Hodge Podge of Luxor Photos

We went sailing on the Nile.  

The highpoint for Joe!!!

Palm trees in the middle of the ruins.

The kids and Joe played chess every day.

A typical mode of transportation.

The kids on - who knows how old - a tree

near the Temple.

The infinity pool from our hotel room.

Egyptian treasures....

The Queen that would be King...

Architectural Treasures of Luxor

The ceiling of the temple.  If you click on the picture, 

you can zoom in on the hieroglyphics.  

Amazing color for 3300 years old.

The window system of the temple.  These temples 

had ceilings, so the architects designed a two-tiered 

roofline in order to create windows.  

More fabulous hieroglyphics!

Just to give you some perspective, that's a doorway 

at the end of this temple.

The oldest portions of the temple, located at the

farthest distance, are 3300 years old and pharaohs 

built on and out, one more grand than the other. 

Imagine, all of this was buried under 

incredible volumes of sand, varying from 10 feet

deep to 30 and 60 feet deep.  

Doorway at the Queen's Temple

Polish egyptologists built this "building" 

to work out of.  

The temple built in honor of a King.  Just to give

you some perspective, if you click on the picture, 

you will just barely see S and the tour guide sitting 

on the base of a column to the right of the temple.  

Beautiful pillars of open papyrus trees. 

Fabulous architectural designs everywhere.

More papyrus pillars

Luxor's treasures

Egyptologists have discovered that there are 

2000 of these statues lining the sides of a street

that leads from the Karnak Temple to the Luxor Temple.

The city is in the process of excavating all of them.

The ruins of a Temple built to honor a King.

His mummification took place in this 

temple, along with daily offerings after his death.

The ruins of a statue of a Pharoah.  Just to give you 

some perspective, that's J standing to the left of the 

statue at the base of another statue.  

The statue of the Pharaoh collapsed in an earthquake.

A close up of the ruins of the Temple.  The 

statues were de-faced by priests of the coptic 

church that took over the temple.

A statue outside the Temple

A mosque inside the Luxor Temple.  This mosque is 25 feet 

above ground, but was at ground level when these ruins 

were buried under sand.

The obelisk and statues, built 3300 years ago, were buried 

under sand "chest high" to the statues until the 19th Century

when engineering capabilities to excavate the volumes 

of sand were finally developed.    

These statues were built to honor sons lost.  The Pharaoh 

had the architect put holes in the stone, so that, when the 

wind blew, he would hear the sound and be reminded

of his sons.   Notice the people standing in the center

between the statues, just to give you some perspective

on the size of the statues.  

Egyptian natives....

J said "Mom - this is lizard heaven!!!"

Ballooning over the Nile

Wish I could say we went ballooning... but alas.... 

Egypt - On the Nile

Egyptian Blossoms

Flowers in the Hotel Lobby

A walled home in the city..... 

Beautiful flowering tree on the hotel walls

The walkway between hotel "pods"

Beautiful trees on the road to the hotel....