Good base to drive to the famous Valley of Kings with Tutanchamon.

Tolle Stadt, immer eine Reise wert! Kann ich nur empfehlen.

Karnak Temple is huge. It covers an area of 1500m by 800m. There are sanctuaries, huge columns, obelisks and even a sacred lake. I particularly like the main entrance to the temple, which is lined by ram-headed sphinxes (though most of them are missing their heads these days). Another highlight is the Great Hypostyle Hall, where there are 134 huge stone columns, dwarfing anyone who walks through them. There are 2 spectacular obelisks that were donated to the temple by the famous King/Queen Hatshepsut. We had about 90 minutes to visit the temple, and our tour guide took us around and showed us the highlights. But you really need a few hours here to take it all in. There is just so much to see here. Don't forget your water, and your comfortable shoes - oh, and you'll definitely need your camera!

Karnak Temple is not really a "temple", but a complex of numerous temples. So large, that we took one whole day to wonder around it, exploring different sites and little nooks, where no groups were taken… First impression of Karnak Temple – huge mess. That used to be a site of ancient capital of Egypt, so every king considered it to be a question of honour to add something to Karnak’s complex, so that he will be remembered in generations. Sometimes that meant that some of the old buildings got refurbished with the new wall inscriptions on top of the old ones or even new layer of stone bricks added around the old wall to cover up previous king’s name with the current one. Very naughty indeed…however, the Karnak still remains the biggest temple site in Egypt and requires lots of time for exploration of all its wonders. You can easy spend whole day in Karnak, just take care of the water. In a midday heat there is always a nice place under the palm trees by the sacred lake. a little snacks cafe is there as well, though we didn't try it. It is easy to follow few different groups, while you there - you will get the picture of what is where. I would reccomend to go there on your own, as no organised tour will give you all the time you needed for this jewel of the Thebes. Try to sneak off to the side temples. We had an excellent opportunity to explore Temple of Khosnu - It stands off the beaten touristy path and was a nice change from the overcrowded centre. it is located in the corner of karnak complex and has two big hypostyle halls and little sanctuaries on each side of them and a little baboon's statues, hiding in the niches...The pictures on the walls – mainly about the battles between Horus and Seth (hmmm…I don’t know why, maybe because Thoth, related to the Khonsu, has been a mediator between them?) In any case, it was a little gem well worth a visit.

Luxor Temple is located on the East Bank in the center of Luxor, separated from the Nile by Luxor's Corniche. The temple was built as the secret settlement of the Lord of Gods - namely "Amoun" who took the figure of "Mein", the God of Fertility and Reproduction in Egyptian mythology. The Luxor temple was built by Amenhotep III in the 18th Dynasty. Once every year, a great feast was held to transport the statue of god Amoun from the Karnak temple through the river to visit Luxor temple, which was called "The Southern Harem". The temple is marked by its rear rooms with prominent inscriptions, and the hall of columns whose crowns represent the figure of lotus flower. King Ramsis II added a front yard made of the beautiful sandstone. He also surrounded it with a row of columns, decorated it with statues made of granite or Aswan stone, and established in front of the temple a great palace ornamented by two granite obelisks, one of which was transferred to Concord square in Paris in 1836

Luxor temple was dedicated to the thebes triad: Amon (king of Gods), Mut (his wife) and Khnum (their son, the moon God). The temple has a more unified plan than some Egyptian temples because it was essentially the work of only three pharaohs: Amenophis III, Tutankhamen, and Ramses II. Each new addition was situated in front of the older section. It has the typical Egyptian temple features: an entrance pylon, courtyards with porticoes, a hypostyle hall and at the end of the longitudinal axis, a sacred area, with the sanctuary, a birth house, and other small rooms, not accessible to the ancient public. In ancient times a 3,5 kilometers long avenue of sphinxes connected the two temples; originally these sphinxes had ram heads (Amon's symbol) but they were replaced with human-headed sphinxes in the 30th Dynasty. The temple is about 250 m long and about 65 m height.

Life story of queen Hatshepsut is really interesting!! she was very strong woman and she wasn't really that kind of fair ideal person Queen "Hatshepsut" was the first one to send ships to the country's "Puntland" (Somalia now), so they are loaded and perfumes .. And "Hatshepsut" is the fifth kings of the eighteenth dynasty, which also belongs to the King "Tutankhamen." A daughter "Thutmose I," and wife "Thutmose II," has received the sentence with "Thutmose III," which was the son of one of her husband Gariaat, at the same time, her daughter's husband, and remained until her death in 1484 BC holding the reins of government, the ruling was over cogens her life, and deported "Thutmose III" from power, it was not described to him in the Governing Although she was a female had represented itself in the form of statues man has been flat without breasts, and has borrowed to live. Having died liberation "Thutmose III" from the trusteeship of heavy, and I like to retaliate against them Vatm construction of the temple, and the proportion of the same, and the name and crush most forms excavated and icons, and a place name and his titles in many quarters (please look the pictures i put inside) The design and implementation of building the temple Engineer "die" QC and one close to it. It belongs to a family of modest "Armant" but became the first president to acknowledge reception of the royal family, and the President receiving machine "Amon", and is in charge of all construction, so it made the greatest professional successes in the history of ancient Egypt.

The Valley of the Kings (VoK) is a must-visit. By now, you probably know what to expect here - pharaonic tombs to your heart's content. A few practical tips on visiting VoK: 1) Best time to visit would be early afternoon (around 1-2 pm) when most tourists wouldn't want to venture under soaring temps. Suicidal? Not really. That would be the time when tombs have least number of visitors, when you can have them all to yourself, like me. Don't fret, there are shaded areas and the tombs are well ventilated inside-actually felt cooler inside the tombs. 2) Take some time to view the 3D fiberglass model of the site at the entrance - this gives a feel of the lay of the land, as well as clues on what to expect, and help you plan which tombs would be most fun to view. 3) Rethink plan to see Tutankhamun's tomb - most of the artifacts had been moved to the Egyptian Museum, so the empty tomb may not justify the extra fees , which you pay on top of the standard EGP 70 fee (good for 3 tombs). 4) Don't miss Tuthmosis III's tomb - one the earliest to be built, it's the least accessible, and the most fun to visit-you climb a steep hill, cross a steep ravine to the entrance, from where you descend several meters below ground, crossing a deep shaft built to entrap ancient robbers. Sounds complicated? Try it yourself and you'll know what I mean. Warning: not for the faint of heart! 5) Forget what guidebooks say about bringing water - in this most tourism-corrupted town in the world, price of bottled water should be pretty much the same everywhere. Bringing water would not only be cumbersome, water would also be useless after being exposed to the sun. You can buy water at the stores located beside the main visitors' area at the entrance. 6) Respect regulations on taking photos - being alone inside the tombs, I could have switched to my shutter-happy mode, but chose not to (taking pictures inside is not allowed). The paintings are in a delicate condition and any measure to preserve them should be encouraged. Happy tomb viewing!

The Colossi of Memnon are situated on the main road to the West Bank monument area. All tourist's groups have here stop for some minutes - so, you can take photos! These two gigantic statues (around 17m high) were cut from two massive granite blocks, brought from quarries near Cairo. And once they stood at the entrance gate of the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III. Nowadays almost nothing remains about this temple of Amenhotep III. Statues represents the pharaoh Amenhotep III (Dynasty XVIII). There are very interesting story - after an earthquake in 27 BC, part of the northern colossus collapsed and from then on each morning at sunrise, the statue produced a strange musical sound. Ancient :-) Greek and Roman tourists :-) came to hear this sound, and gave statue the name of "Memnon" - a Trojan hero, the son of Eos and Titan, who sang to his mother each morning at daybreak. It's a legend, but in reality the sun heating up the stone produced this strange sound. In the third century AD northern statue was repaired and the mysterious singing was never heard again. But as a result of the legend the statues of Amenhotep III became known as the Colossi of Memnon. There is no entrance charge or restrictions on photography.

In the Valley of the Queens are 75 tombs of queens and princesses of the 19th and 20 th dynasties. Only 5 tombs are open for the public. We visit them all, included the best tomb of Egypt, the tomb of Nefertari, discovered in 1904 and first opened for the public in 1995. Only 150 visitors a day are allowed to visit the tomb for 10 minutes only. "Take 5 minutes more, if you need" whispered the guard at the entrance at our early morning visit. Ramses II, the husband of Nefertari ordered to build this beautifull tomb. The paintings in the seven chambers have very bright colours. The scenes are portraying a charming woman with beautifull face in long white transparant garments. For many visitors it's a rather emotional experience to visit this tomb. I saw people with tears in the eyes and people who had to go out to take some fresh air before re-entering and looking at the breathtaking scenes again. At this moment I look at the booklet with all the amazing scenes and realise this is the best I've ever seen in Egypt. So, a really must see. It's worth the money. Entrance tomb Nefertari: 100 Egyptian pound Entrance 4 other tombs together: 12 Egyptian pound.