"The Ancient City of Thebes" a Luxor Travel Page by InfiniteVoyage

This was one of the top ten cities (all of them are located in the Middle East and Egypt) I wanted to visit before I die. And, I'm glad I didn't heed the fatalistic warnings of friends and relatives. The time I spent here was a measly three days and was barely enough to satisfy my appetite for its touristic sights, which I heartily savored. I was told that one can easily get "Egypt overloaded" from the enormity of sights to see and learn just in Luxor alone. Add Cairo and the Giza Pyramids to that and one can really go bananas. Reading some books about the area and its attractions prior to coming here, however, gave me ready knowledge about the temples, tombs, and other sights and probably saved me from experiencing that feared overload.

Luxor, the jewel of the dead, was once called Thebes. It was (and still is) a city rich in heritage, sights, dead bodies (of royalties and aristocrats, mind you), and treasures, most were located in the west bank. In the east bank, there's the modern city of Luxor itself and the two temple complexes: the Temple at Luxor and the Temple at Karnak.

The Temple at Luxor, with its avenue of the sphinxes, is the one most commonly photographed to represent Luxor in brochures. It still has its remaining obelisk (the other obelisk was given to France and now stands in the middle of Place de la Concorde) and two seated statues of Ramses II fronting the first pylon. One of its quirks is the preserved mosque located near the pylon. This mosque shows you how deeply buried the temple was prior to excavation.

The Temple at Karnak is an immense place, needing at the very least a full day to properly see and appreciate the sights. There are numerous chambers to explore and to have a picture of and plenty of tourists to dodge. Yet, the fact that it's a huge place makes it convenient to explore other areas devoid of tourists first and then go back afterwards. Its most famous image used in brochures is its massive columns with hieroglyphs. Theodosius' Obelisk, located in Istanbul's Hippodrome area, originally came from here.