After some post balloon rest and a swim it was time to visit Luxor temple. It is one of the two main temples in the area, the other being Karnak temple which is connected to this temple via the Avenue of Sphinxes which was created to help transport the gods that reside in Karnak to visit the god Amenemopet at Luxor.
In front of the temple were two obelisks and both were gifted to the French government by Pasha Muhammad Ali in return for the clock near Muhammad Ali Mosque in Cairo. The smaller obelisk was successfully transported to Paris and now resides in Place de la Concorde. The second obelisk was too heavy to move thus remains. The French government eventually ‘returned’ the second obelisk to Egypt which is ok, the clock given apparently rarely worked.
I liked the night visit, we had seen similar temples recently and seeing this one light up dramatically was a nice end to the day.
This visit was interesting in another way, our guide Mohamed’s family has lived in Luxor for generations so he had some stories. He told us how the temple was filled with debris almost 50 feet high. Houses and buildings operated inside the temple grounds and a mosque was built. Eventually the grounds were cleared and now the entrance to the mosque Mohamed’s grandfather used is now 50 feet in the air.
This was our last stop with Mohamed who has been with us for the past eight days. No matter where we went on the cruise Mohamed was there when we arrived with a smile and full of information. Kim and I both caught colds part way though the trip (happens when jet lagged) so we have had persistent coughs. Mohamed was getting over a cold as well so was in the same condition, we were quite the trio. Made it easier to locate each other in a crowd though… Thank you Mohamed!
We returned a second time to a restaurant Mohamed recommended, Restaurant El-Kababgy on the Nile waterfront. In Egypt pigeon is a delicacy, I had some in Cairo and had to try this restaurants. Twas very good!
