A temple, church and mosque

March 28th, 2007 emigre Posted in Odds And Ends |

Continued from Day 1: Review 10 Days Wonders of Egypt

DAY 1: Luxor

NO TIME TO WASTE

It is about 3pm and touring begins immediately with Karnak Temple after we have our McDonald’s lunch. Linked to The Luxor Temple by The Avenue of Sphinxes, this temple is a popular filming location for many Hollywood movies such as “007-The Spy Who Loved Me” and more recently “The Mummy”. Often scenes involve heros and villians playing a deadly game of hide-and-seek among the 134 columns.

Luxor Temple itself is very badly damaged, both from invaders and disrepair over the thousands of years from floods from the River Nile. The facade is mostly in ruin with one of the obelisks cut off by a Muslim king as a present to a French king. It can be found in Paris today. Some restoration works are going on in some parts of the temple. For those surfaces which have not been damaged, they are covered in hieroglyphics.

Surfaces which are underneath beams at the top of the columns, protected from the sun and rain still retain their colours. It’s easy to think that the temples are always in the brown dust colour they are today when in fact, 4,000 years ago, they were decorated in bright colours. Used as a hiding place by early Christians to escape persecution, renaissance style religious frescos can be found next to ancient Egytptian gods. Once buried under silt from the River Nile, a mosque was built on top of Luxor, which is still in use today. So this temple has been used as a place of worship by ancient Egyptians, the Christians and the Muslims at different points in history.Grafitti left by Roman soldiers can be seen on the walls. They didn’t have spray cans back then, so they carved their Roman characters.

The 2 temples are linked by The Avenue Of The Sphinxes - a row of sphinxes with animal heads line the avenue through which religious processions take place between the 2 temples. Restoration works are underway to recreate this 2km long stretch and in future, tourists will be able to walk between Karnak and Luxor Temples.

MAKE THE TOURISTS SPEND SOME MONEY
After this, it is time to get us to spend some money. We are brought to a shop that makes paintings on papyrus - the water reed from the River Nile that ancient Egyptians used to make paper; the plants among which baby Moses was found. First, the soft sell. A guy demonstrates how the papyrus plant which has a long stem with a triangular cross-section (triangles predominate in Egypt - they are a symbol for eternal life).

Basically the stem is stripped lengthwise into many thin layers and laid in horizontal and vertical layers to form a lattice and dried under a heavy stone. The strips stick together to form a parchment. Interesting stuff. Unfortunately I have no photos as they are not allowed in the shop.

The paintings are the typical touristy images - pyramids, hieroglyphics, camels, King Tut etc. All pretty gaudy stuff and just doesn’t match my home decor no matter how you see it. Prices range from around US$20 upwards. Someone bought a large piece of papyrus however, so not all was in vain for both shop owner and the tour guide, who obviously gets sales commission.

CHECK IN, AT LAST
Finally, after almost 24 hours without proper sleep, we are taken to our cruise ship, the SS Miriam to check in at around 6pm. I will write about the SS Miriam in a separate entry.

Continue Day 2: Valleys of The Kings and Queens