep.
The first day I stupidly rented a bicycle and rode 2 km to the Temple Karnak. I was sweating like crazy but managed to wander around the temple with 2 water bottles and without a guide. Here's a photo of some statues at the Temple.
At one spot in the temple, I managed to get a guard to show me around for 10 Egyptian pounds (2 USD). He took me all around this older part of the temple, even to the rooftop. He made me crouch down and sneak out there, acting like we weren't supposed to be there. I played along and kept my head low until he told me to stand up and take this photo. Afterwards, he made me promise not to tell anyone.
That evening, I took a felucca cruise on the Nile River. A felucca is basically an Egyptian sailboat. It was nice but didn't really blow me away. Below is a sunset photo.
Day 2 in Luxor was my visit to the Valley of the Kings, a temple and the Valley of the Queens on the West bank of the Nile. I went with an organized tour from my hostel and got a great guide. These two Americans went on the tour the day before and got a guide who didn't know anything. I was pretty impressed with our guides knowledge but sadly don't remember most of what she said. I do remember that all the colors were the original natural colors which is pretty impressive considering the age of things there. Photos were not allowed in the tombs.
We went to a temple built by a queen who ruled Egypt. Below is a photo of me and some Egyptian guy who insisted on getting his photo with me. Kinda odd but I went along with it.
Below is a photo of a drawing of the queen. Her head is missing because her son that succeeded her did not like her and ordered her image removed.
That night I got back to the hostel and plotted to get a train ticket back to Cairo. I had heard from others at the hostel that the train was sold out for the next 4 days. I decided to spend more money and take the sleeping train. I paid a premium at the hostel for my ticket because the guy told me the train was sold out and he got the ticket on the black market. It definitely was not sold out because I was in a double room on the train and no one showed up for the second spot in the room. I got a chuckle out of the sales job the guy did on me. Below is a photo of the bed on the sleeping train. It was much more comfortable than the train I took down to Luxor and I managed to get a couple of hours of sleep.
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