Enduring Luxor

This past weekend I ventured down to Luxor by train to discover the ancient gems of this sweltering city. I was traveling with Akanksha, my roomate, and Rhiannon, another American intern living in Cairo. We boarded an overnight train on Thurday and arrived early the next morning. We had been warned that the weather would be brutally hot in Luxor as it is quite far south of Cairo, actually in what is called "Upper Egypt". The Nile runs from the South to the North, so Upper Egypt is considered to be Aswan and Luxor while Cairo and Alexandria, cities in the North are known as Lower Egypt. Quite contradictory thinking! We set out to Karnak temple directly to make the most of the cooler temps and were not disappointed by this impressive site. 3000 years ago Luxor was the religious center for the Middle Kingdom and so this Temple was expanded and modified by each King during that period to show his reverence for their many gods. One of its most impressive areas is Hypostyle Hall, which is a maze of towering columns covered in Hieroglyphics. Supposedly, the area it covers would be big enough to house 12 Cathedrals. What is even more fascinating about this place is that some of the color is still preserved on the walls. I cannot imagine how it must have looked in color, breathtaking no doubt!
After a siesta and dip in the pool we reemerged in the evening to see the Luxor temple, which would have been connected to Karnak by an avenue of sphinxes back in the day. They are about 3 or 4 miles apart and now the city has been built up between them. This place is surreal because it is in the middle of the city running directly next to the main road. One minute you are in modern day Luxor, the next you are standing in an ancient ruin surrounded by statues of deities and Pharonic Kings. There is also evidence of the Roman presence shown by statues built under Alexander the Great. They even placed some of their art over the hieroglyphics in some temples, like ancient graffiti.
Saturday was devoted to the important sites on the West Bank, our hotel and the two Temples are on East Bank or the side of the living, where the sun rises. The West Bank is the land of the dead, where the sun sets, and where the Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, and Hatshepsut (sp) Temple are located. For this we decided to have a tour guide and an airconditioned minivan as the sites are spread out and it would be insane to see them all without short breaks from the heat. It may seem that I am dwelling on the temperature a bit much but it was a real concern for us as it was 115 F and the threat of dehydration or sun stroke was very real! Thankfully, our guide, Aladin had a sense of humor and extensive knowledge of the area to keep our minds off the weather and focused on the living history we were viewing.
The Valley of the Queens was the burial place of Queen Nefertiti and many others including Princes and children. An interesting note is that only 80 tombs have been discovered, yet in some of the translated ancient script the Scribes wrote of more than 200 being placed in this area. So there are many undiscovered tombs containing untold treasures. The Valley of the Kings was also vast and expansive with much larger more elaborate tombs. The walls of these tombs were painted in vibrant detail and they went much further into the ground than any of the Queens. The tradition was to begin building the tomb for a King when he ascended the throne and to stop when he died. So the longer the reign the more impressive and cavernous the tomb.
Unfortuanately, by the time we visited Hatshepsut Temple everyone was feeling fatigued and tired so we just took a few pictures and jumped back into the van. Even our guide did not go into great detail about this place sensing that we were in need of rest and shade. Later in the evening we made it onto the Nile for another felucca (boat) ride to a place called Banana Island. There we ate some of the locally grown fresh fruits and watched the sunset amongst the palm trees. This was a green, fertile area, in stark contrast with the dry, barren desert that was out of the reach of the annual flood waters.
Our final day was spent in the museums where we saw mummies of Ramses I, crocodiles, cats, and also many marvelous ancient statues. The collection included ancient pieces taken from the nearby temples and tombs.
By the time we were boarding the train for Cairo I was throughly satisfied and overwhelmed by our trip. Although, I still need to process everything we saw as it is difficult to comprehend the skill and craftsmanship required to produce such longlasting, beautiful structures. A final thought is that any attempt to summarize or describe this place and its monuments inevitably cannot convey their magnificence and grandeur, but I hope I can give some sense that I am so grateful to have these opportunities to explore and to learn. Egypt is one adventure after the other!