Cruise Down the Nile - Luxor

After our time in Cairo, we caught an early morning flight to Luxor.  Luxor was the starting point for our cruise down the Nile aboard the Royal Lily.  KW and I were met at the airport and taken to the Royal Lily.  We were there early so the gentleman that met us at the airport arranged a short excursion around Luxor before the activities began.  We used a horse and buggy for our trip around Luxor.  I noticed that at most of the major stops that we made, this mode of transportation was available.  It was easier to ride around in the buggy that it was to ride upon a camel.  I definitely am a girl of the west.

This is what the pool on the sun deck of our cruise ship was set up as when we first boarded.  We definitely felt that we were on an upscale cruise ship.  Now, how do they make those?

While KW and I were on our trip around Luxor, we were able to go inside this Coptic Christian Church.  Mass was being said while we were in the church.  I don't know for sure, but I suspect that it may have been a special service in memory of Pope Shenouda III, the patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church, who had died two weeks earlier. The picture below shows one of the clergy walking up the aisle towards the front of the church.

 

When you first enter the Karnak Temple, after running the gauntlet of sellers, you are met by this diorama of Karnak Temple.  After seeing this you walk to the temple and see it as it exists today.  The diorama did not really prepare me for what I was about to see, or the sheer size of some of the statues.

On this picture above, and in many of my other pictures taken at temples, you will be able to see colours on the walls, the columns and statues.  This is the original paint.  They have not been touched up.  It is truly amazing to realize that what you are looking at was created 3 to 4 thousand years previously.

These next pictures were taken at the Luxor Temple.  Although there were similarities between these two temples, you could also see that each one had a different role in Egyptian life.

Before Luxor Temple was excavated, this door into the Abu Haggag mosque, was at ground level, roughly 48 to 50 feet above the ground level of Luxor Temple.  The picture below shows a fresco that was unearthed during the excavation of the temple.  It is from the early days of Christianity in Egypt.  During the various tours of other temples, sign from these early days of Christianity were often seen.