Today
we were to revisit Karnak and Luxor
Temples. Time is limited on the cruise tours and Ray still hadn't seen the
sacred lake so we were looking forward to a leisurely wander. This morning we
even had time to have our breakfast at the hotel. There was the usual vast array
of choices. Ray was amused because we were asked if we wanted a smoking or non-smoking
table and the smokers got to sit inside in the air conditioning but the non-
smokers were sat outside in the heat - exactly the opposite of our own country.
Hussein as usual was early and we all climbed on to the minibus for our 2 kilometre journey to Karnak. We appreciated the early start; it was a bit cooler, with more shady places and far fewer tourists about. Hussein explained the layout of the temple to us and even though Amin's talk had been good, we got much more information from Hussein.
He pointed out details that we had previously missed including a section of carved alabaster floorwhich had originally covered the whole of the floor in the hypostyle hall. This had apparently been taken away over the years and used in private homes and was gradually being unearthed and returned.
The hypostyle hall with its 18.5 meter columns leave me in awe of them when I look up, but on previous visits I had not really looked at the wall carvings, depicting the battle scenes of battles fought by different pharaohs.
Hussein also explained that before Rameses II most carvings were bas reliefs, but he wanted his carvings to last for ever so they were carved deep into the stone. We took a photo of Ray's hand in one of these carvings and it sinks as deep as his knuckles.
In the courtyard of the obelisks on the eastern wall, the two boats of Amun and the king are depicted that were used during the festival of Opet to transport the sacred barque to Thebes.
He explained about Hatshepsut's 4 Obelisks, only one of which is still standing and is the largest in Egypt, reaching 29.56 meters and how the writing on it explains her reasons for having them made.
Across from this Obelisk and near to the lake is the top part of another of Hatshepsut's fallen obelisks also covered in hieroglyphs.
There is also considerable rebuilding work going on at Karnak and we were told that the authorities are demolishing parts of Luxor itself in order to restore the avenue of sphinxes between Karnak and Luxor temples. They are also hoping to rebuild the canal and quay where the sacred barque used to be brought into the temple for the Opet festival.
At long last we reached the sacred lake.
Ray
was not disappointed, yes he actually was there, but however he was getting
very hot and we decided to go up to the café and have a cup of mint tea.
Whilst we rested we chatted to Hussein asking him about his life. It must be
wonderful to do his job, spending days revisiting the ancient sites and talking
about a subject you love, but I suppose, like any job it must have its drawbacks.
After a while we carried on. At the western end is a huge granite statue of a scarab. Tourists are told that if they walk round it 7 times they will have luck in love.
We continued round the outer walls of the temple where restoration work is in progress.
We looked at a distance at the outdoor museum where several statues in various states of repair are stored.
There was also Hatshepsut's red chapel that has been rebuilt from its original red granite blocks. By this time we were getting really hot and tired again, we have still not seen everything there is to see at this magnificent site of Karnak, but we hope to come again and maybe next time there will be even more reconstructed temples to see.
We
returned to the waiting Rageeb who took us on to Luxor
Temple. This temple was mainly built by Amenhotep III and Rameses II. Many
festivals were held here in ancient times, the most important being the festival
of Opet. The statues of the gods were carried from Karnak by barge to Luxor
Temple, where Amun and his wife Mut celebrated their "honeymoon" once
a year. The time was used for feasting and merrymaking and during the festival;
the people were allowed to ask favours of the gods. After the festival the gods
would be carried back on their sacred barques by the priests along the road
lines with the rams headed sphinxes to Karnak. 
Although Amenhotep II built the first temple of Luxor, the front pylon was built by Rameses II and 2 large statues of Rameses sit at either side of the gateway. There were also 2 large obelisks over 75 feet high in front of the pylons, but one is now in the Place de la Concorde in Paris. The pylon and courtyard beyond this is out of alignment with the front pylons, which may be to avoid shrines that were already there or could be to align the pylons with the processional way to Karnak.
On the top of the side wall in this courtyard there is the 13th. Century Mosque of Abu'l Haggag, which had been built on top of the buried ruins of Luxor temple. We were told that the temple beneath the mosque was discovered when somebody tripped and discovered stone blocks underneath the sand. The temple was then excavated but this was done without disturbing the site of the mosque.
The court was built by Amenhotep II and decorated by Tutankhamun and Horemheb and is well preserved. In one of the antechambers, the reliefs have been painted over and there are Roman paintings still visible on the walls.
At the moment the East wall of the colonnade hall is being restored and although a lot of the reliefs are fragmented, the restorers have filled in what the carvings would have looked like. The processional colonnade of Amenhotep III is 100 meters long and lined by 7 papyrus columns, each side standing 63 feet high. At the south side are 2 seated figures of Amun and Mut. Decoration of the walls stopped during the Armana period but were continued by Tutankhamun and his successors and finally completed by Seti I. These depict the journey of the barque of Amun from Karnak to Luxor during the festival of Opet in each direction on the opposite walls. Beyond the colonnade is the sun court of Amenhotep II, which was later used and decorated by Alexander the Great. In 1989, workers here found a huge pit containing a large quantity of statues which had been hidden in antiquity, including a life sized statue of Amenhotep II in red granite.
At the back of the sun court is a hypostyle hall, described as the court of appearances, leading to a smaller chapel, later used by the Romans. A further room behind this chapel is described as the birth room and shows scenes of the divine conception of Amenhotep III.
On the wall is a carving of the God of fertility, Min. The image of his Phallus has grown shiny from being touched because it was considered that if a woman touched it she would conceive.
At the rear of these rooms is a barque room for holding the barque shrine and in this room are removable stones which were probably used by the priests for making pronouncements. There was certainly a lot to see in this temple. Although a lot of the stones are missing, one can imagine the atmosphere of ancient times. There is much to take in and no matter how much we were told there is always more to learn. No doubt we will be back again one day.
Luxor Temple was just across the road from our hotel, so Rageeb had not waited for us this time and Hussein walked us back to the hotel before bidding us farewell for the last time.
We had another lazy afternoon then we got ourselves ready to go to the Karnak sound and light show. We were met again by Rageeb and taken to Karnak. To our surprise he had a parcel for Ray; his galabiya, we didn't expect it to be ready so soon. Rageeb gave us the money to buy our tickets then showed us where he would be waiting when we finished.
The show began with all the audience standing by the entrance to the temple.
As it grew dark the music started followed by the commentary. We walked a little
way then the commentary re-started and spotlights lit up the relevant parts
of the temple. The procedure continued until we reached the back of the sacred
lake and we were then seated on the tiered benches behind it. The show then
continued with lights and background music, telling the story of Karnak, it
was quite magical. All too soon it was over. On our way out we bought a DVD
of the show. As we were guided out of a side gate we could hear the next show
in another language in progress. Rageeb was waiting for us and took us back
to the hotel.
It wasn't very late so we walked around the gardens and went for a shisha, then had a couple of beers, listened to the singer and then went back to our room.
