We overnighted in Quena and in the a.m. we visited the Temple of Hathor--goddess of beauty. This temple is the most preserved of all the temples. The ceilings were beautiful. Over the years, different peoples have occupied the temples and tombs--nomads, Greeks, Romans, etc. Each group usually used the temples for shelter and made fires inside the temples--which made the ceilings black. However, just 6 months ago, a new technique was used to remove the black smokey ceilings to reveal the beautiful colors underneath. This was a fairly new temple in comparison to others--this temple is dated from about 1,000 b.c. On the outside walls of this temple is the best depiction of Cleopatra that survives. She is shown with her son, Caesarian, offering gifts to the god Ahmun. When this site was found in the 1800's, they lifted off some of the granite floors, and found another ancient temple beneath the current one!
We returned to our boat for lunch and set sail for Luxor. We arrived in Luxor at 5:00 p.m. and went to visit the Luxor temple at sunset. Built by Amenhotep III, with modern-day uplighting on the 50 foot columns, this temple was beautiful. Luxor is changing quickly. The governorate (state) of Luxor is going to clear all houses, businesses, a church, and a mosque from the area between the Luxor Temple to the Karnak Temple. They are in the process of excavating all the property to return the "Avenue of Sphinxes.". It's about a one mile road between the Luxor and Karnak Temples, and I guess the local people are furious that their property is being taken by eminent domain.
We had our farewell dinner on the boat, and afterwards were treated to a show with both a belly dancer and a whirling dervish with his colorful capes and skirts. We're leaving the boat on Sat. A.m. To fly back to Cairo for a couple days before ending this incredible odyssey (yeah, yeah, I know an odyssey is Greek).
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Location:Sailing back to Luxor
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