Another early start. 5am in fact. After breakfast we found ourselves in one of those blue and white Luxor bangers which somehow pass for a taxi. It was literally a few minutes drive from the Sofitel Karnak, along the Nile Cornish to the vast site of the Temple of Amun, or as is often referred, Karnak Temple. After much debate with the hotel concierge the night before, we managed to glean that the temple opened to the public at 6am. So we decided to arrive as early as possible, firstly to make the most of the amenable temperature at that hour, secondly to avoid the inevitable tourist bus surge, and thirdly, I wanted to make the most of the light for photos. 

With the exception of tourist police and other officials, the 260,000 square metre site that hosts Karnak temple was deserted at this hour. The sun had barely breached the eastern horizon, and Margaret and I literally had the place to ourselves. After purchasing the tickets we made our way along the date-palm lined concourse to the temple entrance, one that is not easily missed, because of the security check-point and the surreal guard-of-honour you enjoy when walking down the avenue of rams-headed sphinxes towards the 1st Pylon and soon after into the Great Court.

The Great Court was deserted, well almost. The jackal-headed God and guardian of the dead, Anubis, must have certainly been present, as at the feet of some headless rams-headed sphinxes were two jackals playing. We had previously seen jackals on safari in Tanzania, but to see them amongst these ancient ruins was truly iconic. Anubis is depicted in many of the tomb relief works we had previously seen on our visit to the Valley of the Kings and Queens.

Early morning Anubis ritual, Temple of Amun, Karnak

Perhaps my only regret was not having a bigger lens than my 300mm on hand. I shot these jackals from about 20-30 metres away, and I know the latter image could be sharper. Retrospect, says a monopod would have served me well. The jackals must have been frolicking for about 2 minutes, scampering behind the sphinxes and then back again, before finally disappearing beyond the Great Court colonnade.  That was really cool, and one we would not have seen if not for us being first into the temple. Best part was that there was no Baksheesh required.

It wasn’t long before a Baksheesh moment arrived though. One of the armed tourism police invited us to take a look at the remains of a statue of Ramses II. All that remained of this statue were his feet. Idea was that you stand in the feet of Ramses II and get a photo. We did it reluctantly, but hey he was armed. I tried to flog him 1 EGP for his feigned troubles, but he informed that that wasn’t very much for the painstaking effort he had gone too, and mum he had a Kalashnikov. So I gave him 10 EGP (that’s just under a quid), and he was on his merry way. From that point onward we had a steely resolve to avoid all requests.

Beyond the Great Court and 2nd Pylon was one of the most remarkable feats of construction I think I’ve ever seen. The Great Hypostyle Hall, row upon row of monolithic papyrus fashioned pillar… after pillar… after pillar. It kind of made me wonder what all the fuss about the Parthenon was. 134 pillars in all. The hall was designed by Pharaoh Amenhotep III (1390 – 1352 BC) and actually built by Seti I (1294 – 1279 BC). Margaret and I were quite happy to wander through this hall for about 10 minutes, just staring upwards in awe. The Hypostyle Hall looked particularly impressive as the rising sun caught the tops of the columns. One such photo is below.

The Great Hypostyle Hall in morning sun, Amun Temple, Karnak 

After losing our bearings and each other in the Hypostyle Hall, we made our way into the court beyond the 3rd Pylon, and then headed south into the Cachette Court. More magnificent statues at the 7th Pylon could be found here. We moved further along towards the 8th Pylon, and could not go any further as it was roped off. Well, that was until one of the unofficial Baksheesh peddlers made himself known, and urged us to go take a look at a number of Colossi (statues) beyond the 8th Pylon. It was actually worth a look as there is a Colossi of Amenhotep I there, that is near intact. Okay, so our resolve was not so steely, and I parted with more money. From now on our resolve would be steely.

We then headed East, taking in the Sacred Lake. As we walked back to the temple, we took great interest in the giant stone scarab beetle which stood in front of the 4th Pylon and a couple of obelisks dedicated to Queen Hatshepsut. I captured the picture below. The sky and colours were magnificent in the early morning sun.

Giant Scarab Beetle and Hatshepsut Obelisks, Karnak

As we headed further into the temple complex, it became quite clear that this site was a myriad of different temples and constructions, all with the purpose of revering various Theban gods and Pharaohs of the Middle and New Kingdoms. Bits and pieces had been added, removed, amended over time depending on the Pharaoh. At the eastern most edge of the complex, I avoided the calls of another tourism policeman to come take a look at something (see, I can be steely when I want to be) and instead climbed a small hillock, to grab a view of the entire temple complex.

Afterwards we followed a short boardwalk into the botanical gardens, followed by the pillared Great Festival Hall of Tuthmosis III. Took a look inside the Sacred Barque Sanctuary, before gazing up at Hatshepsut’s Obelisks at point-blank range. At this point we were able to look along the East-West corridor of the temple, which lead back through the Great Hypostyle Hall, to the Great Court, revealing a concourse now teeming with tourist buses and their hoards, and then, further to the reddish escarpment that imprisons the Valley of the Kings on the West Bank. Our peace and quiet would soon be shattered, but thankfully we had been fortunate enough to experience the temple at a relaxed pace. This pretty much completed our 2 hour visit, so we made our way back the way we had come, taking one last look at those rams-headed sphinxes, before heading to the Il Cornish and our waiting taxi.

Karnak Temple is truly magnificent. It left me scratching my head** as to why I hadn’t really heard of this place before. Perhaps it reveals a stunted education on my part (just like my height some may say, now that was indeed a problem at school). But the magnitude and impression this place leaves, in my view, means it should be elevated in stature, placed front of mind with students, indeed made a landmark as recognisable as the Sydney Opera House, Big Ben, or dare I say the Pyramids themselves. Maybe it already it is and I’m just plain ignorant. Anyhow it’s worth a look! At this point, Ahmed Mohammed Ali, our taxi driver was waiting patiently for us to take us into Luxor and immerse ourselves in another of Luxor’s magnificent temples – the surprisingly named Luxor Temple.

** No, I didn’t have nits. In fact I had a run-in within an Egyptian barber days earlier, and elected to have my head shorn, revealing a parasite free scalp of the ginger stubble persuasion.

It was 8:15am when we visited Luxor Temple. Whereas Karnak Temple is set back from the Cornish with its impressive concourse, Luxor Temple is right in your face, when you visit the East-bank. One of it’s colonnades (Amenhotep III) runs parallel to the Nile, which is quite impressive. Luxor and Karnak Temples were actually connected in days gone by, particularly when it came to worshiping the Gods of Amun-Ra. This was an interesting point of note. Ra, the Sun God was a God of lower or Northern Egypt, and Amun, was a God of Creation and of Upper Egypt. So a combined deity represented all of Egypt. Should be noted here, that Upper Egypt is in fact the south of Egypt and is geographically the upper part of the country given the Nile flows from south to north, and ends in the lower Nile delta, ultimately flowing into the Mediterranean. Luxor Temple was largely built by the Pharaoh Amenhotep III, but the prolific Ramses II certainly left his mark on the place, with statues and reliefs of himself just about everywhere you look.

Ramses II and beyond Colonnade of Amenhotep III, Luxor Temple

Luxor Temple was as fascinating as Karnak, although on a smaller scale. It may have been more prudent to visit Luxor Temple on a different day to Karnak, given that a smaller temple visit after Karnak does diminish its impact somewhat.  That said, Luxor temple shouldn’t be missed. One of the certain highlights was the avenue of sphinxes, which stretches for a good couple of hundred metres, and runs from the temple entrance and in parallel with the Nile. In it’s hey-day, this avenue ran the full 3km, connecting it to the temple in Karnak.

One of many Sphinxes from the Avenue of Sphinxes, Luxor Temple

So at around 9:30am our Luxor Temple fix had been reached. We made our way out of the temple, through the eastern most exit, and onto the streets of Baksheesh central. As soon as the locals see any kind of western tourists on their own, they hone in on you with the voracity of a mosquito to a varicose vein. Little kids, mostly men.

Little Kid: "Baksheesh!"

Me: "La, shu-krun!"

No thank you in Arabic, very useful phrase. This little blighter gave up.

Random Man: "You want horse and carriage ride?"

Horse and buggy, and complimentary haggler are a common sight in Luxor.

Me: "No, we want a taxi!"

Random Man: "Oh you want taxi?"

Enter taxis from left right and centre, crawling the pavement in near lock-step with you.

Me: "Doh! We already have a taxi booked. Sorry!"

Random Taxi Dude: "You want taxi? I take you. I take you!"

Keep on walking. Keep on ignoring.

Random Taxi Dude: "You want taxi. I take you. I take you!"

Taxi-man very annoyed.

Enter Mohammed Ali, swinging his blue and white mean machine a few yards in front of us, and nearly collecting a souvenir stall in the process. Saved by Mohammed Ali. Cool!

As for the remainder of this Temple Tale. We got back to the Sofitel Karnak hotel at around 10am, in time to have a second helping of buffet breakfast, before whiling away the afternoon swimming and reading beneath the shade of date palms and a glorious Luxor sun. It was indeed cool!