Oh, yes it was an actuality now. We left the beautiful city of Aswan for a historic one, Luxor. The Cruiser was owned by our hosts and therefore, was more than ready to give their guests the best it could. But for others it was no less hospitable. A picture of comfort and just full of amenities a tourist, and don't mind saying, with a heavy pocket might ask for. 
The Nile with its age-old beauty can be viewed from the closest quarters and one can have the feel of its lucid waters by watching it flow from the decks. God knows how many years it has been like this. So many cultures and civilizations have passed across the Nile leaving just memoirs just thereof and no more than that. But great Nile is a reality, still full of pure waters in midst of vast banks and also full of viewers from all corner of the world with an emphatic longing to cruise through and have a look at the ancient glory of a grateful nation scattered around its banks.
The morning rays tapped at our sleep and we found ourselves in vicinity of the valley of the kings, a place famous for its temples. The car sent by dear host was waiting at the shore to take us to the site located in a deep gorge in the rocky desert west of the Nile opposite Luxor. .
The Valley is hidden from sight, behind the cliffs, which form the backdrop to the temple complex. Though the most direct route to the valley is a rather steep climb over these cliffs, a much longer, shallower, route existed along the bottom of the valley. The Valley, known as Bibanel Muluk, “doorway or gateway of the kings and also as the Wadyein, meaning “Two Valleys,” is actually composed of two separate branches. The main eastern branch or “The Great Place, as it is usually called” is where most of the royal tombs are located, and in the larger, westernly branch where only a few tombs are found.
Not all the 62 tombs of the belonged to the king and royal family. Some tombs belonged to the privileged nobles and were usually undecorated.  All of them were not intact too. The powerful kings of the 18th and 19th Dynasties kept the tombs under close supervision, but under the weaker rulers of the 20th, the tombs full of hidden royal treasure as was the practice of the times were looted, often by the very workers or officials supposedly responsible for the creation and protection. In order to prevent further thefts, the mummies and some of their funerary objects were reburied in two secret caches, to be rediscovered merely two hundred years ago.
Visitors to Egypt have often journeyed into the Valley with a great enthusiasm to view the accessible tombs but with their
the valley of the kings. Pyramids are just great and there is no doubt about that. But take our word for the Valley of the Kings. It sis just stupendous and there are few places in the world to match the archaic charm of the place and its marvellous content. Valley of the Kings is hard to give a smile anything and is simply incomparable.
If there is some place which can take you away from Valley of the Kings for sometime than it is none other than the renowned city of Luxor, our next destination. Luxor has often been called the greatest open air museum of this universe. Yes, it indeed is and maybe much more. The number and preservation of the monuments in the Luxor area are unparalleled anywhere else in the world. Actually, what most people think of as Luxor is really three different areas consisting of the City of Luxor on the East side of the Nile, the town of Karnak just north of Luxor and Thebes, which the ancient Egyptians called Waset, on the west side of the Nile.
From hundreds and thousands of years and from the late dynasties of the Greek and Roman periods the city of Luxor has been drawing tourists and even at present it is well equipped to accommodate them with many hotels of various kinds suited to all budgets. A firmly based tourist industry is always ready and willing there to serve the people from many countries that descend on this area of the Nile Valley to view its great temples. Luxor Temple on the east bank of Nile is the first stop connected to the Karnak Temple via a long stone processional street called dromos. The dromos, picture at right was built by Nectanenbo I and originally was lined on either side by sphinxes. In front of the Luxor temple, the dromos is well preserved, and on the way to the entrance one passes by a Roman chapel of burnt brick dedicated to the god Serapis, no less a beauty in itself. To south of the temple there is a famous street and we found the colourful signs of restaurants and cafes as well as bazaars where the usual variety of Egyptian items can be found. There were masterly made clay pots used by the locals for cooking, which we found a bit more unusual.
After leaving Luxor, we headed back to Sharia al-Karnak and went north towards Karnak. Standing down the road was the oldest mosque of Luxor, the El-Mekashkesh Mosque. It contains the remains of a 10th century Islamic saint who was believed to be a monk prior to converting to Islam. The mosque is a popular pilgrimage destination and muslim tourists from India might find it a big attraction. Here also is the Franciscan Church and its schools, one for boys and the other for girls. About halfway to Karnak, we discovered the Luxor Museum, a place for great scholarly value. It should certainly be visited if one plans a well rounded trip with an educated experience.
A short distance away from the Museum and after crossing a small bridge we began to see the excavated dromos off the road and running through a small village. A little further on we passed the ruins of the Temple of Mut and then arrived at the domed tombs of two saints, Sidi Ahmed and Sidi Ali, where a road leads past the Department of Antiquities to the main temple of Karnak. The dromos with its crio-spinxes takes you to the entrance. They have the heaqd of a Ram and the body of a lion and are symbolic of the God Amun. There is a statue of Ramesses II at the start of the Karnak temple with his son between his feet. The temple is huge and magnanimous and takes you to the glorious past of Egyptian art and architectures. That is why the visitors all around the world come to see this great monument. There is a road close to it built along a canal that once connected the Nile to the Temple. A dock used to be there in ancient times, but now all that is left is the quay and the raised dais. Just past that is a red brick Roman clock and two paved ramps led to the river bank which are bordered by stone parapets. Behind these is the Chapel of Achoris, which receive3d the sacred boat of Amun when it was used in ceremonies. To the right is a structure that has red steps, a red front colonnade and red brick walls. Inside there are pedestals, inscribed with the names of Roman emperors that once held their statues. This was a Roman chapel dedicated to imperial worship. The place is a real pleasure for history lovers which is scattered here at every corner.
No visit to Egypt is complete without visiting Luxor. It is not only the big Karnak complex that holds the Great Temple within its walls but there is more to the ancient to generate a genuine tourist interest. To enjoy historic things with a taste of luxury one may take a trip- over the ruins of Thebes in hot-air balloon or a trip down the Nile in a hired felucca for river-view of Luxor and the ancient ruins. Our interest lied in the real Egyptian life so we sneaked off into one of Luxor's souks trying to get away from the tourist areas and lose ourselves in the bustle and colour of Egyptian street life. |
Cruising along the Nile…….
