A 4:00 AM wake up call started our day as we flew south to Luxor (originally Thebes).Observation: I had more issues going through security at the various museums/sites than I did at the Cairo airport.
Upon landing in Luxor, we hit the ground running catching our coach (bus to you Yanks) to tour the temples at Karnak and Luxor.
The Temple to Amon-Ra at Karnak, to me, was the most impressive site I visited (Amy’s was Ramses II’s temple at Abu-Simbol, but more on that later). The temple complex was built and expanded over the course of 2000 years, overseen by over 30 pharaohs and exceeds 240 acres in area. The most impressive part was the Hypostyle Hall and its 134 hieroglyphic covered columns reaching over 75 ft. in height. Include the two still standing obelisks and this site was simply amazing. I really could have spent all day here.
I wish we would have seen the Luxor Temple first today. While its large statue of Ramses II and its Avenue of Sphinxes leading up to its entrance was impressive, it just paled in comparison to Karnak.
After a morning of touring these two facilities we checked into our Nile cruise boat, The Royal Serenade, for the start of our 5 day Nile cruise. At it turns out the people in our group are the only ones on board, which will make it even more enjoyable.
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