{"id":573,"date":"2023-10-24T13:12:20","date_gmt":"2023-10-24T13:12:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bastet.tksair.com\/?p=573"},"modified":"2025-11-03T22:17:30","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T22:17:30","slug":"chosen-of-places","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bastet.tksair.com\/index.php\/2023\/10\/24\/chosen-of-places\/","title":{"rendered":"Chosen of Places"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Avenue
Avenue of the Rams<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Oberoi Zahra spent the night in Edfu before continuing to our next destination, Luxor. We had another pleasant morning heading north punctuated by something to peak a nerd’s interest, passage through the Esna Locks. There are two barrages<\/a> across the Nile in the city of Esna, one built in 1906 with a single lock (always open) and a second with two locks built in the 1990s that also supplies electricity. From what I have read this passage can be a choke point on the Nile for river cruises however we were thru both sets of locks in about 40 minutes. Of course the sales folks were present yelling to get the passenger’s attention to view their wares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Approaching
Approaching the first barrage in Esna.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Another
Another Nile crusier.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The
The sales folk hook on.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Entering
Entering the first lock. Don’t run over the sales folk!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Entering
Entering the second lock.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Say
Say hello!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Getting
Getting ready to go down.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Changing
Changing levels<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Getting
Getting ready to go.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We arrived in Luxor in the early afternoon, a cleaner and calmer city than others we have visited so far. Luxor was originally called Thebes which had a group of temples called in ancient times Ipet-Isut, \u201cChosen of Places” and one of the largest is the Karnak Temple. Built over 1000+ years by many Egyptian rulers this sprawling complex has much to talk about, too much for a blog entry. My favorite section was the Great Hypostyle Hall, built between 1290\u20131224 BC. The tall columns which are heavily inscribed and some have retained their paint making this place a true sight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My favorite tale Mohammed told us involved Hatshepsut, a female. King and her nephew and successor Thutmose III. Hatshepsut became regent of Egypt upon the death of her husband (and half brother) Thutmose II due to Thutmose III being too young to rule. Also being the daughter of a pharaoh Hatshepsut eventually decided she should be pharaoh and made Thutmose III. Hatshepsut’s reign was a prosperous time and many major construction projects where undertaken including the Great Hypostyle Hall. and the erection of two obelisks at Karnak. Upon her death Thutmose III decided to have her name removed monuments. He also wanted to have her remaining obelisk (one fell in an earthquake) removed however the the priests nixed this idea. Instead Thutmose III had it walled in, which in shielding it from view also preserved its color better for today. Ahh, the impulses of the powerful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Avenue
Avenue of Sphinxes (Rams Road) and the first pylon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Inside
Inside Karnak<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Statue
Statue of Ramses II with Nefretari<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Hypostyle
Hypostyle Hall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Hypostyle
Hypostyle Hall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Hypostyle
Hypostyle Hall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"This
This says Ramses II<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Hatshepsut’s once hidden obelisk.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Inside
Inside the Temple of Thutmose III. It later served as a church.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Inside
Inside the Temple of Thutmose III.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The
The view from Temple of Thutmose III.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The
The Sacred Lake which is naturally connected to the Nile.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Ramesses
Ramesses III Temple<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Our guide Mohamed grew up in Luxor and his primary school was on what is now expanded Karnak temple grounds next to the Avenue of Sphinxes, also known as Rams Road. Can you imagine going to school next to a place like this as a child?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Pretty
Pretty much the site of Mohamed’s old school.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Our final stop was at the Luxor Museum. The museum is striving for fewer, quality pieces displayed well and it certainly does that. Mohamed’s favotite statue here is the statnding statue of Thutmosis III. Very intricately carved, it is a remarkable work considering the time it was made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Amenhotep
Amenhotep III<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Thutmosis
Thutmosis III<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Close
Close up of the Thutmosis III statue<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Statue
Statue of the scribe Amenhotep<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Thutmosis
Thutmosis III sitting<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"King
King Amenhotep IV<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"At
At rest<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"A
A sarcophagus built for … one!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Egyptian
Egyptian Mummy Coffin and other related burial items.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Canopic
Canopic jars for the organs from mummys. The falcon-headed jar (Qebehsenuef) is for the intestines, the baboon-headed jar (Hapi) is for the lungs, the jackal-headed jar (Duamutef) is for the stomach and the human-headed jar (Imseti) is for the liver.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Oberoi Zahra spent the night in Edfu before continuing to our next destination, Luxor. We had another pleasant morning heading north punctuated by something to peak a nerd’s interest, passage through the Esna Locks. There are two barrages across the Nile in the city of Esna, one built in 1906 with a single lock … Continue reading “Chosen of Places”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,43,45,41,27],"tags":[13,44,46,42,29],"class_list":["post-573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-egypt","category-esna","category-karnak-temple","category-luxor","category-nile","tag-egypt","tag-esna","tag-karnak-temple","tag-luxor","tag-nile"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bastet.tksair.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bastet.tksair.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bastet.tksair.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bastet.tksair.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bastet.tksair.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/bastet.tksair.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":640,"href":"https:\/\/bastet.tksair.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573\/revisions\/640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bastet.tksair.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bastet.tksair.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bastet.tksair.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}