Egypt Part The Third 2022 - Karnak and The Sphinx Way

I visited Karnak on my first trip to Egypt in 2017 but like most of the organised trips you do not get a lot of time there so it was nice to go back again for another look, and more importantly I can now get to walk the Sphinx Way from Karnak to Luxor Temple, a distance of about 3km.......

A few photos of Karnak which is not so much a temple in itself but a site containing 4 separate temples, you will recognise Karnak of course from the 1978 film Death On The Nile based on the Agatha Christie novel and starring Peter Ustinov as Hercule Poirot and many others!

David Suchet also made a TV adaptation which also used Karnak, and this year sees the release of yet another version by Kenneth Branagh which was filmed in Morocco for some strange reason. If it anything like Branagh's version of Murder On The Orient Express I won't be rushing to see it.....

Approaching Karnak by boat from the West Bank there is a bit of an oddity because here we see water being pumped into the Nile instead of out of it... This water is pumped out from the 'springs' inside Karnak, indeed there is a 'sacred lake' within the complex. This is a bit odd because as you can see the river banks are considerably higher than the Nile and so is Karnak itself. The high water table inside Karnak caused a problem when it was being excavated over a 100 years ago as some of the ruins were submerged.

The main entrance to Karnak is guarded by an avenue of Sphinxes, indeed these are of course a load of old Sphinxes. 

As you can see it's quite busy with tourists, mainly Russian....

And if you have run out of Sphinxes then you throw up a couple of obelisks which is exactly what Hapshetsut did when she was in charge about 4,000 years ago..

It is of course a well known fact that the Egyptians invented the clerestory window... And there are some fine examples at Karnak as shown below, the frame up in the air is a clerestory window, you will of course this architectural feature from your exhaustive visits to cathedrals in the UK....

 Stopping only for an obligatory selfie in front of a load of old hieroglyphics, I am heading for the side door as it were, in search of the exit to the Sphinx Way, which as you know is a ceremonial route to Luxor used during the festival of Opet and constructed during the time of Amenhotep III during the 18th Dynasty around 1390 to 1352 BC, that's over 3,000 years ago, the side exit is the Temple Of Khonsu, the God of the Moon. (But then you already knew that didn't you? Would you believe that a lot of Egyptians actually know all this stuff  about the New Kingdom, the Old Kingdom, and all the Dynasties?).

Along the Sphinx Way there are some huge sign boards very nicely giving a bits of history and also the progress of the excavation which was started in 2017 which is the first time I came to Luxor..

One day I will get the hang of putting photos on to a blog but for now you will have to excuse the large gaps here and there, I usually use these to waffle on a bit rather like you do when you are doing a slide show and waiting for the projector to go on to the next slide.....

And there's the Temple of Khonsu, and before me lies the the Sphinx Way...

It has taken a while to excavate it because there was a minor hiccup in that the Coptic (Christian) Church was partially obstructing the route.

There were various proposals for solving this problem, the most popular was to knock the church down. A solution that did not go down very well with the Christian congregation who probably retaliated with the suggestion that the mosque built on top of Luxor Temple should be knocked down...

On the way along there is a conveniently placed coffee shop and also some shady resting points, there are also a couple of features to note such as the Nileometer which the priests in the Temples used to calculate the taxes due from the peasant farmers, the Nile used to run alongside the Sphinx Way but is now much further to the west.

As you can see parts of the route require some maintenance and are a bit uneven but bear in mind this paving is over 3,000 years old whereas pavements in most modern cities are not that old so it seems the problem of maintenance has not improved in all that time.... 

The poor old Nileometer could do with  clean up as well, as could the Roman baths built much later.

Many of the Sphinxes are missing, presumably carried off to be used elsewhere or broken up to be used as something else....

And you might be wondering how they solved the problem of the Coptic Church,

oh yes you are, now admit it... Well you can see how in the photos below...

The one on the left was taken in 2019, the one below is now...

Yep... You got it, they cut off the back end of the church...

Egypt Part The Third 2022 - Messing About On The River

 I have mentioned before in one of my old posts how important the Nile has been in the past, today it is still important as a source of water and without it the Nile Valley would be an arid desert.

Today also it is still used for transport in this case to and from across the Nile usually using the public ferry, 1LE for Egyptians, 5LE for tourists, if you have got used to the exchange rate that is 20p one way.

For the tourist it is more of a source of entertainment and no visit to Egypt would be complete without at least one cruise on a felucca, the traditional Nile boat. Feluccas come in all sizes most of those used for tourist trips are no more than about 6 or 8 metres long but there are some moored up which are far larger and can take 10 to 20 people in extreme comfort up or down the Nile for a week long cruise to visit the archaeological sites bordering the Nile.

SO there was me on Friday sitting there stationary by the public ferry waiting for lunch to arrive when all of sudden we took off across the Nile taking somebody across to the East Bank on business....

A bit later after lunch I took off for an hour with Saieed for a more sedate cruise along the river as far as his house and farm where we stopped for the proverbial cup of Egyptian tea... Getting back on to the boat was a bit of a challenge walking up a narrow gang plank and naturally as there was water involved I fell off the gang plank and got the Gucci Loafer wet...... Nothing serious..... 

While we were out a normal felucca passed us.... Very relaxing they are too unless you are on the one that took in 2019, look further down the blog at the older posts and you will se the bit when we nearly capsized.

Egypt Part The Third 2022 - Did Someone Mention The Weather?

 I did mention that the weather had been a bit cool, and there had been some cloud....

Guess  what? 

Yep, we had a proper shower of rain.

Well it helps lay the dust....

Egypt Part The Third - Weather, Health, and People.

Inevitably I will mention the weather.... At this time of year Egypt has warm sunny days and cool nights, indeed past experience in Cairo it can be quite cool during the day and even colder at night. Heading further south to Luxor and Aswan the day are usually around the mid 20s and because this is desert weather cold at night.

The first day I got here I had to ask for an extra blanket because this year the nights are very cold indeed. So cold it is that even the locals are complaining about how cold the weather has been, even during the day it is only a 'chilly' 18C. And there has been a fair amount of cloud around as well.

And so to health..... I have already made a trip to the pharmacy for a bit of a stock up on essentials although obviously I brought my normal medication with me, but there are some times when I need antibiotics and trying to get these out of the NHS is a problem and they are extremely mean, indeed I think they probably waste more money trying to save money if you see what I mean... Even in Greece these days you need a scrip for antibiotics which means a trip to the doctor.

So what a change to go to the pharmacy and buy three packets of antibiotics for less than £3, and this makes you wonder how much the NHS are paying for the same thing when they have to make the pharmacy fart about and only give you 8 out of a pack of 10...... Or the Greek healthcare system where they cost €5.

On a personal note, my breathing becomes a lot easier in this climate because of the much lower humidity,

often only a few percent on some days and rarely much more than 35%.

This time around I have also been aware of how many foreigners, i.e. non-Egyptians live here on a long term basis. I think I probably noticed it before except the higher number of tourists masked the actual numbers.

I noticed with some amusement that many of these are British, and often more decrepit than me! Listening to a few overheard conversations many of them come only during the winter months, (spending their heating allowance here!), which brings me to the subject of the normal tourist visa..... The normal tourist visa is valid for 30 days from the date of entry, however if you are over 65 and not working (obviously), then it seems you can stay as long as you want!

Talking to a Canadian couple they have been here for 4 months.

And then there was the inevitable boat trip. This involves looking at the river banks from the river rather than the normal look at the river from the river banks.... It is only necessary to do this once, unless you particularly enjoyed it in which case you can do it again. Indeed the touts expect you to because they will see you get off a boat and as soon as you get ashore offer you another trip, sometimes at half the price you have just paid!

This time round the captain was the very jolly Mahmoud who insisted that he be allowed to try on my size 45 Gucci Loafers when his feet are quite clearly about size 60!

I really don't know why I let myself in for this sort of thing as barter as I might it usually costs far too much and if I do get it cheap I usually have to buy lunch...... But at least I do know that I don't pay as much as some of the tourists do! And next week I really must try and do something a little more constructive with my time.....

 

Egypt Part The Third 2022 - Things Are Not Quite The Same, And Word Gets Around...

 So after a day of not doing a lot my legs are now used to being back on solid ground and I no longer feel like I am still on the train.

My hotel is next door to the one I stayed in on my last visit and Abdullah the 'house boy' has already spotted me and told Mahmoud the cook on the top floor who leaned over the balcony on the top floor next door to talk to me, my hotel is one floor shorter you see.

Today I will venture a little further afield and take the public ferry across to the East Bank... I take a late breakfast in the hotel, (2 hard boiled eggs, pitta bread, tea, cheese and jam, English pounds GB£1.50), and walking out the gate I find the nuisance from my last stay sitting outside the gate. (Egyptians are not allowed in hotels where there are foreigners staying unless, a) They work there, or b) They are staying there themselves)

How the nuisance found me I do not know but all I can say is the 'bush telegraph' works extremely well.

So what's changed?

A lot less people selling boats trips, taxi rides, and whatever else they can sell for a start, Instead of crowds of them there are now only a few and yet the number of boats moored on both sides of the Nile is just the same.

And what few people there are are a lot less pushy, but I know how to get rid of them now anyway so they didn't really bother me a lot.

A little shopping never goes amiss and prices are still the same, a few essentials like some fruit... and toms and cucs..

The fruit set me back by 35 LE, or £1.60 if you prefer, and the tomatoes and cucumber were £5, or 25p if you like...

Meanwhile the public ferry no longer goes straight across to the other side of the river but now lands a lot further north near the museum which was a bit of surprise as it is no miles to get to the market and Luxor Temple. Well not really miles but quite a long way. 

I haven't got to the bottom of why it has been changed.... Yet.

                                                                                                              

One thing I did find out walking past the Temple was how people knew I was back, this is down to a tour guide that I have used twice in 2017 and 2019 and he saw me getting off the train the previous night. So that is one puzzle solved.

One thing about them moving the ferry is that there is now a couple of cafes nearby. The 'boy' making the coffee assures me that he is 'very beautiful', I will leave you to make your own decisions about that!

Meanwhile back at the hotel some Irish people have just arrived, they flew in via Hurghada which is how a lot of people seem to be doing it, probably because of the cheaper flights. They have just spent a week in Hurghada and are trying to do the rest of Egypt in a week. It's not going to work.. I try and help and give them a few tips of what is most important, but they have got one thing right and that is that they want to do a short cruise up the Nile to Aswan but have been put off by a TV program showing Joanna Lumley all dolled up and sipping cocktails. I assure them that a Nile cruise is not like that unless the TV company are paying a fortune for one of the 'select' cruise boats.

Wandering around my neck of the woods I take make morning exercise through the banana plantations along some very dusty tracks...

Passing just one of the many stables in the area. They make quite a thing of horse riding here and most of the Egyptians can ride it seems, if they can't ride a horse they can ride a donkey. With the amount of horses and donkeys here I am surprised that they don't all grow prize roses in their gardens. 

Indeed they don't seem to use the manure for anything just stack in bigger and bigger piles on the side of the road, although I suspect that in some areas they burn it as fuel judging by the smell at time.

Wandering about in the middle of nowhere I come across the shell of a new building which according to the sign is set to become a new hotel, the sign does not say when but looking at the state of the building it will not be in the near future.

Heading back in to 'town' via the main road to the desert and The Valley of The Kings takes a while because you have to keep stopping to talk to people many of whom do not speak much English but enough to ask where you are from

 ''England'',

 ''Ah, lovely people''.

 So you see we are not as bad as we think we are!

Arriving back in the ''village'' I find out what the best dressed bride will be wearing this year, and stop off at the bakery where I admire the pitta breads and get given one still warm from the oven.

The pittas are quite 'fluffy' when they come out of the oven... The man on the counter selling them has to give them a bit of a 'pat' to squash them down a bit, a skilled job if ever I saw one....

Meanwhile back at 'The Corniche' it is time for a picnic lunch on the ''Ahmed''

A variety of 'sandwiches' in pitta bread along with bit s and pieces cost a massive 100 LE, about £4. The delivery boy didn't get a tip he got a leftover sandwich instead, and a new taste was to be had,

pickled pink turnip, unbelievably salty!! I will not be eating those again a hurry!

Egypt Part The Third 2022 - In Luxor (finally!)

 It is now Tuesday and if you are observant you will notice that I am still on the train, except I am not.

The train was supposed to be an express and all went well until we got to Minya which is about 150 miles south of Cairo so roughly half way, and we reached Minya after about 4 hours. So according to me we are running to schedule, yes?? But no, because I couldn't find an actual route timetable so what I didn't know was that further down the line the train turns into an ordinary stopping train. 

A bit further down the train stopped at Assyut, and again I know that is a scheduled stop. And look at all those stations we are now going to stop at!

Minya, by the way has what must be one of one of the tallest mobile phone towers in the world...

 

And why is that Egyptians seem to appear at the side of the railway line for no apparent reason, (below). He can't of come from anywhere because there is a canal behind him, unless he can walk on water... And why is he just standing there?

Still lots to look at though because it does not get dark until after 5pm, and numerous level crossings which are unmanned it seems...

Logically enough I got organised to get off the train after 8 hours, getting suitcases down off racks etc., when doing so a man two seats in front very kindly came and told me that the train was running 3 1/2 hours late... Of course the language barrier got it a bit wrong here because we are not running late at all.

Because we have turned into a stopping train the trip now takes 3 1/2 hours longer!!

And a bit more video for you.....

So instead of arriving in Luxor at 6.42pm we eventually arrive at 10.15pm.... At least sitting on a train requires no effort, and there is a tea trolley comes around at regular intervals. And when it does I now suddenly realise what the tea man was trying to tell me earlier on during the trip when he asked me where I was going and busily showing me numbers on his mobile phone! 

Luckily I have come prepared with bags of crisps, chocolate, and water.... Although I did buy lunch on the train which cost me 45LE for two cups of tea and an enormous chicken roll.

Fortunately I had already told my hotel which train I was coming on and I think they realised that I did not know that the train was going to be much later than the time I gave them.

The transfer organised by my hotel was a little different as well, a taxi from the station to the Nile, a boat across the Nile, a quick clamber up the bank and 15 minutes later I am in my room. I was expecting to be taken by taxi over the bridge 15 kms upstream from Luxor.

SO after all this I got into bed and the bed was still moving with the rhythm of the train! Not a comfortable experience.

Today will be a rest day.

Egypt Part The Third 2022, From Cairo To Luxor & The Joys of Egyptian Train Travel!

If you have been keeping up with my Egyptian Odyssey you will remember that twice before I have used the trains in Egypt, once from Luxor to Aswan, and the overnight sleeper from Aswan to Cairo in 2017 so I am at least a little prepared for the journey.

(Leaving the train at Luxor a man tried to tell me he was a ticket collector and wanted my ticket, he actually wanted my ticket to get out of the station because he didn't have one....)

What you have to remember is that this is Egypt...... While the British might have been responsible for the original construction they have not been responsible for the maintenance required. Neither, it would appear, have the Egyptians.

Forget the comfort of being whisked by Richard Branson from London Euston to Manchester, or indeed the speed with which Amtrak will take you from Boston to New York, for a start the rolling stock is considerably older, and they certainly have not got around to electrification!

The rolling stock has a variety of descriptions, the one I am on is described as ''Speed AC Spanish''. Now quite what this means I am not sure but I suspect that it means it was bought second hand from Spain.....

Having been heaved aboard by the man that checks the train is actually coupled together, and slipping him a fiver for heaving my 22kg suitcase up on to the overhead rack, I take my seat on upholstery that has certainly seen better days.....

 The train is airconditioned to the extent that it is freezing cold which required me putting on a second pair of socks, and the toilet arrangements leave something to be desired. No scrub that, they leave a LOT to be desired.

But I am getting ahead of myself, the train is due to depart at 10.00am and arrive in Luxor at 6.42pm. A total of 8 hours and 42 minutes..... 10.00am is when the train arrives at the platform, it leaves at 10.10am and after a saunter arrives at Giza half an hour later. A 15km journey....

There are supposedly a couple of other stops on the way but it is (supposed) to be a non stop to Luxor.

Shortly after departure we cross the Nile and are treated to the normal Egyptian urban landscape which like most others is not particularly exciting....

There are quite a few urban infrastructure projects underway in the outskirts of Cairo and these seem to mainly be the construction of elevated roads, like the one below which is a flyover over the railway and several buildings as well.

Sadly the same investment is not being made in the railways.....

AS ever in Egypt there are the remains of older buildings demolished and left as well as the proverbial piles of rubbish. Removing all this would be a project of such vast proportions that it will probably never be attempted!

But it is not long before we reach the rural landscape which prevails along the Nile valley, naturally the windows have had only a cursory wash on the outside, but then the inside is not that clean either...

After a while even I get less interested in the landscape rolling by and resort to a book unless something catches my attention...

You can try sleeping of course but will be woken often as the carriage makes violent lurches over the uneven tracks....

And if you are at the front the driver is almost continuously sounding the horn on the train, although I must admit the horn is quite musical although why it has to be sounded almost continuously is beyond me.

Passing through the fields is a little like a journey in time.... Donkeys and carts and the occasional camel are the commonest form of transport and the agriculture is all manual labour, rarely will you see a tractor. And here's a little video for you!