We arrived from Cairo to Luxor by an overnight sleeper train. That in itself was quite an experience. We were ushered to a room with a wide train seat with a table between us and a window for viewing. There wasn't a lot of viewing because it was already dark by 7:30. About 30 minutes later, we were brought hot dinners served on a tray by our steward. Washrooms were at the end of our sleeper car, but in our sleeping berth we had our own enclosed vanity with sink and running water, and a complimentary bottle of drinking water. Everywhere we went, our guides had provided us with cold bottled water. Water from the taps was not for drinking, only washing. When our steward came back for our dinner trays, we asked him to make up our beds. We had not slept well on the 12 hour non-stop flight to Cairo and then touring the sights in
Giza and Memphis all day. I had the bottom bunk (yay!) and "Dee" took the top. It was a good sleep for me. (I like the rocking motion of the train and I was so tired, I could have slept upright), but it was an interrupted sleep because of the lurching motion, stops and starts, and lots of other passing trains. We were awakened at 4:30 because we were due to arrive in Luxor at 5:30. At 5 A.M. they brought us a hot breakfast of eggs and potatoes, and lots of different kinds of breads and spreads. A guide met us to take our luggage and take us to the
Sonesta St. George, where fortunately we were able to board right away and shower and have a nap....our first GREAT sleep since we left Toronto. When we awoke, we had a self tour of the boat and went to the dining room at 1 P.M. for a buffet lunch. Have I described how everything was luxurious on board? We met our Egyptologist Ahmed, who would be travelling on board with us and would be our guide for the next four days. Our first tour was the Karnak Temple.
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| Avenue of ram-sphinxes in front of temple gates |
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| Just inside gates looking into first court. Colonnade of Taharqa to the right of centre. |
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| Just inside gates looking left at Shrine of the Theban triad |
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| At the end of first court looking down the columns of the Great Hypostyle Hall |
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| Sacred lake for washing and ablution of the high priests |
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| Top of fallen obelisk |
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| Hieroglyphs on one of two standing obelisks |
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| Tops of obelisks once were covered in gold and silver |
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| Looking down the Great Hypostyle Hall |
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Looking towards the top of the Colonnade of Taharka
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The obelisks are amazing, it's like they were just carved recently! I wonder how they kept their hieroglyphs so proportionate and... perfect! What knowledge. And your pictures translate the hugeness of the ruins very well, Susan. One can only imagine how all of this looked all those thousands of years ago.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe that you went to visit sites right off the plane without even resting first, but then again when I went back to France for the first time in 17 years, my flight was about 12 hours as well (with a stop), I couldn't sleep on the plane either, and then I hoped in a car and drove another 10 hours to my brother's apartment! I'll bet that nap on the boat felt really really good!
You did write a couple of posts about your cruise. I think you said you thought you had lost the first post but I could still see it. That cruise ship looked amazingly luxurious and I know you felt very pampered. As you should!
Yes we can only imagine how grand they were all those centuries ago....because in fact, all those drawings were coloured. We saw examples of colour inside some of the temples and the tombs where they were better protected against the elements.
ReplyDeleteWhen I got home on my desk top computer, I found that my first entry about the ship did go through. My blackberry did not indicate that the post was even written. It just disappeared. So I was happy that it had worked, but had I known, I would have tried to write more while I was away.
I think it was adrenaline that kept us moving through that first day. I cannot imagine having to drive for ten hours after a flight like that.
Adrenaline and coffee... I was very tired that evening, though!
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