Luxor, Egypt - The Land of the Palaces

On November 14, 2018, after our two days of exploring Cairo, we flew in to Luxor to check more interesting places and landmarks from the Ancient Egypt. Luxor, the Land of the Palaces is filled with mystical history as well as ruins and tombs of Egyptian Gods and Pharaohs. Our trip to Luxor is pretty much just an introduction to the Ancient Egypt and of course, two days of stay there is not enough to digest all the information provided to us by our private tour guide and Egyptologist. Below is a photo of the Nile River at dusk - the view from our hotel suite at Sonesta St. George Hotel Luxor.

On our first day at Luxor, we were accompanied by own Egyptologist tour guide and visited the Valley of the Kings, which lies at the Niles River’s west bank near Luxor. The Valley of the Kings during 1539 – 1075 B.C. (during Egypt’s New Kingdom) became the royal burial ground for pharaohs, as well as queens, high priests of the 18 – 20th dynasties.

These tombs were carved deep into the desert rock, richly decorated and filled with treasures for the afterlife of the pharaohs. Currently, there are 62 tomb tunnels discovered, and depending on the tour arrival day, only some tomb tunnels are available for public access. Check out the quick video inside Ramesses II underground tomb...

We continued the tour and visited the Hatshepsut temple at El Deir El Bahary. This impressive temple was dedicated to the Queen Hatshepsut - the only female pharaoh rises out of the desert plain in a series of terraces and merges with the sheer limestone cliffs that surround it.

The next day, November 15, 2018, we visited the famous Karnak temple - the largest place of worship ever built. Its ancient name Ipet-isut means “the most sacred of places.” The temple, or, more correctly, the complex of temples, was built over more than two thousand years by generation after generation of pharaohs. Within the complex, the great “Hypostyle Hall” is an incredible forest of giant pillars. Check out these photos below.

Thereafter, we proceeded to the the majestic Luxor temple which was built by Amenhotep III and Ramses II for ritual and festivals and dedicated to the god Amun. This large Ancient Egyptian temple complex is located on the east bank of the Nile River in Luxor.