Oh No! it’s another transfer day, although this one is by far the easiest. We just have to get off the ship and onto a bus for a short ride to our next hotel – the Steigenberger Nile Palace.

Of course it’s NEVER that simple in Egypt. The trick is that we can’t check in to the hotel under afternoon – and of course we have to check-out by 10:00 AM. But Odyessy doesn’t waste time. Hassein has planned a full agenda for us this morning.

So – suitcases outside by 7:30 – get breakfast and be ready in the lobby by 8:00.

I begining to think that Hassein has only two start times – insanely early and 8:00 AM!

Anyway – good travelers that we all are – we are ready at 8:00 to visit the Big Fish of all Temples in Egypt – Karnak. And it is huge. 60 acres in it’s entirety – and Hassein jokes that we shouldn’t worry – we are only visiting 59 of the acres.

Cute. Very Cute.

Even though it seems really early to me – Karnak is busy, busy, busy – and Hassein basically tells us – you haven’t seen anything yet. That and Follow Me are his ways of letting us know it’s time to move!

As we have come to expect from the bigger temples – there’s a ticket required – which Hassein hands us when we get to the automated ticket scanning booths. Inside the ‘Visitor Welcome Center’ there is a 3D structure of the original Temple – as best we can imagine it today. Hassein points out that what makes Karnak special is that every Pharoah from the Old, Middle and New Dynasties had a finger in the pie. Each created a part of the temple, or added a wall, or erected an Obelisk or two. And well meaning folks have tried to ‘save’ sections, sometimes helping out, sometimes with disasterous results.

The worst attempt was French – an well meaning gentleman was asked to just get rid of some of the salt build-up along one side of the Temple. The problem was that the Nile’s flood and drop cycle had left salt over time and the salt had created issues. His idea was to allow the Nile water’s to remove the salt – so he built channels to bring in the water and left it sit under the wall for 3 months.

The wall fell down.

What the fellow didn’t know was that the builders had put cedar wood pegs in the middle of the stone blocks to hold them in place. Adding humidity made the wood swell – and the stones were pushed apart. Just brilliant, right!

On the other hand – under the wall that came tumbling down were found the painted tiles from the temple of Akhenaten that I described in the last Blog. So in fact – in failure they gave Akhenaten eternal life!

Anyway – we spend a brief moment looking at the 3D model, and then it’s time to see the real thing. And it is HUGE. Sheesh. The main hall – famous for having the stone pushed down in the movie – Death on the Nile – is actually as mysterious and huge as the movie makes it seem. A dozen men couldn’t link arms and circle just one of the Columns and there are dozens.

The ‘shorter’ columns are topped with closed Lotus Flowers, and the larger columns in the center of main hall are carved as Open Lotus flowers. The roof was built to go up vertically on the inner set of closed Lotus Flower Columns and then over the open Lotus Flower Columns and then down vertically on the other side. In the Vertical spaces, are grids of windows – creating rays of light. The net effect is to have the rays of the Sun illuminating the Open Lotus Flowers!

So cool. Such a neat effect.

I get some lovely sun rise images over bits and pieces of the temple. There are some really striking parts to this temple – not least of which is the remainders of the ramp system that the builders and artists used to create a Wall. Basically they used mud bricks, built a ramp up to the final height, placing the blocks layer by layer as the ramp was being built.

Then the artists arrive and start carving the blocks from the top. As they finish, the ramp is destroyed and they can access the lower parts of the wall. To make sure the designs are carved in the right places – they used plumb lines to make straight vertical lines (ask your local painter) – and then other plumb lines to make horizontal lines. That makes a grid – and then the images are transfered into the grids.

I use exactly the same technique to copy a painting from a small sketch to a bigger piece of paper. Wow – who knew I was using a 5000 year old technique.

There are some lovely low Relief and high Relief images to admire – and of course the wonderful Obelisks of Hatshepsut. She married her Nephew, then made him marry her daughter, all to keep control of the throne and title of Pharoah in her hands. She ruled for 18 years – and when she died – her Nephew – who finally got to be Pharoah – tried to erase her name everywhere. Nice family – right.

Anyway – Hassein went to great effort to explain what we know and don’t know about the creation and placement of an Obelisk. Because they are needles pointing the way to Heaven for the souls – they are made of one huge piece of stone, carved out in the Quarry. He explains how they measured out the size, carved out parts including the pieces that would in the end make the Obelisk raised at one end and lower at the other. Then the carving would start. When that was finished, the rest of the stone that wasn’t Obelisk was removed and the obelisk put on a boat to take it to the Temple. It was moved into position, and then raised. There are images that have been found that detail carefully all the steps except the one key one – how did they raise the Obelisk into position? No one apparently knows!

We pose for a group photo in front of the Obelisk of Hatshepsut – Admire the magnificant carving of a young King Tut and then use our free time to wander (or go to the toilet!).

We then take the bus a very short distance to a place where they make and paint Papyrus. There’s an interesting demonstration of the technique – starting with the plant (a lot like bamboo), and showing how strips are laid in both horizontil and Vertical position to create after 5 to 10 days of drying – Papyrus. And based on what we’ve seen in the GEM – this stuff really lasts and lasts! It’s flexible and pliable, and with proper preparation – easy to paint. Lots of our fellow travelers happily do some shopping – but we’re trying to downsize – and honestly – nothing really grabs our attention.

Then it’s finally time for lunch – which Hassein tells us is his favorite meal of the trip. We are crossing the Nile by boat to eat at a framer’s home. I must admit I’m sceptical – but in fact – is really truly is his home. There’s a shady area in front of his door that they have put out tables and benches to seat the 21 of us – and a bread oven in the corner. The walls of the space are painted to remind the family of their 2 trips to Mecca – one by steamship, one by airplane.

14 people live in the house – it has 3 floors with maybe 12 rooms, and from what we can see – one sink, and one toilet. Sharing is caring.

The kitchen where the meal has been prepared is very very basic – but the meal is amazing. We start with a vegtable delicious soup (all veggies from their farm), followed by Chicken and Beef. The beef is so tender – it’s wonderful. Of course there’s Rice, Hummus and Tahini – and pita. No meal in Egypt is Pitaless!

They show us how to make a ‘pastry’ type of bread that they dip into Molasses for dessert (it’s yummy – and I’m a complete Klutz at rolling out the bread). The farmer – who speaks excellent English, although he appologizes first – answers all our questions, explains how big his family is – and also tells us that no one knows how old his mother actually is – because age doesn’t matter!

Then they take us inside the house so the Mother who is probably 1/2 my height – can show us how she spends every day grinding wheat using a grinder handed down to her from her mother. One of my fellow travelers tries it – and can make the grinder turn, but just barely. I wait till everyone else is outside to ask if I can try. I can’t even turn the top stone 1/2 way. And this tiny little lady can make it grind wheat.

Mona – if you read this – you know what I need to work on – sigh.

We then say our good-byes and get back on the boat to check-in finally at our hotel.

It’s the best one I might EVER have stayed at. Huge and beautiful. The rooms are stunning, tons of space, lots of lights and we have a giant balcony that overlooks the Nile. I sit on the Balcony working on my blog while Victor takes a nap.

In the late afternoon we are escorted to another Cotton House – where more of our group do more shopping. Victor buys a lovely Blue shirt of linen, and a cotton scarf he’s been hunting for. I chat with one of the very sweet sales girls.

When we get back to the hotel, we take a stroll around the swiming pool, various restarants and double lobby – at the lowest level we find a cute bar where some of our fellow travelers have gathered. We join them for drinks (delicous). I see one of the staff swinging a bucket of coals to get them to light up – and then put the coals into a tall, rather elborately decorated stand. Victor takes one looks and says – those are Hookahs – and lots of folks are smoking. Our waiter asks if we’d like to try one – but we all agree since we don’t smoke – it might not be a good idea to start with these!

When we get up to leave the waiter tells us that entertainment is starting – we should stay. But we all agree – we are done for the evening!

We settle for a simple dinner (I have a salad) at one of the hotel’s restaurants – and go back to bed. Naturally – tomorrow is another LONG day!

Signing off – The Soup Lady