This is looking back the way we came in from.

This is the temple that was next to Hatshepsut's it was where she got the idea for her temple. It was built by a very powerful Pharaoh, which is why she built hers the same.




The holes in the cliffs have been used for many things, tombs, shelter from enemies and also this area is famous for its alabaster which has also been mined in the cliffs.

Hatshepsut's Temple

This is the Temple of Hatshepsut and I promise this is the last temple. This is the lady I was telling you about, she gained great power by becoming regent to her son who she tried to keep ignorant of the skills needed to rule as she wanted to stay in power, she advised his tutors to keep him occupied learning things that were not of any use. But this did not work as the tutors taught the son everything he needed to know. Once he grew up and seized power from his mother he destroyed or covered up all things that had her name on or that she had built. This is why her obelisks at Karnak were bricked up so to speak.

Here is one of the number of statues of Hatshepsut that lined the facade of the three levels of the temple. The style is different to any other in that it is a woman but she is posed in a position that was only used for men and the colour given to her skin is the dark pigment that again was only used for men. Hatshepsut was trying to get the message across that she was as good as any man and she was a good ruler, it was just her method of gaining that power that was not the best.

As you can see there were a number of statues lining the front of the temple, this is the top level.

I find this interesting, the roofs of all the temples are painted with, or were in the beginning, stars in a night sky, this is to show that the temple was not of the earth but of the sky. The ancient Egyptians believed that there were things that roamed the earth that were dangerous and would more or less steal you soul, but by painting the stars on the roofs meant that the temples were not part of the earth but the sky and so all the evil things on earth then had no power there. This is also why the gods are depicted as having the heads of animals, they would protect the people from the animals they were.

Thought I would try a different layout, anyway this lake/pond at one point was attached to the Nile and when the boats carrying the statues of the gods came to Karnak Temple to be worshiped it would come up here and be carried into the temple from here. Also this was used for the priests to purify themselves aka wash. It is really quite scummy though we were told that several times they have tried to clean it out.

Here is the obelisk that I told you had fallen over or was pushed over, you decide

Ok this is neat, that is a scarab on the top of the pedestal, the point is if you want to have good luck you walk around it once, if you want to become wealthy you walk around it twice and if you want to become pregnant you walk around it three times. Let me tell you not many if any walked around it three times!!

Small, medium and large, just an idea of the scale of these things

Last thing I expected to see at a major tourist spot! PUPPIES they were so cute and the mother was totally not concerned about all the attention, in fact she was at the other end of the courtyard. You can understand why they thrive here though, there were containers put down for water and in the 3 minutes I was there three people put water down for them.

Karnak Temple

This is Karnak Temple the largest temple in Egypt, this is because each successive Pharaoh just kept building onto it!!












Here are two of the four obelisks that once stood on this site. The one on the left was one of a pair that was built by Hatshepsut, one of the few women in Egypt's history that held a position of power. The obelisks that she erected were obscured by walls that were built to surround them so they could not be seen (will tell you why later) so this has caused a distinctive line where part was touched bu the sun and bleached a lighter colour.

The other obelisk is lying down on the other side of the temple.









A view back to the front of the temple. Told you it was big.











Here is a picture of paintings on the temple that were done at that time.

There were different types of decoration used on the temples in Egypt. There were carvings, either the outline was carved into the walls or everything was removed from around the picture giving it an embossed look. There was also a method to carve the picture and then paint it and also the picture could just be painted onto the wall.





Again just another picture to show you the size of the temple.

Edfu Temple

There is Edfu Temple in the distance, it is quite amazing how the Egyptians managed to build such towering buildings with so little heavy equipment.















That is me next to Horus my old buddy, though he has lost his hat. the statues inside had hats on. Oh by the way if you didn't guess this temple is dedicated to Horus











This is interesting this is a replica of the shrines that were taken up and down the Nile there would be a box in it containing a statue of whichever god they were worshiping, it was done like this so every one had an opportunity to pay their respects as it were. When this temple was found the original boat was still in the sanctuary, it is now at the Cairo Museum







Some of the hieroglyphics for you to look at.














Time for lessons again, the roof of this Temple is all black as people once hid in the temples from the Romans, the Romans had the bright idea to burn them out. Not quite what I expected.

Komombo Temple

This is interesting, this is evidence of surgery at in ancient Egypt. The story told on this block is that a man came to Komombo as he could not get his wife pregnant (bottom) and so he was operated on and became very fertile and had many children with his wife.

This is the altar that was in the sanctuary of the temple, when we arrived there were some weird tourist that had water and crystals on the altar. Apparently they were blessing the water as they believed that there was still a very powerful presence/energy there and they were purifying the water to save for something later???? Ok each to their own.












This is the Egyptian calendar, cool huh. The three lionesses represent the three seasons in ancient Egypt, the dry season, the wet season and the harvesting season, you cant really see it but to the left is a list of all the days of the year.

This is what makes this temple so different to the rest of the temples, where most are there to show the power and authority of the Pharaoh and this one does but this one also has a lot of information within it. This temple was dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek and the Pharaoh decided to include pictures of the wild life, flora, fauna, medical instruments, and other important every day things that were present at the time. Quite interesting really.

Ok on the the good stuff, yes these are sarcophagi, but they did not contain people but rather mummified crocodiles.

Also to the right of the picture there is a room where you can see 2 of the crocodiles that were mummified and kept at this temple.








This picture is just to show you how deep the carvings are on this temple. This was done as the Pharaoh of the time wanted to make sure no other Pharaoh changed the carvings at a later date. This Pharaoh was nicknamed 'the Stealer of Temples' as he would go through the pre-established temples and have his name carved over his predecessor's names. Cheeky really.

Ok the Felucca

Yummy dinner, sorry lunch for those back in NZ, wholemeal pita, falafels, chips (crisps), cheese and can't remember what the green things were sorry. Must admit after having lunch, dinner, breakfast, lunch, dinner and then breakfast with pita served at every meal I was glad to get back to Luxor and a, get this, Irish pub for dinner!

Again this is where we slept, ate talked, played and basically spent all our time while on the Nile.

Wakey, wakey, rise and shine. One thing about Egypt, it may have been HOT during the day but trust me on the water it was FREEZING over night after all it was winter.

This is me in the Nile, I have swum in the Nile, HOW COOL IS THAT!












Here's one for you Dad this is the sunrise on our last morning on the felucca









And here was the night before, bit of a shame with all the dancing we did the dust got to Ange and she could not join in. But it was a blast even if all of us holiday makers went to bed and left the Nubian's to carry on the festivities well into the night. But still it was not a total loss we were woken up throughout the night with the prayers that were broadcast over the many speakers in the town just across the river!! Interesting sound but not welcome at 4am!! Lol.

OK where was I...Oh yes day 4 of the tour hehe.

Here we are on the felucca, once we arrived back from Abu Simbel we went straight to the reception and picked up our bags and walked to the Nile just behind the hotel and voila we were on the boat and setting off, and by this time really quite hungry as we had had a 3am wake-up call that morning to get ready to leave for Abu Simbel (did I already say that?)

Those boat are the same as the one we are on, and we have about 15 people on board!



Here is a good mix of the old and the new. On the right is the New Cataract Palace and the one on the left is the old Palace and by Palace I mean it used to be the winter accommodation for the Egyptian royal family

We stayed in the new section on the other side of the building. Can't really say much about the grounds as well only spent one night there and when we were not sleeping we were either just leaving or just arriving.

The old palace was a beautiful building though


It's a hard life on holiday and yes this is pretty much what we did during the time we spent on the felucca.

Our first day on the felucca was a half day, the next a full day and the last day we left at about 7 or 8 in the morning.






This picture pretty much shows you what is is like in Egypt, lush along the Nile and desert beyond. Though once the first dam was built in 1899/1902 (The Aswan) the water from the Nile could be saved and agriculture could develop, bringing with it irrigation and farming.

The second dam was built in 1959 with the help of the Soviet Union as Britain who helped build the first one were not willing to but money forward to build a second dam, of course the Russians didn't ask for much in return just a sh*t load of gold.



Well here is the happy campers. as you see where we are sat is where we slept, and yes there is a lack of toilets, that was an adventure in itself. There was no way a person could hold on for two days!!

All I will say about this is that the experience was highly damaging and I don't mean mentally, cutey grass in Egypt...who knew????

Egypt - Well kind of...

OK guys looks like this is a very slow and painful process so I am going to start posting less pictures and this might go a bit faster!! Well we can all live in hope, and anyway when I get back to New Zealand you will all be subjected to hours at a time of looking at my thousands of holiday pictures. So there!!

OK less chatter and more actual work, here I go now...