First Day in Luxor

Have been relaxing an the deck of our cruise ship this afternoon. Now that the sun has set, I am ready to come inside and give an update on Sunday.

Our train arrived in Luxor on Sunday at 5:30. We transferred right away to our hotel wehre got some much needed coffee with our wonderful breakfast buffet. We didn't have to leave until 7:30 so we again had time to relax. There were some hot air ballon tours of the Valley of the Kings going on which were fun to see with the morning sunrise.

After breakfast we headed to Karnak Temple and spent about 2 hour seeing the biggest temple in the world. It took over 2000 years to build. Everything about it is large from the pylons to the columns and obelisks.  There is even a statue if a giant scarab beetle - the Egyptian symbol of good luck and fertility. Some of us walked around it 5 times as we made a wish as doing that us said to make wishes come true. :-)

We also went to a perfumery and sampled different perfumes and essences that can cure just about any ailment. We had lunch and then toured Luxor Temple. Originally there was a 3 km road between the 2 temple that is now being excavated an restored. It is taking quite a while partly because there are homes and other buildings on top of the road and those have to be bought by the gov't and removed. I am hoping I can get back here whenever that road is done.

After time to relax, we took a horse - drawn carriage ride through Luxor. This was very interesting and eye opennig as we drove through many different parts of town, including some poorer neighborhoods where we saw local markets and small shops that specialized in one area such as produce, meat, bread, dresses, cloth, hardware...etc, There were barbershops, tailors ans laundromats - every store was just tiny. The shopkeepers were visible and there were lots of children playing in the streets. We also saw coffeeshopa with men hanging out smoking their sheesha pipes, watching soccer or playing dominoes.

We made a stop where has a coffee, tea or soda and got to try the sheesha pipe ourselves. Lots of laughs and fun, but it is just very mild tobacco smoked through a water pipe. All in all it was an interesting and eye opening experience.

Today we went to Valley of the Kings and Hatshetsup Temple before boarding our ship. Will give more details on the next post. Tomorrow we take a felucca ride in the morning and have the rest of the day to relax. I should have plenty of time to post.