An adventure to Luxor City – Day three

Another day in this beautiful Luxor city started. Birds chippering, calm wind breezing, and my sense of adventure kicked in. I decided that I will go try this amazing spot on the rooftop that Mr.Taha showed me yesterday night (in case you missed it here is a link), and as I expected it is even more beautiful in the morning. The view of the Nile River from the top is just magnificent!

I had my breakfast up there with my friend while we plan how we will spend our last day in Luxor City. Today it is going to be all about tombs, so exciting! We called Ahmed (The horse wagon “Hantoor” driver that we met on day one), we agreed on a spot and time to meet, and off we go on another adventure.

We met at the same spot that we did yesterday and took a ferry. In the company of Ahmed and Bob, and his hoofs clopping through the streets of Luxor City, we reached our first destination, the Karnak Temples.

This place is huge, it is 1500m by 800m and is considered the largest religious building ever constructed! Developed more than 2000 years ago, dating from around 2055 BC to around 100 AD. Here is a picture of the Karnak Temple map, you can see it down here.

Karnak Temples map, Photo: Ahmed Taha

There are too many sections as you can see on the map of Karnak Temples, I mean after all, it is the largest religious temple that was ever made, but the highlight of that temple are The Great Court, Ramesses III Chapel, Hypostyle hall, Tuthmosis III Hall, The Sacred Lake, Thutmose III Pylon, Temple of Ramses III, Temple of Ramses II, Temple of Khonsu, and multiple other small temples.

When you first walk in, there is a hall that has most of the historical facts about this temple and a 3D design of it and how it generally looks and is constructed. I also read about the Gods they used to believe in, and since they had many I will tell you about the one that I personally liked, The Goddess Maat.

The Goddess Maat represents the ethical and moral principle that every Egyptian citizen at that time was expected to follow throughout their daily lives. They were expected to act with honor and truth in matters that involve family, the community, the nation, the environment, and the gods.

Maat as a principle was formed to meet the complex needs of the emergent Egyptian state that embraced diverse peoples with conflicting interests. The development of such rules sought to avert chaos and it became the basis of Egyptian law. From an early period, the king would describe himself as the “Lord of Maat” who decreed with his mouth the Maat he conceived in his heart.

Maat’s decleration of purity, Photo: Ahmed Taha

Once you start the tour in this huge temple complex, the amount of statues temples, and hieroglyphics that you will see is just on another level. Actually, most of the temples in Luxor city are within The Karnak Temples complex, and it also has paths made by the ancient Egyptians that lead to other temples around Luxor city such as Mut Temple, and through Sphinx Avenue, you reach Luxor Temple. We took those paths to visit the other temples as well.

The Sphinx Avenue (in Arabic: طريق الكباش) is 2.7km long.  It was a long walk, but worth every step. Along the road you have all these statues lined up until you reach Luxor temple. It is amazing how many statues they made for their gods and kings.

Photo: Ahmed Taha

After the whole tomb adventure that we had, we got tired, and again time was flying by without being noticed. We got back to the guest house and had a wonderful dinner and some drinks on the rooftop, saying goodbye to the magnificent Nile River as this was our last night in the city.

Finally, my inner child was a bit satisfied, he wanted more, but it is enough…for now… There will be many more adventures around the world yet to come.

Ready for new adventure, Photo: Ahmed Taha