We began in Luxor, known as Thebes during the ancient times. It served as Egypt's capital during 2055 -- 2004 BC and 1550 -- 1069BC. Amenhoptep III, who was 2 Pharaohs before King Tut (Tutankhamun) probably made the greatest contributions to these temples We visited 2 temples in Luxor: Karnak and Luxor. The most impressive thing about these temples was their size. Karnak holds the largest religious temple ever built and was built to honor Amun, the King of Gods. 81,000 people toiled to build this complex spreading over 2 square km. The religious structures are surprisingly disorganized as they would start with one Pharaoh and each successive Pharaoh would add on to the current structures/finish ongoing projects from the previous Pharaoh. The second temple, Luxor temple, was also built to honor Amun, but was more used for the annual festival, the Opet Celebrations. A 3 km walkway is currently being excavated that was lined with 3000 human headed sphinxes. Today only about 100 remain, but it's still impressive.
One of the most interesting, although less glamorous visits belonged to the Valley of the Kings, which contains 63 magnificent tombs. You may remember that the contents of King Tut's tomb toured the US about 2 years ago. Yep, his tomb is located here. King Tut was a rather unimportant Pharaoh, but all of the other tombs were robbed and their treasures dispersed throughout the world. So if you saw his impressive burial treasure in Philly (or elsewhere), you can only imagine the riches kept in some of the more important Pharaohs. However, the tombs in and of themselves are still impressive, mostly due to the practically perfect preservation. They are all built into the mountain-side and share a similar pattern. You descend down a long hallway on an east-west axis (representing the Egyptian belief that life parallels the sun: rising/beginning in the east and setting/ending in the west). into a main chamber area. There are normally several small rooms adjacent to this area and then a large room that contained the sarcophagus. The tomb was meant to represent a home for the Pharaoh in the afterlife. Since the the afterlife was more important to ancient Egyptians then their actual life, tomb construction would being immediately upon becoming Pharaoh. The most amazing part is the large walls were filled completely with hieroglyphics that dealt with the afterlife and the Pharaoh's existence in it. Not just hieroglyphics remain, but also the 3000BC year old paint job that went along with it! That includes painted ceilings, usually of a night sky or painted pictures of Gods/Goddesses.
Our next visit was to the most beautiful temple -- that of Hatsheput, the most famous female Egyptian Pharaoh. Pharaoh is actually an exclusively male title, although few women throughout history had that title. Women ended up ruling when the Pharaoh suffered an untimely death and the mother/sister of the successor ruled until her was old enough.
Hatsheput declared herself Pharoah in 1473BC when Tuthmosis III was too young to rule. Upon taking power he attempted to cover her name at existing temples (destroying any structure at a Temple dedicated to the Gods was considered blasphemy) essentially attempting to erase her from history. I found her temple to be so magnificent because it is carved into the back of a mountain and leaves you in awe with its natural beauty. It also has the perfect mix of elegance, grace and power. Unfortunately, the temple was defaced over the years by Tuthmosis III (removing her name -- he could destroy the temple bc Hatesheput was a Pharoah, NOT a God), Akhenaten (the most controversial Pharoah, who attempted to change the most important God from Amun to Aten. Thus he erased all worship of Amun on the temple) and finally by Christians (who defaced Pagan worship).
We also visited the Temple of Horus, the Egyptian Falcon God, which was built during Ptolemaic times (237 BC). Thus, it had some Greek influence, including pillars decorated as trees. The Philae temple, which sits on an island in the middle of the Nile, is dedicated to a powerful Egyptian Goddess, Isis. She and her brother, Osiris, are responsible for producing all of the Egyptian Gods/Goddesses. As legend goes, Osiris was tricked by his brother, Seth, and killed out of jealousy. To be certain Osiris would never rule again, Seth took Osiris' body and cut it into 14 pieces and placed each piece in a different province in Egypt.
Isis searched for and found all the pieces of Osiris' body except for 1, his left eye. Using her magic she resembled the 13 parts of his body long enough to conceived their son, Horus. Osiris' fate is considered very unlucky, and this is supposedly the origin of "unlucky #13". Osiris is a much loved God and represents Lord of the Afterlife along with salvation after death, which are concepts important both in ancient Egyptian religion and Christianity.
The last temple, Kom Ombo, held special importance to me because of the carvings related to medicine along the back wall. This temple was dedicated to the Crocodile God, Sobek and also served as the site for the first medical school in the world. Indeed, the hieroglyphics show surgical instruments, anesthetic, medicines and even birthing positions!
I returned to Cairo from our cruise a little "Templed Out" (don't tell Alberto!) and filled with 100s of Egyptian historical facts. After saying goodbye to my new found 7 year old Australian friend -- she literally became attached to me after day 2 on the cruise) and getting caught in the middle of taxi drivers fighting over our business (police got involved), Alberto and I found ourselves on the bus to Dahab, a beach town on the Sinai Peninsula on the Red Sea. We came prepared for the 9 hour overnight bus ride with eye mask (thank you, British Airways!), and iPod, and travel pillow. This, unfortunately, was not enough to combat the extremely loud Arabic movie playing at full volume throughout the night.
After a few days in Dahab (I'll write about it) we decided to venture on a ferry to the country of Jordan, just across the Red Sea, to visit Petra, one of the seven wonders of the modern world. A journey that should take only 5 hours took 13, mostly due to inefficient Egyptian bureaucracy. Most of the extra hours were also spent in the Egyptian Ferry waiting area, built for discomfort and inspired by disgust. We passed the time with our new found Serbian friend, Ivan. Luckily, Petra was worth the wait.
Located at a higher elevation, my second first impression of Jordan was the same as my first: "This place is cold". In the morning we approached the park, hired a guide, Talat, and ventured inside. It's about a mile walk from the visitor's center to the first tomb. The walk starts ordinary -- hiking through a mountainous desert area. But soon you find yourself hiking through the Siq, or a canyon formed when an earthquake split the mountain in two. The sand color changes from beige to a swirling red, maroon, pink, orange, yellow and blue... forming magnificent natural murals on either side of you. Dazzled by the colors and rock formations, you forget that you are about to see one of the most beautiful human built structures on earth until it appears before you... first through a small crack.
As you near the end of the Siq the Treasury, or Khazhen, appears before you. It's a mixtures of Greek, Roman and Egyptian architectural influences built by the Nabataen people between 1BC - 1AD. [The Khazhen made an appearance in Indiana Jones and the search for the Holy Grail. It's the tomb supposedly where the holy grail is kept). For you Indiana Jones fans, you'll be disappointed to know that the inside of the Khazhen is quite plain and does not contain decapitating blades, a lettered floor, an invisible bridge, or the Holy Grail.]
Yes, and the Treasury is a misnomer, because at one time it was thought to hold treasures of a great Egyptian Pharoah. In fact, the Treasury is a tomb for one of the Nabataen Kings. Petra contains 100s of tombs, some of them extravagant with detailed designs, and others that are quite plain. It was kept secret by the local people for about 1500s of year, as they didn't want tomb raiders and others defacing the structures. It is to these local people that we owe Petra's pristine condition.
Alberto and I spent 2 days hiking and exploring the natural beauty of the park surprised in many spots by the sudden appearance of a beautiful structure carved into the mountain side. We saw the "Petra of Africa" in Lalibela, Ethiopia... but it doesn't compare to Petra-Petra.
After another adventure returning to Egypt, where I experienced a very lackluster quarantining experience for being American (Swine Flu!), we arrived back in Dahab in search of a dive shop to explore the underwater beautify of Egypt.
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