Day 247 – Luxor

Karnak and Luxor Temples

Today, we would be leaving the M/S Monaco Cruise Ship after breakfast. We packed our bags and left them in the lobby until our pick up van arrived.

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Once transport arrived, the luggage boys/men ran to pick up our luggage. One of them held a 60L backpack on his head in a really weird way. I insisted he give it to me as I thought he would break his neck but he flat out refused. Once we got to the vehicle less than 20 meters from the river bank and were inside the van we gave him a tip and he demanded more. After a few words some more money was provided. This was the first instance, where anyone on the cruise demanded tips, which was a crappy way for our last memory of the otherwise excellent cruise.

Karnak Temple

Our first stop was Karnak Temple. Entrance costs 150 EGP / $12.75 AUD per person. The site is very large and the highlights include the lamb statues that look like Sphinxes at the entry ways. The massive columns in what used to be a roofed area. The small section of floor that remains, that shows that the entire floor used to have designed stone work and the massive obelisks. Our guide showed us the main attractions and then gave us plenty of times for photos in this beautiful temple. Again, its a marvel of engineering.

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Luxor Temple

We then drove to the Luxor Temple, with a slightly cheaper at 140 EGP / $11.90 AUD. There is actually a road directly between the two temples (Karnak and Luxor) that is being restored called the Avenue of Sphinxes. It will be cool to see this completed, if we ever get a chance to come back to Egypt in the future.

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Luxor Temple itself, is once again massive with large structures and rooms. You might notice a mosque visible above the temples grounds. Luxor temple, was actually buried, so the mosque was built on the ground level. It was only later that the ancient temple was discovered.

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After an explanation of the site and then some free time, we were dropped off at our hotel, Sunset Hotel, for the in-law’s last night in Egypt. The hotel was very basic, but it was included in the Nile River Cruise package. The staff were friendly, but the facilities were a drastic change from the M/S Monaco. The in-laws, would only get a few hours of sleep here as they had a super early flight out from Luxor. The airport transfers were also included in the Cruise package which was an added bonus.

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We walked into town to do some souvenir shopping at the market from Day 245 (advice: never agree to buy the first thing you see. The prices always drop the further in to the market you go). After the market we went to a highly rated restaurant called Sofaro. The restaurant was nice, but from our experience, severely understaffed. The waiter was running around, taking food at drinks to other tables, but it took a solid 20 minutes before he took our order. And then a similar time before our drinks came and then longer for the food to arrive. We did order a Stuffed Pigeon, so our theory was they were out trying to catch a pigeon for us.

After that we headed back to the hotel and chilled with the parents as they packed their bags before getting a few hours of shut eye.