We arrived in the city of Luxor at 8:00 am, got off the train, and walked to our hotel, The Nefertiti. Luxor is a lot smaller than Cairo, and much of any commute can be made on foot! However, there are TONS of men with horse and carriage fighting for your business.
We checked into our hotel and took a nap to recover from our not so great night's sleep. After waking, we headed down the road to see The Karnak Temple. We opted to take a horse and carriage ride, which was very nice! I think we got this ride for around $8 US Dollars, which was not that bad considering it was a horse and carriage ride... However by the end of the trip, we could bargain for the same ride for less than $1 for an entire hour! Watch out haggling countries, here I come!
The Karnak Temple complex is a vast open-air museum and the largest ancient religious site in the world. It is probably the second most visited historical site in Egypt, second only to the Giza Pyramids. The key difference between Karnak and most of the other temples and sites in Egypt is the length of time over which it was developed and used. Construction of temples started in the Middle Kingdom and continued through to Ptolemaic times. Approximately thirty pharaohs contributed to the buildings, enabling it to reach a size, complexity, and diversity not seen elsewhere. Few of the individual features of Karnak are unique, but the size and number of features are overwhelming. (Wikipedia)
**Interesting Egypt Tidbit: There are hundreds if not thousands of Egyptians employed as site guards all throughout the country. They are responsible for protecting the ruins from the destruction of tourists (ie not letting them climb on ancient ruins and touch fragile antiquities). However, they are 100% willing to turn a blind eye to your actions for a price. They will even take your picture while doing forbidden things (as seen below)... just expect them to demand compensation.
**Interesting Luxor Tidbit: For a city that runs on change.... no one EVER has change here! I think it is part of a conspiracy to scam tourist... (joking, but only a small bit). You get bills from the atms, but everything costs only a fraction of those bills, so you ask for change, and they say they have none. We were turned away from The Karnak Temple at first because we did not have correct change and the office workers claimed they had none to give us in exchange. During our next trip a few moments later to the ticket windows, we saw men counting hundreds of small change bills!! So frustrating! So if you ever go, make sure to take small change with you and guard it with your life.
After a few hours at The Karnak Temple, we walked a few miles to a Korean restaurant for dinner. On our walk, we passed through the center of town, which is home of The Luxor Temple ruins. The site is beautiful, especially during sunset.
After dinner, we called it a night! The next day was to be a big day...
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