Karnack Temple Revisited.

[A-Four]

I took an early morning walk from my hotel towards Karnack, few people were about as I walked along the now extended Corniche. As I approached the Luxor Museum I noticed several Chinese people arguing that they could not get in simply because neither had a credit card. At this point I realised I did not have one on me either, but continued my journey in hope of getting entry to the Karnack Temple.

As I arrived I noticed the ticket entrance area was very busy, the car park was full of buses. When I explained that I did not have a credit card, I was approached by a man standing next to it, he offered me a ticket for 500LE, I quickly pointed out, in Arabic that the price stated 450LE., 'all smile' as the price dropped to the real price.

As I arrived at the security area I saw that the whole place was packed with tourist, more so than I had ever seen before, I immediately realised that most of these people were not staying in Luxor, so made my way to a far end of the hyper style hall, and waited a good hour, after which most people had gone.

I looked carefully at the restoration recently carried out, it is now much easier to see much of the detail carvings that have been hidden for so long. At the entrance of the hall, a large Egyptian team are restoring part of the walls of the pylon, the progress seems good and I saw no artificial colours.

Much of the temple remains the same, as one would expect, though I did notice that the giant stone carved scarab had been moved some 30 feet from its original base. I now moved on to the special place where I know an American team have been working on for the past almost 20 year. This is an area where most people did not see in the past, though I have posted on here in the past that it was possible, the area is known as the Opet Temple and Khonsu Temple.

As I approached the area, I was not stopped by the guardians, infact I realised this area is now officially open, no guided tours seemed to be present, however I did see independent interested tourists there. For the first time in eight years I was going to see the progress of work carried out by this American/Egyptian team ......I was not disappointed. The restoration work is fantastic, being that most of these temples are enclosed, and therefore protected from the weather, most of the black soot and dirt has been removed to reveal such beautiful original colours. There are a number of side rooms in both temples that are locked, however with a little gentle persuasion, these are opened up by the guardians for your enjoyment. These two adjoining temple are really fantastic, and yet more than 99% of tourists never see them, but then again with any guided tour anywhere in the world this is so often because time is limited.

Khonsu, the son of the triad/family had their base here in the pharaonic period, where once a year each of the three statues would be carried in barqe cartridges along the great Avenue to Luxor Temple where the Pharaoh waited for the arrival, to begin the Opet Festival. Some on here may remember when the Avenue was fully restored, a such reenactment of this festival took place.

[denisegr]

Having been on many organised tour groups these temples are never visited, last year I had the joy of visiting them having then only recently learnt of their existence.

[A-Four]

Having been on many organised tour groups these temples are never visited, last year I had the joy of visiting them having then only recently learnt of their existence.

You maybe suprised to learn denisegr that, several days a week upto 50 buses at a time, under full military escort arrive from Hurgarda to do a full day tour of Luxor sites. The tour starts on the WB via the south bridge, some call at Habou Temple, many do not, then on to Hatshepsuit Temple, then the Kings Valley, after which they cross the new north bridge to Karnack, very very few visit Luxor Temple, after this they attend a open buffet at various locations in the Luxor area, then off back to Hurgarda. They see very little of real life in the city, infact great effort is made to avoid it.

There are many 'hidden' sites that are accessible not just in Luxor, but even more so at Abydos and Asswan. Having said this I have seen alot of independent tourist staying in Luxor at various hotels, and will write up more on the subject of Luxor itself, as I found it in the near future.

[denisegr]

Not doing the cruise last year we took the opportunity to do the day trip to abydos from luxor we also went to denderra on the lotus boat which was great as I hadn't been for a few years. Normally on the guided trips we stick around with the guide for a short time to be polite, then take ourselves off you do see more things that way as they all seem to follow the same agenda.