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| A colossal statue of Ramesses II. |
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| Court of Amenhotep III |
It is only a 5-10 minute ride by a horse drawn carriage from the hotel. I don’t know if it’s because it was our first temple we visited or because there wasn’t a crowd, it was our favorite (or perhaps because, I later learned, it is considered the prettiest temple). Our 4 year old had a digital camera of her own and it allowed her to be more involved in sightseeing. There aren’t words to capture the mystery and sheer force it must have required to build these temples. More than the pyramids for me, I felt the tug of the past and the magic of Egypt in Luxor, in the midst of the tall sand colored columns and rows of sphinxes lining the way. The Luxor Temple is also open in the evenings for a light show which we decided to skip. Our girls were too young to stay up and they also might have been scared of the shadows and the darkness. If I had been there without the kids, I would have liked to visit the temple in the coolness of the evening.
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| Avenue of the Sphinxes (reminded me of entry to Angkor Thom in Siem Riep). | |
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We did not hire a guide for the Luxor Temple which meant none of us had any clue about our magnificent surroundings. I don’t think you need a guide to feel the magic of the place but in retrospect, I wish I learned something about the pharaohs who built the temple. Here is a link to a site which describes the temple in some detail. (I had no idea that the obelisk standing in the Place de la Concorde came from the Luxor Temple – I knew it was Egyptian but that’s all I knew. How strange that the obelisk is in the middle of busy Paris, so out of place.)
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