Day 8 Friday, January 19 Rest Day in Luxor

By Henry

Forgot to mention in January 18's post that there was an error in Ride with GPS routing, and we were informed in the morning that instead of 106 km, the ride would actually be 135 km. Fortunately, there was a slight tailwind, or mild crosswind, and no strong headwinds to combat our entry into Luxor.

Another cool night; we woke up to 9° C. The hot air balloon group, including Tim, left at 4:30 AM.

We had breakfast at 7 AM, and departed on our package Luxor tour at 7:30 AM. Linda, Jeff, and I chose this option. Our tour bus swung by the hot air balloon drop site to pick up those hardy souls who wanted to continue touring Luxor with us after their aerial adventure.

Luxor is loaded with massive temples from the pharaonic dynasties, and resplendent tombs. One could spend a week here, and it would still be too much to absorb.

We started our tour today with a trip to the Valley of the Kings, which is chock full of pharaohs' tombs.











We first visited Rameses IV's tomb. The beauty of the walls within the corridors leading to his tomb is astounding. There has been amazing color preservation over the millennia.


Next was King Tut's tomb. Almost everything from his tomb has been taken to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. However, his mummy remains in an oxygen-free case in his tomb.


Head shot of King Tut, who died at age 19.


What 3,300+ year-old toes look like (best case scenario).


King Tut's original sarcophagus.


Detail from a wall carving with retained color. I could have easily taken 1,000 pictures. Some tourists were trying.


Just one more to show the preserved detail.


Next, a trip to Hatshepsut Mortuary Temple. My picture doesn't do it justice. Any Google search will show images in much better detail.


Habu Temple followed. Another huge edifice. We enjoyed a very filling lunch at an excellent restaurant before resuming the tour.


Final stop was the famous Karnak Temple (of no relation to Johnny Carson's The Magnificent Carnac).


The scale is once again monumental. The pharaohs did not build anything small.


Many obelisks have been transported to other countries. These are a few of those left in Egypt.


Massive columns.


A row of sphinxes with rams' heads.


Extremely thick protective walls; these are not hollow.

A half-day rapidfire tour through Luxor does not do these historic sites justice. I can see the attraction of those who chose to become Egyptologists. Truly, a fascinating culture to study.

Tomorrow, we are back on the road again for two more days, to our final biking destination in Egypt (Aswan). There is a lot of road debris. The invisible wires that plague bikers' tires and tubes are everywhere. Tim had to repair his own second flat yesterday, and suffered his first flat several days ago. Jeff had repaired both front and rear flats simultaneously two evenings ago at camp, but woke up yesterday to a flat front tire, due to a patch that didn't seal properly. We hope for better luck the next two days.