Early Monday morning we transferred from the Cairo Nile Ritz to the Cairo Airport and boarded a private charter flight to Luxor, Egypt.
Petroleum Air Services (PAS) provided a charter flight.
Ahmed was our Viking tour guide throughout the Egypt portion of the trip.
TEMPLE OF KARNAK IN LUXOR
Upon landing, we boarded a bus to the Karnak Temple. Karnak is currently the second largest ancient religious site in the world and dates back over 3700 years.
Gate at Karnak.
Approach to gate through the Sphinx.
Columns in the Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak. The 136 columns are 70 feet tall and arranged into 16 rows and once supported the roof. Standing beneath them, it’s hard to imagine how the Ancient Egyptians—without modern technology—could have found and placed so many enormous columns. More than 30 pharaohs contributed to the building of this huge temple complex.
These obelisks are almost 100 feet tall.
One of the oldest obelisks from the ancient world—the Obelisk of Queen Hatshepsut—still stands. The obelisk, which weighs 450 tons, was sourced from extremely durable granite from quarries near Aswan and was expertly transported by boat along the Nile.
We could have spent the whole day at Karnak Temple, but the tour moves on.
The Colossal Statue of Pinedjem.
Looks like stone carving would have been a good trade back then.
Original colors are still found throughout the Karnak Temple.
AVENUE OF THE SPHINX
Discovered just ten years ago, a one and a half mile promenade runs between Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple.
There are 1,265 sphinx lining both sides of the promenade.
The Avenue of the Sphinx restoration is in progress. Some of the sphinx have been removed from the empty pedestals and are being restored.
VIKING RA
We boarded the Viking RA in time for lunch. RA is the Egyptian god of the Sun.
Our ship, Ra, traveled 267 miles on the Nile during our seven day cruise from Luxor to Aswan and back. We learned that 100% of Egyptians live within 12 miles of the Nile.
The staff came out to greet us as we boarded the ship.
There were only 48 passengers on board for this one week cruise.
Our room (202) had a balcony.
All the staterooms are suites.
The Sun Deck (top deck)
The Pool Deck
Muster Call
Temple of Luxor
After dinner, we left the ship and boarded buses for a two mile trip to the Temple of Luxor for an evening tour. The Temple of Luxor is not far from Karnak Temple. Built around 1400 BC by Amenhotep III and Ramses II.
Luxor's entrance was once much grander; where today only two seated statues and a single obelisk guard the temple, two obelisks and six statues would have welcomed locals who visited the temple. One of the obelisks and several statues are in Paris. In 1989, during a period of restoration, a cache of 26 statues were found here, buried by priests in Roman times.
Ramses II
The lighting on the evening tour added to the beauty.
Luxor was the spiritual capital of Egypt for 15 Centuries.
2 comments:
It looks like a great trip, and your stateroom looks huge compared to the Uncruise rooms!! Glad to see that Kurt is up and smiling after his food poisoning.
Was a great time. Have lots more days and pictures to post.
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