Egypt plus SQ Suites/First photo TR

[boomy]

Luxor Temple

Short summary (from Wikipedia):

The Luxor Temple is a large Ancient Egyptian temple complex located on the east bank of the Nile River in the city today known as Luxor and was constructed approximately 1400 BCE. In the Egyptian language it was known as ipet resyt, "the southern sanctuary". Unlike the other temples in Thebes, Luxor temple is not dedicated to a cult god or a deified version of the pharaoh in death. Instead, Luxor temple is dedicated to the rejuvenation of kingship; it may have been where many of the pharaohs of Egypt were crowned in reality or conceptually (as in the case of Alexander the Great, who claimed he was crowned at Luxor but may never have traveled south of Memphis, near modern Cairo).

 

[TheRealTMA]

Sone very nice photos in this thread.

 

[boomy]

Karnak temple Light and Sound show

Our hotel was conveniently located just 15 minutes walk to the temple. We booked tickets online and walked there after dinner. More information about the show in the link below.

Karnak Show | Karnak Sound and Light show | Sound and Light Shows in Karnak

Sound and light show in Karnak Temple highlight the achievements of some great Pharaohs. It is one of the most important temples in the city of Luxor.

soundandlight.show

 

[boomy]

Luxor Tour Day 3

On our last day we took half day tour to Dendera, about 60km from Luxor. Definitely worth the trip to see how well preserved temple looked like. It has few levels, secret tunnels and complete roof. Some parts of the roof are blocked these days after some clever tourists managed to fall off it and die.

Dendera Templ

Short summary (from Wikipedia):

Dendera Temple complex is located about 2.5 kilometres south-east of Dendera, Egypt. It is one of the best-preserved temple complexes in Egypt. The area was used as the sixth nome of Upper Egypt, south of Abydos.

 

[boomy]

In one of the chambers accessible from the roof there is the famous Dendera Zodiac, or what’s left of it after Napoleon stole it in 1798 for display at the Louvre in Paris.

Short summary (from Wikipedia):

The sculptured Dendera zodiac is a widely known Egyptian bas-relief from the ceiling of the pronaos of a chapel dedicated to Osiris in the Hathor temple at Dendera, containing images of Taurus and Libra. This chapel was begun in the late Ptolemaic period; its pronaos was added by the emperor Tiberius.

This how the zodiac looks now after Napoleon’s army literally blown it off the ceiling:





This is how it actually looks like:

 

[boomy]

The stairs to the Temple of Hathor are a complete mystery to archaeology. Built from pure granite, one of the hardest materials there is, the stairs have somehow melted.

From the Conspiracy Corner blog:

The steps of the stairs of the Hathor temple have been completely melted down. This phenomenon can't be easily explained away by science, as the stairs were built in solid granite, which would need extremely high temperatures in order to melt. Conspiracy theorists have suggested that this melting is a clear sign that there could perhaps have been nuclear weaponry or advanced technology in Ancient Egypt.

 

[boomy]

The dendera light is a motif in the Hathor temple at Dendera in Egypt. A fringe theory interpretation of the reliefs is that they depict some form of ancient Egyptian lighting technology, similar to an arc lamp or cathode ray tube.

The image known as the Dendera light is found on three stone reliefs in the temple and, at first glance, could be construed as a bulb similar to a Crookes tube, with a lotus “socket” at one end, a “cable” traveling underneath, and a snake-shaped cord “filament” inside.

 

[tgh]

There is a yawning gulf between the postulations of Archeological science… and common sense.

 

[kpc]

You trip to Egypt has inspired us. We and @Aeolus are planning to go in Mar/April next year but will do Egypt, Jordan and Israel in one big trip. Just booked our flights to Cairo this am

 

[boomy]

You trip to Egypt has inspired us. We and @Aeolus are planning to go in Mar/April next year but will do Egypt, Jordan and Israel in one big trip. Just booked our flights to Cairo this am

I can highly recommend booking Meet & Assist service.

VIP Meet and Assist upon arrival at Cairo Airport- (with Hotel Private Transfer)

One of the busiest airports in the African continent, Cairo International Airport bustles with activity. Skip feeling overwhelmed when you land, and meet a VIP welcome representative to accompany you through the airport and drive you to your hotel. You’ll be greeted before passport control...

www.viator.com

You can also contact Isaac Nabeh directly +20 122 356 8281
He is owns the company and very responsive on WhatsApp.

 

[boomy]

Some more photos is Dendera Temple.

A small structure on the roof nicknamed “The Shop”



Going back down towards ground level.

 

[boomy]

After we finished climbing stairs and crawling underground we had one last look at this truly amazing temple then left back to Luxor where we spend the rest of the day chilaxing by the pool before leaving to the airport to catch the last flight of the day to Cairo.

 

[RooFlyer]

The stairs to the Temple of Hathor are a complete mystery to archaeology. Built from pure granite, one of the hardest materials there is, the stairs have somehow melted.

Interesting, thanks - I hadn't heard of it before. Interesting wear patterns; it was entertaining seeing the various comments in YouTube videos I looked up. . One thing for the melting folks to consider - granite isn't uniform; it has bits with lower melting temperature (feldspar) and bits with very high melting temperature (quartz). Apply heat, or put it in a furnace, it won't melt like a block of butter but rather start dribbling from the sides (ahem), then turn to a mush and. then liquify and get a pool of quartz, with the other stuff already drained away.

A thin section under polarised light will give the answer - I'll take my geo pick when I go. (which I'm seriously considering, thanks to this TR).

 

[Daver6]

I've always thought visiting these old sites in Egypt seemed a bit naff and touristy. This TR has completely changed my mind!

 

[Lynda2475]

Great TR thanks for sharing

 

[boomy]

Interesting, thanks - I hadn't heard of it before. Interesting wear patterns; it was entertaining seeing the various comments in YouTube videos I looked up. . One thing for the melting folks to consider - granite isn't uniform; it has bits with lower melting temperature (feldspar) and bits with very high melting temperature (quartz). Apply heat, or put it in a furnace, it won't melt like a block of butter but rather start dribbling from the sides (ahem), then turn to a mush and. then liquify and get a pool of quartz, with the other stuff already drained away.

A thin section under polarised light will give the answer - I'll take my geo pick when I go. (which I'm seriously considering, thanks to this TR).

I don’t know enough to comment on this subject but my dad is a big history and archeology buff and also the biggest skeptic I know but even he had to admit there are many things the Egyptian did or happened in that period which simply can’t be explained by modern science. The common phrase by Egyptologists (both in Luxor and Cairo) is “magic”. Regardless if we believe in magic or aliens or higher power or whatever it will be silly to dismiss different theories just because they don’t sit with our modern conservative way of thinking while we can’t offer alternatives that can be proven beyond reasonable doubt.

 

[RooFlyer]

My previous visits were on 2 business trips in 1994 where we 'squeezed in' a couple of days studying the geology of the Pyramids and Luxor. Time to go back. QSuites ADL-DOH and First substituting for J DOH-CAI. . Or direct DOH-LXR in J in an A320 . i'd skip Cairo and the Pyramids except for the new museum.

@boomy did you fly Egyptair to CAi to LXR - how was that? 'Back in the day' it was a scary experience, and no assigned seating - at all!

alternatives that can be proven beyond reasonable doubt.

Like I said, let me chip a few bits off and we'll have an answer

 

[VPS]

Thanks for the excellent photos. I spent 10 days in Egypt in 1990 (in the middle of one of the Gulf wars which meant the Americans cancelled in droves which was great) I loved it and have enduring memories of sitting on the back of a boat sipping a gin and tonic while watching a magical sunset while cruising down the Nile. The three nights on the boat were excellent.

 

[tgh]

Like I said, let me chip a few bits off and we'll have an answer

Not unreasonably your answer will be based on your education and perception of space/time and physics.
I am sure someone has already calculated the materials and the energy required to "wear" them down like that, all a same the cart tracks all over Europe.
Proving their theories by grinding holes in rock with string and copper tube says a bit about the parlous state of Archaeology

The more I see and read on this subject the more I subscribe to this snippet from Hamlet

There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in your philosophy Horatio….



er..um.. and after my bit of stirring the pot above.. it seems that the steps are "only" sandstone.
One perfectly useful argument suggests running water as an electrolysis/chemical pathway to corrosion and deposition.
Doesn't help with the cart tracks tho….

 

[boomy]

@boomy did you fly Egyptair to CAi to LXR - how was that? 'Back in the day' it was a scary experience, and no assigned seating - at all!

Your experience was pre-*A. Now that Egyptair is part of an alliance they are committed to brand standards. I’ve flown four times with them on this trip: TLV/CAI return and CAI/LXR return and all flights were fine. Nothing memorable hence the lack of photos but also no big negatives I can think about.

I can however think about many negatives in Egyptian airports. Their security inefficiency is beyond belief. On our LXR-CAI flight we had to go through no less than four checkpoints in LXR airport! In two of them we had to take off our shoes (like who does that these days). Our bags were thoroughly checked twice! Even had the coins in our wallets examined to make sure we didn’t smuggle any antiquities and we got swapped for explosive, twice! All that for a short domestic flight.

So yea, Egyptair is fine but Egypt airports are horrible so I can’t recommend Meet & Assist enough for Int flights.