Thieves in the Temple (Cairo - Luxor)

Now I don't mind an early start, dear reader, as you know well. However, I draw the line when a 4:30am departure comes as a surprise the day before. It meant a 3:00am rise to put our bags outside our room and ensure we were fed before the bus trip to the airport. There is nothing in the Travel Marvel literature that indicated we needed to be up that early. As someone remarked at breakfast, "We met people who were coming home from a night out".

Breakfast was the usual organised melee except some stations never opened. Sadly fresh fruit was one of the casualties. Nonetheless we were by the bus at the appointed time, ready to extend our suitcase handles as requested. I couldn't decide if this was to check that everyone was there or that all the luggage was there or both.

The bus trip to the airport was without incident. The security check at the airport was bizarre in a country that loves a bazaar. We managed to get through the first security check with a full body pat down. Unusual. They had different lines to separate the genders.

After surviving the first round with the metal detectors and x-ray machine, we went to the airline desk, en masse and were issued with our boarding passes. Then it was time for another security check. No really. Another x-ray machine for all our carry-on and I mean all, including shoes, watches, glasses - we may as well have stripped off and walked through naked. It would have saved them needing to pat us down for a second time, on the other side of the metal detector.

The flight to Luxor was 50 minutes, up and down pretty quickly. The only thing of note was the view out the window. The desolate landscape showed significant shaping by water erosion which must have dated back to pre-1960s when the Aswan Dam was built regulating the bi-annual flooding of the Nile. As we drew closer to Luxor, the 'new' farming scheme of reclaiming the desert by building up the soil and irrigation was clearly evident. Strips of green or paddocks of brown where the silt has been deposited crept further away from the oasis into the desert.

Then it was out into the baggage collection zone where confusion reigned supreme. As is usual, people crowded the carousel ensuring little access for those with manners or the patience to wait until their bag was visible. The far side was empty of life so I went to stand there. Looking across at the crowd I could see our guides removing all the tour-tagged bags. Some people had managed to collect their own luggage. Mine never made it to where I was standing. No instructions regarding bag collection had been issued. 

At first sight not so amazing.

A little more interesting.

As it eventuated, our bags were travelling independently to the ship and we were straight on to our bus and heading for Karnak Temple. The air here is clearer than Cairo and there is more greenery but the population is also much smaller at around 2 million people. The main crop is sugar cane, although banana plantations were also in abundance along the Nile. The trip to the temple was smooth but much less entertaining - nothing like Cairo traffic with its constant near misses and dices with death.

Not yet completed.

We have noticed many incomplete buildings with steel rods protruding from pillars on an upper story. Our guide told us the reason for this strange phenomenon. In Egypt, tax is paid when the building is completed, so if its incomplete there is no tax. Dodgy.

The crowd and the pillars.

The temple complex is massive and the crowds were reminiscent of our trip to the Vatican many years ago. I likened it to the crowd on grand final day. From our perspective, the temple complex is far more impressive than the pyramids. It covers over 80 ha (200 acres) and is a series of temples, chapels, pylons and obelisks. It was constructed and then expanded over a period of 2,000 years, with each successive Pharaoh adding their own touch. (Why does Google post my photos in reverse order when I drop a bundle of them?)

A series of sphinxes.

Graffiti from 1850.

A pillar. The colour is incredible.

Memories of the cathedral/mosque in Cordoba, Spain.

Apparently Egypt invented the wheel. Needs some refinement.

Cartouches on the ceiling.

The avenue of pillars.

A Ramses II sphinx.

Excavation at the site continues and new statues and artefacts are continuously being uncovered. The grand scale of the complex, the massive columns lining the walk to the newer temples is breathtaking. It delivers the same wow factor as walking into any cathedral or basilica we visited in Italy. And probably cost as much.

After that amazing experience, it was time to board the ship, the Travel Marvel Sirius, receive our first port talk/orientation, unpack and have lunch. The ship has been refurbished and its first voyage under the TM flag only occurred in September so they are still working out some of the bugs. There are some obvious issues with the refurb, like suitcases not fitting into the space under the bed and the double glazed windows not sealing properly, rendering the noise reduction factor ineffective. First world problems.

To board the ship, we had to walk through 3 other ships that were docked alongside. We have experienced this before on the European river cruise so it was not unfamiliar but it does show that Nile cruising is a big tourist thing; confirmed shortly after as we witnessed a constant stream of ships, cruising past our stationary home in both directions.

The 'queen' bed. Hmmm. Interesting.

After lunch, we visited the Temple of Luxor, almost 3kms away down the avenue from Karnak Temple. The avenue was a paved road lined with sphinx statues, aptly named the Avenue of Sphinxes. In its heyday, it would have been an impressive walk or intimidating, depending on your station in life. Similar to Karnak are the immense pillars etched with stories of Egyptian life or the cartouche of the Pharaoh.

This temple has been used as place of worship for over 3,000 years. Established by the Egyptians before  Roman occupation and then conversion to Christianity and the Islamic period, it has seen the worship of many gods. Today there is a nearby mosque and the minaret is visible from many parts of the temple complex. A power play perhaps, like Catholic churches occupying the high point in towns in Australia.

The Avenue of Sphinxes.

Columns and statues.

Tutankhamun and his wife, Ankhesenamun

The minaret next door.

Ramses II

The entrance to the Temple.

From the temple, a small number of us had opted to visit the Luxor Museum. Unlike the others we have seen, this one is on a much smaller scale. Quality, not quantity it was explained. As an amalgamated group we had a different Egyptologist, guiding us who was just as good a tour guide.

The display was indeed small but with that came a diminished crowd so it was a more enjoyable, less physically jostling experience. Most of the items on display were discovered at Luxor.

Isis and Osiris.

My favourite Pharaoh, Ankenhaten.

A wall from the Temple of Ankenhaten.

The only blight on the visit was having to stand around for over 15 minutes while some of our fellow non-Australian passengers perused the gift shop and took a ridiculous amount of time to decide on some purchases. Apparently it is OK to inconvenience the convicts.

On the drive back to the ship we passed the Luxor Temple which was an even more spectacular at night under lights. Unfortunately, there was no time to stop for photos as the welcome reception was scheduled for 7 pm and we made it back with virtually no time to change. 

Dinner was a la carte dining, during which we witnesses the Egyptian way of celebrating a birthday - loudly with singing and drums before the cake is presented. I started madly calculating how many days we will be on the ship and whether I can avoid a similar display on my birthday. Happily we will be disembarking on the morning to head back to Cairo.

During dinner, we also learnt that the 2 glasses of wine limit that was announced back at the Cairo hotel, is very rubbery- it seems that our waiters either can't count or didn't get the brief so our glasses were replenished throughout the meal. Some passengers will be disgruntled, no doubt, as we have heard that some went out and purchased boxes of wine to bring on board in anticipating of "The Big Dry". 

After dinner, a belly dancing performance was on offer but no one from our group attended. After a very long day starting at 3 am, it was time for bed.

Finally, the title for today, Thieves in the Temple is by Prince back in the 1990s. Why? There were always thieves in the Egyptian temples which is why so much of their history has been lost. Although you can find a lot of it in the British Museum.

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Memphis (Cairo)

It was another hazy start to the day, dear reader. I would have settled for lazy but we had to be bus-ready by 7:30am. The breakfast offerings were the same, although a little less chaotic due to a decreased number of patrons. We dined al fresco in the cool Cairo air.

Good morning Cairo. *cough cough

First stop today was the stepped pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara. It was some way out of the city and at stages, we drove parallel to an irrigation canal. Its other use was as a dump. There were floating islands of plastic and other rubbish stretching from one to the other. In other parts, it was a thick weed that carpeted the surface. Garbage spilled down the embankment. We were told only catfish survive in the filthy water. Diggers were positioned in varying spots pulling bucket loads of mud/rubbish/silt from the depths and depositing it on the side of the road. Our guide informed us that the government was in the process of covering the canal in to stop local children swimming and fishing in it. The thought of falling into its murky depths made me shudder. The concept of voluntary entry was inconceivable.

The stepped pyramid was obviously an early version of the great pyramids, a time before limestone capping was utilised. The haze detracted from the view, but icon images were still available. We also walked through a funerary and were able to see collapsed pyramids and a temple nearby. I'll let the pictures tell the story.

Stairs leading down into the burial chamber.

Cobras.

Iconic shot of the vendor looking for a sale.

The funerary.

A stone door hinge.

A hazy view.

There was an opportunity to see inside one of the smaller pyramids. A chance not to be missed. The ramp in was low and narrow and levelled out into a passage way that had a standing space midway to the two rooms. The hieroglyphics were in remarkable condition and the colours were still clearly evident. The rooms were very small and hot and there was precious little air.

Inside the second chamber.

Hieroglyphics in the first chamber.

The ramp.

We then visited another building where the pharaohs sought approval from the gods for another thirty year tenure, if they made it through the first thirty years. Or, if the population was unhappy they would go through the process to prove the gods approved of them. All with the help of the powerful priests. Religion for controlling the masses and maintaining power. Not a lot has changed has it?

There was another offer to go inside a pyramid. This one had a longer, steeper ramp before accessing the tunnel. I was at the head of the line when one of our group came out and suggested it wasn't worth the effort. A quick glance at his photos confirmed this and I returned to the bus.

Our last stop in Saqqara was at a carpet school. Egypt is very proud of its cotton and its carpets. This school produced carpets of cotton, wool and silk. We were treated to a demonstration of how they were had made. The local children attended the 'carpet school' to learn the skills but were also provided with a general education. The speed with which they threaded the fabric through the strands of the loom was amazing. The carpets were undoubtedly beautiful, well most of them; there were some weird designs. It required months to make one square metre so needless to say they were extremely expensive.

After Saqqara we headed for Memphis, a former capital of Egypt. Most of the display was in the open air. Apparently they began excavating foundations for a building and came across a number of statues of Ramses II. Excavation stopped and digging commenced to unearth the find. The larger most complete statue of Ramses II is now in the Grand Egypt Museum.

There were many songs about Memphis that came quickly to mind, but Memphis by Joe Jackson was the winner for today.

En route to the hotel, an afternoon visit to the markets was discussed. It was pretty obvious our guide did not want to go. An hour's drive for an hour at the 'trashy, souvenir' style markets and then a possibly longer drive back. We had a 3:30am start tomorrow and sensibly opted not to go. There will be other market opportunities later in the trip.

The tower is a different colour again.

Sunset or sand?

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