2004 09 – Egypt – Day 11

This morning it's a 5:00 a.m. wake up call and by 5:30 we're on our way over to the Aswan train station with our luggage and breakfast boxes in hand to eat on the way. Just after 6:00 a.m. we were on our way back to Luxor in our air conditioned car having a view of yet another sunrise. We had a great view of the locals as went through some of the small towns along the way. Many stops had to be made, mostly letting more people on as we went. By the time we arrived in Luxor at 9:00 a.m. the train was full.

Taxis were organized for our trip over to the Emilio Hotel situated about 2 blocks from the Nile and Luxor Temple. A little wait time for our rooms and for us taking the west bank tour we had little time to spare. Once we got our luggage up to the room it was time for our walk over to the Nile. Our small boat awaited us for another trip across the Nile to the West Bank. This trip cost 100 pounds and included everything along the way.

A small bus greeted us as we got off the boat and our first stop was Hapu Temple. Included in this trip was a guide explaining the sites that we would visit through the day.

Walking around the temple area.

Again, the marks in the stone show where swords were sharpened in past eras.

Carvings covered the walls.

Some of the carvings on this wall looks like human hands.

Some reconstruction is underway.

Some of the paint is still intact, it's unclear if this paint is original or was painted well after the temple was built.

Some of the group walking around the pillars.

Some of the temple is under some cover keeping some it better persevered.

So many good carvings taking amazing talent to execute.

More of the carvings around the site.

The arch way is alighed to match the rising sun only on the equinoxes. The fall equinox will be tomorrow. At sunrise tomorrow the sun will shine down to the end of the arch way, it won't happen again until the spring equinox in March.

More carvings above a doorway.

Some of the old buildings sites near the workers tombs. Ironically, these old buildings were probably built well after Habu Temple was constructed.

The old buildings go out a long ways.

May be the hottest day of the entire trip. We never had an official temperature but it was likely in the low 40's. Most of us in the group have never experienced this heat.

Going back over the Nile to the east bank. A few of the bigger riverboats anchored on the East bank.

More of the many river boats along the east bank of the Nile. The east bank is set up to anchor the river boats, this is the side where most of the restaurants and main shopping areas are set up catering the tourism in the area.

Some of the locals using the river in this area.

We all met down in the lobby around 7:15 p.m. for our final dinner together. We crossed the Nile one more time on the small boat where we had dinner at the Nile Valley Restaurant.

Final Dinner with first group – Stephanie’s 30th birthday celebrations as well.

Tomorrow, most of the group will head over to the Red Sea while some of us continue on touring the Temples of Middle Egypt.

Some of ladies in the group learning to belly dance.

Wael our tour leader on the right.