Back in October, Katy Perry was planning to take a trip for her 30th birthday. I heard it was to include many places such as Morocco, France, and (probably because of her Dark Horse video) Egypt. Luxor and/or Aswan, to be exact. However, her trip was cancelled. Not her whole trip, just the part in Egypt because, like the rest of America, she was worried about her safety. I don't know if I have all my facts correct, this is just what the internet has told me. The point is, when I was on my trip, I couldn't help but think: Man, did she miss out.
That's right, ladies and gentlemen, the moment you've all been waiting for. This is the first in my Luxor/Aswan series.
Traveling
I had no idea what to expect for the airport/plane experience. The first thing that happens is you walk into the airport. To do this you have to put any and all luggage (carry-on and checked) through an x-ray conveyor belt thing and walk through a metal detector. This is all the security they have. That's it. Then you go to the check in desk.
From what I understand, everyone on the flight checks in at the same time. They check in by flight not by standing in a line. I also think you can check however many bags you desire for free. I checked nothing because I can't lock the bag I took.
After that we walked through a broken metal detector to the gate. Then we took a bus from the gate to the plane. The flight I was on was free seating. I chose a random window seat (there was no first class). I was actually asleep before the plane was off the ground.
Luxor
We ate lunch on the boat before our adventures. This is what I wrote on this subject: The food isn't bad. The "beverage list" has alcohol on it. Wow. From what I've seen of the boat, it's majestic. It looks like something royalty would sail on.
Karnak Temple
The first place was called Karnak Temple. Karnak Temple was built for the god Amun-Ra. Not to be confused with Akhmenra, the guy from the Night of the Museum. (Off topic, I saw the third movie
Secret of the Tomb. Great movie, almost cried. Plus Robin Williams.)
Amun-Ra was made up. Amun was the main god for the city of Luxor. Ra was the main go for the rest of Egypt. When Luxor was planned to be the capital of Egypt, the Luxor people were scared of losing the god Amun because all their sacrifices would've been a waste. In order to prevent this, they combined the two gods to make Amun-Ra (not Akhmenra, you do not understand how disappointed I am).
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Model of Karnak Temple |
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The very front of Karnak Temple. |
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These statues line the road that connected Karnak temple with Luxor temple. Rams represent Amun-Ra. |
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These columns are about 15 meter's each and there are well over 100 of them. |
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Thought behind this picture: I want to touch the hieroglyphs. |
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Cute Corie and hieroglyphs. |
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This is a wall with the names of all the kings. |
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This is a lake where kings and fancy folk bathed and thanked the gods for stuff. |
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This is a scarab. Supposedly, if you walk around it 3 times (counterclockwise) you receive luck. 5 times for luck and marriage. 7 times for luck, marriage, and children. I decided to walk around 7 times because why the eff not. So I walk. I got around 6 times before I realized I was going the wrong way. Yay, Corie. |
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A thing. |
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Tourists ruining my picture of another part of the temple. |
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A picture of a statue of a king whose name I don't remember. |
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Please just take a moment to appreciate how awesome hieroglyphs are. |
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More things. |
The temple is huge. The walls and columns are covered in hieroglyphs. It's either the biggest temple or on of the biggest. The best part is, this is all by hand over hundreds or thousands of years. They had no electric tools or anything of the sort. I think that's amazing.
When the sun set there was a Sound and Light show. The idea is you hear "the voices" of the kings and they tell you the history of different parts of the temple. They also project images onto the walls. It was cool, but all in Arabic.
I'm sorry it took so long to get these took so long to upload. These are obviously not all the pictures I took at Karnak temple but these are my favorites. They don't do the temple justice, but it's the best I can do.
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If you have questions, comments, or concerns, leave them below and I will try my best to answer them.
If you know someone who likes Egyptian history, or needs a reminder that there's more to Egypt than what you hear in the news, please share. That's what this blog is about.
You are all awesome. Learn something today.
Byeeeee
Corie.
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