Luxor By Torture Train and More Phollies
We boarded the train a few minutes after the scheduled departure time of 8:10 PM. We had a sleeper car and the overnight train would get us in around 5:00 AM. After a dinner whose description by our Paranoid Planet book was accurate (similar to airplane food), the attendant folded down our beds. The bed was comfortable enough and I had the impression that I would sleep pretty well since I always fall asleep on trains due to the rocking motion. Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that sleeping would be a challenge.
First, the train was LOUD. And it got louder whenever something normal happened such as passing a switch. Second, the train did a lot more shaking that rocking. This caused everything to rattle thus making it even louder. We had the bathrooms near us. Not really an issue until in the middle of the night when two Egyptian men start arguing while waiting to use the bathrooms. Somehow a bunch of diesel fumes got into the train at one point and I was gagging. I was hoping there would be enough to put me out of my misery 🙂 The best part was when they stopped somewhere and added cars… forward, back, slam, forward, back, slam…
It was almost relief to have to get up at 5:30 AM. The train was late, but not as bad as I expected. In Tunisia (I miss Tunisians!), the train would have departed and arrived right on time. While boarding the Luxor train, I wondered if it ever arrived at the right place. We left the train behind at 6:00ish AM and I hoped to not have to ride it back to Cairo. We went to a hotel that we read about called Saint Joseph overlooking the Nile and they allowed us to check in. After a shower and some food we were ready to visit Luxor – former location of Thebes and now considered the greatest outdoor museum in the world. It could not get any better for me and Cairo and the train ride quickly faded away. Well, Cairo was replaced quickly by touts and other scammers who we ran into just on the way to Luxor Temple. Our little friend of a word “NO” staved off all of them. Other than the people we were forced to meet, the striking difference between here and Cairo is that they have really made it quite beautiful and clean along the river and first block into town. We even saw a street cleaner which is something that Cairo has never seen before.
Our first site was Luxor Temple which sits near the bank of the Nile River and basically right in the middle of this small city. The setting is spectacular with the river in front and tan cliffs on the west side of the river. The standing columns get your attention quickly as you approach the site. The place is immense. In front, we were greeted by dozens of small sphinxes that are remnants from the hundreds that used to connect Luxor and Karnak temples. At the gate there is a tall obelisk and two huge statues of Ramesses II (by the way, this guy was pharaoh for 67 years, lived into his 90s and had enough wives to produce almost 200 children!) in front of a 24 meter high wall (pylon) whose surface is filled with hieroglyphs. The obelisk has a twin that the French took in the 1800s and still stirs controversy. All I am wondering about at this point is how large is Karnak if Luxor is this big. We had Luxor almost to ourselves. A couple of herds of bus-goers came through, but we deftly moved around them and saw what we missed when they moved on to more sites.
Aside: It has become quite apparent to us that we have chosen a great time of the year to visit Egypt. Ramadan is a pain, but less so now that we are in tourist mecca. September is good because we are in between high seasons of summer and the long one coming up for the cool season starting in October. It is hot, but not unbearable. There are dozens of large cruise boats docked that could be delivering more tourists and there would also be a proportionate amount of additional buses (scary!) and independent travelers like us. I would not want to see high season here especially since the vast majority of travelers coming here are in groups. The groups are always in a hurry for more, more, more and it is just nice to have decided to spend most of the week here to enjoy the sites in amounts that we can handle. I can’t say how grateful I am for this opportunity and it is great that Peggy and I are on the same wavelength as far as really finding this fascinating and trying to put all of the pieces together about this ancient civilization.
And then there is Karnak. The #1 monument on my world list. And we are headed there right after Luxor blew me out of the water. A quick taxi ride and a little walk and we are staring at the greatest temple on the planet. And it did not even begin to let us down after all the hype. In fact, like the pyramids of Giza, I found it way, way better than any media or person could communicate. It made me feel very little. It made me feel the power of the pharaohs. Hell, maybe they were gods! They certainly had big vision, big egos and an amazing workforce of very talented craftsmen. Luxor Temple was little compared to Karnak Temple! One “room” called a hypostyle has 134 columns that are about four meters in diameter with maybe another four meters in between each column and about 25 meters high! I can’t possibly convey what Karnak is all about, but I am sure it will be one of the great visits of my whole trip when it is done. It’s a do-not-miss for anyone coming to Egypt for the great Pharaoh Phollies.
Our first amazing day in Luxor was complete with a visit to Luxor Museum. Once again, Egypt blew us away. This museum is a showcase for some of the greatest treasures found specializing in some of the most perfect statues found to date as well as a lot of other items such as textiles, wood products and war implements. The museum is very modern and I felt very good that the Egyptians have once again done a museum much better than the horrid Egyptian Museum to showcase their best.
Tomorrow…. The Valley of the Kings… oh my!
Tags: Africa, egypt, Travel
vagabondrick
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