Egyptian Tale. Thebes.

We stayed in Luxor for 4 days. I guess, this could justify my next few entries…

The Luxor area of Upper Egypt used to be the Thebes of the ancient Egyptians – the capital of Egypt during the Middle and New Kingdoms. Nowadays Luxor is a modern town, very popular with the tourists. Apart from those, who ventured directly to the Upper Egypt, there is a beaten tourist route from Hurgada resorts on the Red Sea. So, as you can imagine, Luxor is packed with the tourists all year round.

The main attractions there – two gigantic temples. And, of course, there are plenty of museums, temples and ancient ruins in the area around Luxor as well.
What I must mention: that in Ancient Egypt they used to built their cities on the east banks of the Nile, when on the west banks – mainly burial sites. East banks – for Birth and Life, West banks – for Death and Afterlife. Easy.

Luxor
So, on the East bank of the Nile in Luxor there are two fabulous places to visit: The Luxor Temple. And Karnak’s complex of temples. The Luxor temple used to be a place for rituals and festivals in ancient times. It was built by Amenkhotep III and later – Ramses II in honour of the god Amun Ra, his wife Mut and their son Khonsu.

Although now it is mostly set of ruins, columns and gigantic statues, it used to be a spectacular view back then. There is a main hall with huge columns, like in any Egyptian temple, and few small chambers to see. As this was a ritual place, the processions would normally come into it via 3.5 kilometre’s Sphinx Alley from Karnak Temple.

Karnak
Karnak Temple is not really a “temple”, but a complex of numerous temples. So large, that we took one whole day to wonder around it, exploring different sites and little nooks, where no groups were taken…First impression of Karnak Temple – huge mess. That used to be a site of ancient capital of Egypt, so every king considered it to be a question of honour to add something to Karnak’s complex, so that he will be remembered in generations. Sometimes that meant that some of the old buildings got refurbished with the new wall inscriptions on top of the old ones or even new layer of stone bricks added around the old wall to cover up previous king’s name with the current one. Very naughty indeed…however, the Karnak still remains the biggest temple site in Egypt and requires lots of time for exploration of all its wonders. As well as a lot of time to write the travelogue.

It is the largest temple complex ever built by man and represents the combined achievement of many generations of ancient builders. The Temple of Karnak is actually not one, but three main temples, smaller enclosed temples, and several outer temples. There is even a Sacred lake inside the temple, where priests used to wash before performing their rituals…There were many places in the complex, where one can go and just get lost in the endless ruins and engraved walls, obelisks and columns…we’ve spend around 5 hours there and still haven’t seen all of it!

But we did venture to some side little temples, like, for example, The Temple of Khonsu. It is the temple dedicated to the son of Ra, God of the Moon – Khonsu. He has different aspects and all of them interfered between themselves, creating somewhat “multi-personality” of the God. Actually, this is very common for any of Egyptian ancient gods and goddesses – since each province of ancient Egypt used to have its own local gods, but when eventually all of them merged into one big kingdom, the gods have been merged as well. And very often the images of the same god would differ when presented in different part of a country.

So this Khonsu’s main duty was – to assist to the God of Wizdom Thoth in presentation of Time. And also – later in history – to act as a god of healing. Small temple dedicated to him in Karnak was empty when we’ve got there. It stands off the beaten touristy path and was a nice change from the overcrowded centre. We had an excellent opportunity to explore this corner with two big hypostyle halls and little sanctuaries on each side of them and a little baboon’s statues, hiding in the niches…The pictures on the walls – mainly about the battles between Horus and Seth (hmmm…I don’t know why, maybe because Thoth, related to the Khonsu, has been a mediator between them?) In any case, it was a little gem well worth a visit.

In the centre part of Karnak Temple there is the most famous hypostyle hall which is considered to be one of the world’s greatest architectural masterpieces. It has 12 hige columns (about 13 meters) and when you walk among them, can’t help but feel so insignificant! This must be said about almost anything in Egypt – the sizes of the monuments they built are breathtaking.

Time & Distance
It is not only proportions of their structures that impress the visitors very much. Actually, I think, I must step aside and say a few words about “time&distance” in Egypt.

Distance
Somehow in Egypt when they say “it is close, you can easily get there in no time”, what they really mean: “it is about 300 km and we will try our best to get you there in a shortest time possible, even if you will feel uncomfortably sick after rollercoaster ride”. Hence, it is, apparently, no problem to take a “day-trip” from Cairo to Abu-Simbel (distance 1250 km) – just pop on return flight. Or you can take a tour to Cairo from the Red Sea – the coach will take you there and after “just 6-7 hours” (?!), you’ll enjoy the wonders of the capital. (that is, if you’ll manage to survive the ride) Among of our “day-tours” were – travel to Mynia (4 hours by train one way) and my trip to Alexandria (250km from Cairo). So, be careful, when you ask “how far is it?” in Egypt – they will assure you it’s around the corner and even offer to take you there “in no time”, even if you asked for the North Pole!

Time
Another thing they scale differently – time. Time in Egypt not “passes”, not “runs”, not matters at all. Time there just exists. After awhile you’d get used to the way they refer to the time and even grow to like it. In the end of a day such attitude helps to feel relaxed, even if you are few days later for your important appointment or date of your flight. They are not Time Wasters, but simply do not put time on top of everything else. They just have so much time in their history that learned to wait patiently when something they need to happen will come to them naturally. Sort of – “drifting with time”, rather then making the most of it.

They see themselves to be connected to something bigger then day to day struggles for living…A belief that we are part of the Universe…A greatest coping strength I’ve even seen…

Egyptians are sometimes known for their own version of “IBM.” It has nothing to do with the big conglomerate that makes computers. Inshaallah, (God-willing), Bokra (Tomorrow) and Maalesh (There’s nothing you can do about it, so why worry) can be very valuable guiding principles for change

A simple rule “trust that the flow of traffic will take you where you want to go eventually or deliver you to some exciting new destination.”
and that says it all!

Apologies for sliding “off the path”. More of Karnak later…