Happy to get out of the craziness of Cairo, I was up at five am and heading to the airport for my flight to Luxor. From the airport I immediately found a taxi, again agreeing on price before I got in, and headed straight to my hotel. Being that I arrived so early, my room wasn’t ready, so I relaxed in the reception area and continued planning as I waited. I noticed that one of the guys at the desk spoke English really well and asked if he minded sharing with me his thoughts on what I was thinking about doing with my time in Egypt. He happily responded that he would be glad to and immediately pulled up a chair next to me and began asking questions about where I had been, where I wanted to go, and when I had to leave. After about thirty minutes or so he had called a few “cousins” and arranged the remainder of my stay in Egypt, taking care of everything from transport to and from the airport, booking tickets for trains, planes and busses, tours to the sights I wanted to see, hotels all along the way, and saving me money at every turn as well. If that’s not getting lucky I don’t know what is! After just a few more minutes my room was ready, I took a shower, and headed to The Temple of Karnak, the largest temple in all of Egypt, and the main structure, the Temple of Amun, which is the largest religious structure ever built. The twenty minute walk along the Nile River was absolutely amazing.
I cannot explain the feeling of walking along the banks of the Nile, staring across at palm trees, Mosques, Felucca Boats, all backed by breathtaking sand covered mountains and dunes. Once I reached the temple grounds I sat for a minute just taking in the beauty that stood before me. Sitting on a bench my eyes followed the line of palm trees that lead to the entrance of the temple.
All I could think to myself was, “…how is it possible that I am sitting here, on the steps of the Nile, about to enter a temple that was built by the ancient Egyptians over 4,000 years ago?!” I was already in awe and had not even crossed the entryway yet. After sometime on the bench I made my way to the alleyway of sphinxes that welcome you to the arches of the entrance.
Once inside I entered The Great Hypostyle Hall, a religious monument so grand that it’s 5,500 square meters could house both St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s Cathedrals. Sitting at the base of one of the 134 pillars that filled the hall was completely and utterly surreal.
From there I spent the next three and a half hours just wondering the over two square kilometers of the temple grounds. Walking around with my guide book and no schedule I was able to listen in on other peoples tours, linger as long in any given spot as much as I liked, and most importantly, go off on my own to explore areas of the temple where no one else was around.
The latter almost getting me into a bit of trouble. At the far south end of the enclosure I found a path that led to the Temple of Khonsu. As I approached, one of the temple guardians came my way and asked if I was alone or with a group. When I let him know I was alone, he told me he was going to show me something special but I had to be very quiet and I couldn’t tell anyone. By now I was used to the fact that for a couple of pounds gaurds would let you into locked rooms or through closed gates, but this time it seemed slightly different, and as it turned out it was. We first passed through a closed gate, into a dark hallway, passed through a locked door, and finally entered a room that was behind a curtain. In this room I was treated to the most brightly colored and best preserved hieroglyphics I had seen throughout the whole of Egypt.
While I was snapping some photos another guard came over and yelled something in Arabic to the guard I was with and immediately the guard I was with ran over, giving the other guard the keys to lock us in the room. I was absolutely freaking out to say the least. I was told to be very quiet and that we would have to wait five minutes or so because there was a police guard outside who would arrest the guy I was with if he was caught showing me the room. Assuming this was a way to get money out of me I pulled out some change and offered it to the guard, but he refused, saying he didn’t want to go to jail. Waiting a few more minutes the other guard returned and I was rushed out of the room, through the hallway, and around the corner to another area in the temple. After being shown a few more sculptures, hieroglyphs, and carvings the two men told me to take care and sent me off. I once again offered them a few pounds for letting me into this area of the temple, but they once again refused, simply saying thank you. Amazing. From there I wondered a bit more, just thinking about how cool it was that I had just seen an area of the temple that very few people have ever or will ever see. Just a little bit more of my good luck in Luxor. That night was very windy, cancelling my plans of going to the Luxor Temple (separate from the Karnak Temple, although connected by the Great Alleyway of Sphinxes) and hung out at the hotel with Ahmed, the guy who took care of my bookings for the remainder of my trip and his cousin Aladdin who seemed to be the guy to run the show at Hotel Nephertiti. Next morning I was again up early to begin my tour of the Valley of the Kings and the Temple of Hatshepsut.
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