"Two-Thirds of Egypt's Ruins are Here" a Luxor Travel Page by atufft

We choose our hotel on walk-in during the winter high season, confirming my belief that if any place can handle tourists in large numbers, Luxor is it. I walked to visit Luxor Temple in the late afternoon and left when it was closed, and the entrance lit up for the night. In the morning, we walked down to Karnak. Karnak and Luxor Temple were once connected by an avenue lined by sphinx statues, but the city has covered over most of this (see image). Scattered parks and a mosque block the route. We spent most of the day at Karnak browsing the many temples which make up the metropolis of stone ruins.

Our hotel directed us to walk south to catch the ferry, but we could have just as easily in walked north to catch the worker ferry that runs even more frequently across the Nile. The tourist ferry leaves passengers off at a place where everyone must compete to get a taxi for the drive to Valley of the Kings. Buses and taxis raced along the ribbon of asphalt to get started early. We paid for the visit of at least four tombs, but later came back to buy more tomb tickets. At any given time, some of the tombs are closed for restoration work. Many people miss the outlying monuments, such as Medinet Habu, a personal favorite for it's excellent preservation and color remains.

My personal favorites on the West Bank include Dier al Medina, or Valley of the Artisans, where the colors in the tombs of Sennedjen, Inherka, and Sennefer were as fresh and bright as if they were painted this year. The agricultural scene in Sennedjen's tomb, for example, is not that far different from the work being done in West Bank farms today. So, besides the freshness of color, the artistry of these minor tombs were more real and connected with the reality of their day. Contrary to popular Judeo-Christian belief, the great works in Egypt were not built by slaves! Rather, the elite artists were the creative upper class that was able to escape the drudgery of work in the fields. These people had real romantic love and family life, which is clearly communicated by the artwork on these tombs. Moreover, the Egyptians were apparently a multiracial people where black princes married white princesses. So much for the Aryan myth.