We will hit our fourth stop in Luxor (there is SO much to see in Luxor!) has be Deir el Medina, the Worker Village. I love it because after seeing temples all day it is good to get to a village of the common folk. Here you can see how small the houses and subdivisions were where they lived, you can see their grinding stones and even "facilities". But you must go into some of the small tombs because they have so much color and are decorated just like the Valley of the Kings tombs but just smaller
Our third stop while we are in Luxor has to be my favorite temple at Midinet Habu. Built by Ramses III is has an unusual entrance, DEEPLY carved hieroglyphs to make sure no subsequent king could just scratch them out and carve his own. AND it has its own ancient restrooms!
Our second site to visit in Luxor has to be a short walk down the Avenue of the Sphinx to the Luxor Temple. AND I think we have to visit that at night. I love how it is lit up at night, you can see it driving by and you can see it up close. Karnak and Luxor Temples were intimately tied together in ancient times. And, I believe, still are today
We finally arrive at Luxor. We have cruised South or UP river from Cairo to Luxor and now we will spend a few days here because there is SO MUCH to see. I will only visit my favorite sites but there is so much more, AND my favorite sites change every year so ... take them for what they are.
Let's start at the greatest and biggest of all sites in Egypt: Karnak Temple. Covering over 65 acres this temple complex was started in the Old Kingdom and added to in just about every Dynasty after that. I love one of the few remaining obelisks in Egypt, the statues of King Tutankhamen, the HUGE scarab, and the Sheshak wall all are must visits
Lets take a little ride down the road or a small push up river to Dendura as our next stop. I love how complete the temple at Dendura is. It was built by the Ptolemy's who ruled from the Greek to the Roman period of Egyptian history. And you will see Cleopatra VII (the Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton Cleopatra) and her son from Mark Antony called Caecerian. Make sure you check them all out on the Back wall. PLUS you get to walk the stairs up onto the roof of the complex and see the Zodiak on the ceiling of the small room upstairs. PLUS, as an added bonus it has one of the few full sized sculptures of my favorite Egyptian god Bes, the dwarf
After leaving Tel Amarna, we might stop in Minia to visit the farm Ahmed Nagy's father to see how the crops are doing. Then we would collect back up on the cruise ship and head up river to Abydos. Probably one of the more famous temples in Egypt because of the alien conspiracy theories about how the temple came to have sculptures of a helicopter, blimp, submarine and even a jet airplane.But it is also one of the oldest sites where it is believed that Osirus was buried, so when you go in the temple to see the alien scupltures make sure you go around back to see the REALLY old (pyramid age) ruins behind the more modern (18th-19th Dynasty) temple
We move on just up river a small journey and we will find the ancient city of Ahkentaten, Tel Amarna. There is not much left of this capital city from the 18th Dynasty because it was built by the heretic pharaoh Ahkenaten. HIs emence wealth allowed him to pick up the capital city from Cairo area and move the whole city to a new place in the desert. This is one of my favorite sites in Egypt. Unfortunately is off the normal tourist path and you need a special tour to visit it because it is so far from the other tour sites. That is why it is on my DREAM Egyptian Tour
The next stop on my DREAM cruise would have to be after an overnight sail south, UPstream on the Nile we would come to the tombs of Beni Hassan. You see so many tombs painted for kings but there are not many tombs with paintings of everyday activities, even wrestling and trading with Semites
#MyDreamEgyptianCruise
The next stop on my DREAM Egyptian cruise would be a layover in Saqqara and Dendura. I love the Step Pyramid complex, (did you know there is a vast tunnel system there that only a "special" group gets to enter?) I love the modern Imhotep Museum. I would go into a few of the tombs: Kegemni is my favorite. Finally I would stand in one place and just take in the panorama and from there you can see 70 Pyramids across the desert. AMAZING
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