September 2026 – A Traveling Fool

September 20, 2026September 20, 2026

Egyptian Expedition 018: Day 8 – Glorious Karnak Temple

On Day 8, the wake-up call was for 4:30am and our breakfast was at 5:15am. We departed the hotel at 6am to catch our chartered flight which was leaving Cairo at 8am. Luxor was only an hour’s flight away. We arrived at 9am and headed directly for Karnak Temple once we collected our luggage.

The system was to find our checked case next to the coach (which had been brought down from our rooms while we were having breakfast), pull up the handle and set our carryon on top, if small, or next to it with its handle pulled up, if it was larger. The people handling the luggage would then put both cases on the coach. At the airport, we would again identify our cases by pulling up the handle of the large case and taking the smaller case with us on the plane. Both cases had red Viking tags on them with our coach number and with our ship name and stateroom number. We had to identify them once more and leave our smaller cases again once we landed in Luxor. They would be taken to the ship while we were at Karnak Temple and we would be reunited with them in our stateroom when we arrived at the ship later.

Photo 001 is the view from the hotel restaurant where we had breakfast. The next photo (002) is of a charter plane exactly like the one on which we flew, taken from the window of our plane. Photo 003 is of Cairo as seen from the air.

The Karnak Temple Complex is enormous. Its construction began during the reign of Senusret I (1971 – 1926 BC) during the Middle Kingdom (c. 2000 to 1700 BC) and continued into the Ptolemaic Kingdom (305 to 30 BC). Most of the buildings date to the New Kingdom (1570 to 1544 BC). The major portion of the complex is dedicated to the god Amun-Re.

In photo 004, we are walking along the Avenue of the Sphinxes towards the 1^st Pylon. That is Hanaa in the red shirt and cap. Photo 005 was taken while we were in the Forecourt on our way to the 2^nd Pylon. There was a temple to Ramesses III and a few more sphinxes (006) in this area. The 2^nd Pylon was built by Horemheb and was later usurped by Ramesses I and still later usurped by Ramesses II.

You can see some statues of Ramesses II in photos 007. In 008 to 010 are more photos of one specific statue of Ramesses II from several angles. Photo 011 shows even more statues of Ramesses II where he was identifying himself with the god Osiris. This is why he is depicted like a mummy.

There is an interesting statue of the god Amun-Re seated with the goddess Mut (012). It is said that the facial features are of King Tutankhamun and his wife as he was the pharaoh who commissioned the statue.

Some wall inscriptions are in the next couple photos that I enjoyed. These had to do with a festival of some kind. The first photo (013) shows someone firing up the barbeque. In the next photo (014) some very flexible people are dancing.

This brings me to a very ancient Egyptian god named Min. We were in an area where the walls were decorated with depictions of Amun-Re and Min and some of the story of Min. I don’t remember having been told about Min during my previous visit to Egypt. He was considered to have been a very powerful god of male fertility, sexual potency, harvest, and kingship. Since his worship dates to the predynastic period, he is one of the very earliest Egyptian deities.

The way that Hanaa explained him to us was that he had been a human who was a powerful warrior. He lost both an arm and a leg in battle. Amun-Re decided to reward him for his bravery by making him a god and compensating him with another physical endowment. This is depicted in photo 015. As Hanaa said, he became very popular with the ladies.

One of the treasures of this particular temple is the Great Hypostyle Hall. It was begun by King Seti I and completed by his son, Ramesses II. Seti’s carvings were in raised relief. Ramesses switched to sunk relief as that would be much more difficult for a later king to usurp, especially if it was deeply carved. He should know as he usurped many a previous pharaoh’s reliefs, including his own grandfather, Ramesses I, as well as some of his father’s.

I have included some of my photographs of the columns in this hall in photos 016 to 019. In photo 017, you can get an idea of how tall the columns are by seeing how they tower over the people at the bottom of the photo.

Some statues of Sekhmet in photo 020. She was the Egyptian goddess of war, destruction, and healing. Even though she brought plagues and war, she also cured diseases. This made her the patron deity of ancient physicians. She is usually depicted with the head of a fierce lioness on top of a human female’s body.

She was created from the fire of Amun-Re’s eye to punish humanity for turning against him. Her rampage became so fierce that Amun-Re tricked her into drinking red-dyed beer, which she mistook for blood. The beer calmed her into the gentle goddess Hathor (often represented with the head of a cow). More about Hathor when we get to Luxor Temple (and even more at Dendera Temple).

The next photo (021) shows what is left of the altar in the Central Bark Shrine Sanctuary deeper into the complex. This was defaced during the Armana Period under King Akhenaten. It also suffered damage during the Assyrian and Persian conquests of Egypt.

The Red Chapel of Hatshepsut was dismantled and reused to build one of the later pylons. Now there is a reconstruction of that chapel in the Open-Air Museum in the Karnak Temple Complex (022). In 023, can be seen where Hatshepsut’s figure was chiseled out of a scene on one of the walls within the main temple. Photo 024 shows the inside of the Osirian Temple of Taharqa.

The obelisks of King Tuthmose I (left) and Hatshepset (right) are shown in photo 025. Her successors not only dismantled her chapel and chiseled out her image, but they also built a wall around her obelisk so it couldn’t be seen from ground level. You can see bits of the remainder of the wall in this photo.

A calendar is inscribed on a wall in photo 026. The remains of a second Hatshepsut obelisk that was originally paired with the one in 025 is shown in 027. This is just the top part of it. The rest of it was destroyed during an earthquake. This top part was lying on the ground near where it now stands when I made my first visit to Karnak in 2008. It was determined that letting it continue to lie on the ground was hastening its erosion. So, they decided to stand it upright.

The sacred lake, where the priests would purify themselves before performing rituals in the temple, is shown in photo 028. Some of Ramesses II’s deeply etched sunk reliefs are shown in photo 029. You can see how much clearer these are than many of the others.

The last photo, 030, shows the restaurant and coffee shop complex where we stopped in to have a rest and get some refreshments before continuing on to view a film at the Luxor Heritage Center. At first, we were offered the usual Coke and Pepsi. I don’t usually drink sodas and cannot drink anything with caffeine. I asked about Fanta, but they surprisingly said didn’t have any. So, I asked for a lemon juice with mint. The owner of the place brought it to me. Then he started a conversation with me.

Eventually he told me that he had lost his wife about two years earlier. I told him I was sorry and he continued the conversation with other topics for a while and then began to tell me how attractive he thought I was. He wanted to show me what a large place his complex of several restaurants and cafes was. Kind of an “and all of this could be yours” pitch. The more I said various versions of “thank you, no” the more aggressive he became. Maybe he was somewhat enamored, but I think it was more likely that he figured I was a “rich American”.

After we saw the film, we were taken to our ship, the Viking Amun. Our key cards were distributed on the coach on our way there. Onboard I met the steward who would be looking after me and he let me into my stateroom. My cases were there, waiting. Lunch was beckoning in the restaurant. I was hungry and so put off unpacking until after getting some sustenance.

Next – Settling in on the Ship and An Evening Visit to Luxor Temple

September 13, 2026

Egyptian Expedition 017: Day 7 – Riding A Camel, the Giza Pyramids & the Sphinx

Have you ever had one of those times when your emotions sort of overtook your brain and you found yourself doing something before your brain was actually engaged? Well. That’s what happened to me when we arrived at the Giza Pyramid complex. We were led to where several camels were waiting and asked, “who wants to ride a camel?” My hand immediately shot up into the air and I was the first one led down to the camels.

Although I had been to Egypt before and had also encountered camels in Israel, Jordan, and Turkey, I never rode one. I guess I found it a little intimidating. But this time…. This time I was set to doing it. I was determined to get up on one and underway before thinking too much and chickening out.

I was concentrating so hard on my goal that I didn’t really pay much attention to what anyone else was doing. So I didn’t find out until later that there were only about eight of us out of our group of twenty that did it.

I was introduced to Moses, who I felt was gazing upon me with kind eyes. His handler raised up part of the blanket that was over his back for me to put my left foot and then hoist myself up. My short little right leg didn’t quite make it over the back hump on the first try. But, with a little help from one of the other handlers, I found myself properly seated on Moses on the second try.

I held on tight and leaned back as Moses raised up his hind legs and then his front legs. So far, so good. His handler took hold of the reins and led me over to a couple from my group. Moses and I fell into step next to the husband while the wife trailed along behind us. I thought it was a bit odd that couples weren’t being kept together. Moses kept brushing up against the other camel next to us and trapping my left leg in between the two camels or brushing me up against the fella next to us.

We rode out for a bit and then Moses’ handler asked for my phone to take a photo. Although it is not one of my better photos, it is included here (photo 004). Moses is looking quite regal. The pyramids can be seen behind us.

We rode back to close to where we had started from and then the handler asked for payment for the photo. We had been told by our Egyptologist, Hanaa, ahead of time that the ride was covered by Viking and the photo would cost $5 USD. I pulled out my fiver and paid him. He then insisted that the cost was $20 USD. I argued. But it then became clear that I would not be getting off Moses until $20 crossed his palm. I also realized that this same thing was happening to everyone. So I decided to pay the ransom to then be able to run and get Hanaa to straighten this out.

Just before I reached her, another member of our group squeaked past me and told her what was happening. She marched off towards the camels, their handlers and our group members who were still being held hostage. I don’t know what she and the head handler were saying to each other, but I could tell that she was definitely telling him off something fierce. I got $15 of my $20 back as well as an apology. Our remaining camel riders were released from captivity after their $5 payments. We then rejoined the rest of the group and set off for the pyramids themselves.

The Giza pyramid complex is home to the Great Pyramid, which is the oldest and largest. It was built for King Khufu around 2600 BC. Then there is the Pyramid of Khafre, built for Khufu’s son. That is the one that still has some of its original outer casing stones near the top. The smallest of the three main structures is the Pyramid of Menkaure, the son of Khafre. There are several smaller pyramids for some of their queens, plus temples, cemeteries, and the remains of a workers’ village. Then there is the Great Sphinx. All of these were built during the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom between roughly 2600 and 2500 BC. The Giza, Abusir, Saqqara (Sakkara), and Dahshur pyramid complexes were all built in the vicinity of Egypt’s ancient capital of Memphis.

Photos 001 and 005 are of the Great Pyramid. Photo 006 shows one of the boat pits for Khufu’s Solar Boats. Photos 007 to 009 show the remains of three small pyramids of some of Khufu’s queens. In 010, the Great Pyramid is on the right and Khafre’s Pyramid on the left. There used to be a valley temple for Khufu, but it is buried beneath a village. There was a causeway that led from the valley temple to a mortuary temple, but both structures no longer exist.

Although we could go into the Great Pyramid, I am not aware of anyone in our group choosing to do so. The burial chamber was way up inside of the pyramid, accessed by a series of very long, very narrow, and very steep wooden ramps, much like the ramp we were on to enter King Teti’s Pyramid in Sakkara, but much longer and even steeper.

Another thing about pyramids is that, however hot it might be outside, it is even hotter inside. Plus, since they were designed for the dead, not the living, the air inside is stale. It isn’t moving. So, it can be more difficult to breathe. Not recommended for anyone with any breathing problems. To summarize, to explore the inside of a pyramid, it takes a good deal of physical exertion in a very hot and claustrophobic environment without much air. I figured that Teti’s Pyramid was good enough for me and that I didn’t need to give the Great Pyramid a try.

Khafre’s Pyramid (011 and 012) can often appear taller than the Great Pyramid because of its more elevated location and the steeper inclined angle of its construction. More of Khafre’s complex is still in existence too. There is a valley temple, the Sphinx, a causeway, and a mortuary temple in addition to its pyramid. There were quite a few statues found as well, which now reside in various museums around the world.

We were given some free time to wander around the pyramids and then we met up again at the Valley Temple of Khafre (013 to 015). This is one of the most impressive and best preserved of the Ancient Egyptian temples. It stands beside the Great Sphinx and has remained mostly intact for over 4,500 years.

Dating to about 2570 BC, the temple was the starting point for the pharaoh’s journey into the afterlife. The key rituals were performed here before Khafre’s body was transported into his pyramid for its final burial. In ancient times, the Nile’s floodwaters reached the base of the Valley Temple. This allowed boats to transport the pharaoh’s body from Memphis directly to the temple.

Once Khafre’s body arrived at the temple, the priests welcomed the body and began preliminary embalming. The purification rituals used oils, incense, and resins believed to hold spiritual power. These rituals prepared Khafre for his transformation into a divine being. From there, the king’s body traveled along the causeway to the Mortuary Temple beside his pyramid for its remaining embalming rituals.

One of the most important rituals performed in the valley temple was the Opening of the Mouth. This was to restore the senses of Khafre, such as sight, speech, and breath, to ensure that he could function in the afterlife.

The main hall still has its alabaster floors. The exterior is limestone, while the interior walls are pink granite from Aswan with massive red granite pillars. The main reason why the temple is so well preserved is that it was buried under many layers of desert sand until the mid-nineteenth century.

After we stood in the shade of the red granite pillars to listen to Hanaa tell us about the building and the rituals performed within it, we left the building at its far end (016) and walked back to the Sphinx (017 to 020). The face of the Sphinx is thought to be Khafre as it resembles his face from his statues. In photo 019, you can clearly see the Sphinx’s tail and one of his hind legs.

Although there is a myth that the nose of the Sphinx was destroyed by cannon fire from Napoleon’s troops in 1798, the evidence instead shows that it was deliberately chiseled off. Most likely much earlier than 1798. Part of its beard is on display in the British Museum. I shared my photo of it in my post about our visit to the British Museum back in 002 of this Egyptian Expedition series. The Arabs know the Great Sphinx of Giza by the name of Abū al-Hawl, or “Father of Terror.”

When we got back to the hotel after a very long but amazing day at the Grand Egyptian Museum and the Giza Pyramids and Sphinx (plus that camel ride), we had an early dinner at Giannini’s New York Italian Restaurant in the hotel and packed everything up for an early departure the following morning. We would be taking a chartered flight to Luxor where we would then embark on our Nile River cruise.

I do have a photo of my dinner (021). It was Risotto alla Perscatora, which included shrimps, scallops, calamari, mussels and a crab bisque. The wine was a Syrah called Castello Di Trevi, which was an Egyptian Rosé. I found it to be quite tasty.

Next – The amazing Karnak Temple at Luxor

September 9, 2026

Egyptian Expedition 016: Day 7 – The King Khufu Solar Boats at the GEM

Once we finished our tour of the Tutankhamun Gallery, we had roughly an hour of free time. So, a friend and I went to see the Solar Boats that were once buried alongside King Khufu’s Great Pyramid. These are among the oldest wooden ships ever discovered and date back to approximately 4,600 years ago.

They are referred to as “solar boats”, “solar barges” or “solar barques”. These would have been ritual vessels believed to carry the resurrected king across the heavens with the sun god Ra. However, the first boat discovered and reconstructed does appear to have been used in water. So maybe it was once used as a funeral barge or maybe even by Khufu while he was alive to visit holy places and then buried for him to use in the afterlife.

Both boats were disassembled when found. The first boat was reconstructed back in the 1960s. It is considered to be the world’s oldest intact ship. It has also been described as “a masterpiece of woodcraft” which could still sail if put into a lake or a river.

The second boat is being put back together now in a space next to the first boat. It has some design differences from the first and is believed to have been created for a different function. Once its reconstruction is complete the two boats will remain displayed in their own special building side by side.

We were able to walk completely around the two boats, seeing them from every angle and from different levels. The second boat is currently just a skeleton. But the first boat looks like you could just walk onto it and sail off in it, if it were in water. It was remarkable to see something made of wood that was so old but looked so sturdy.

Although Khufu was the builder of the Great Pyramid, which is the only one of the ancient seven wonders of the world still in existence, there is only one, small ivory figure known to be of him. He apparently wasn’t like so many of the later pharaohs who had numerous massive statutes of themselves everywhere. His father is considered to have been Sneferu. His son, Djedefre, succeeded him to the throne. Djedefre’s brother, Khafre, succeeded him and built the second largest pyramid in Giza. More about him in the next post.

Making sure to have enough time to eat some lunch before heading to the Giza Pyramids for the afternoon, we next headed to the area with several restaurants, cafes and retail shops in the museum complex. We needed something that would keep us going through the afternoon but not be too heavy. A sandwich shop called Sandough seemed to fit the bill. I had a tuna sandwich with some fresh-squeezed orange juice. We were planning to have dinner at the Italian restaurant in the hotel that evening.

After lunch there was still some time before we needed to leave, so we checked out some of the shops. Didn’t see anything that I wanted to haul home and they didn’t have an online shop as of yet. So nothing was purchased there.

The first two photos are of the outside of the Khufu Boat Museum. The last photo is of a statue of Ramesses II that was encountered on our way out. All of the other photos were taken of the two boats (mostly the first one) inside of the museum.

The nautical term for Day 7 of the trip was “Pooped”. The poop is the stern section of a ship. To be “pooped” is to be swamped by a high, following sea. By the time this day was over, it described me quite well.

Next – Riding a camel at the Giza Pyramids & the Sphinx

September 4, 2026

Egyptian Expedition 015: Day 7 – GEM Tutankhamun Collection

As I said in the post just before this one, this is the first time that the entire 5,398-piece complete collection from the tomb of King Tutankhamun has been displayed all in one place. I distinctly remember squeezing through a tight space between his canopic shrine and another displayed artifact (I think it was his throne) back in 2008. This was when everything was jammed into the Cairo Museum in Tahrir Square. It really reminded me of somebody’s attic. So much stuff in such a relatively small space.

Some of the items found in his tomb were used in royal ceremonies and religious rituals, while others were more personal, including his jewelry, clothing, furniture, food and drink, vehicles and weapons. All of the items are grouped as follows in the Tutankhamun Gallery of the GEM:

Discovery – the story of how Tut’s tomb was discovered.
Lifestyle – Tut’s personal possessions.
Rebirth – regarding the Egyptian concept of the afterlife.
Funeral – how his body was preserved, dressed, placed in the three coffins, the sarcophagus, and the multiple shrines, plus the funeral rituals.
Identity –Tut’s family tree.

Tutankhamun was born as Tutankhaten in roughly 1342 BC. His reign was roughly from 1332 to 1323 BC. He was about nine years old when he came to the throne and about eighteen or nineteen when he died. It is thought that he might have died from a combination of malaria and a severe leg fracture.

Since he was born during the reign of Akhenaten, he was named Tutankhaten, which meant “living image of Aten”, because of a major religious shift during Akhenaten’s reign. Instead of worshiping multiple gods, Akhenaten decided that only one god should be worshiped. That was Aten. The Aten was the disc of the sun and originally an aspect of Ra, the sun god in the traditional Egyptian religion. After Akhenaten’s death, Tutankhamun changed his name and returned to the ancient multi-deity religion.

Although he is thought to be the son of Akhenaten by most Egyptologists, there is a debate as to whether Akhenaten was actually his father or maybe it was Smenkhkare. Smenkhkare was a co-ruler of Akhenaten towards the end of Akhenaten’s reign. He also reigned for a short time after Akhenaten’s death before he too died and Tutankhamun took the throne. Tutankhamun was definitely a prince and referred to as the son of a king, but it wasn’t really clear as to which king. DNA testing has confirmed that his father is a particular mummy, but there is a dispute as to whether the mummy is Akhenaten or Smenkhkare.

His mother was definitely not Nefertiti, Akhenaten’s chief wife. DNA testing has identified a female mummy known as The Younger Lady as Tutankhamun’s mother. Both she and Akhenaten are believed to have been children of King Amenhotep III and his chief wife, Tiye. Nothing complicated there.

Tutankhamun’s wife, Ankhesenamun (originally Ankhesenpaaten) was definitely one of Akhenaten’s daughters with Nefertiti. They had two still-born daughters who were buried with Tutankhamun in his tomb. His death was the end of his bloodline. Information about Akhenaten and Tutankhamun is sketchy because their successors tried to erase them from history and so there isn’t as much information about them as with other pharaohs.

The majority of the photos that I took and am sharing here are from the areas of Lifestyle (photos 001 to 008) and Funeral (009 to 017, plus 020 to 027), although the throne was in the section referred to as Identity (018 & 019).

Photo 001 has Tutankhamun’s footwear, which was mostly sandals. 002 is of various chests and other furniture that contained his belongings. Next come some beds in 003. They look pretty uncomfortable to me, especially with those headrests. A few headrests can be seen in the photo to the right behind one of the beds.

Photo 004 shows clothing and some jewelry. Those linen triangles were loincloths.

Several alabaster urns and figures are in 005. Some chairs in 006. Chariots in 007. And a closeup of a chariot in 008.

Moving to the Funeral section of the collection, we have the outermost of the four shrines in photo 009. This were all of gilded wood. The second shrine in 010 had a gilded wood frame on top which held a linen cloth with gilt bronze and rose-shaped sequins. This was called a pall.

Photo 011 shows the 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th shrines in a line. The sarcophagus, the base of which was carved from a solid block of quartzite (the lid is of painted granite), is still in the tomb. I have some photos of that which I will share in a later post when we visit that tomb.

There were three nesting coffins. Photo 012 is of the outermost coffin, which was of embellished gilded wood. The second coffin (013) was also of embellished gilded wood. The third coffin (014), however, was of solid gold. Tutankhamun’s mummy was inside of that coffin, wrapped in funerary wrappings (015) and wearing the magnificent solid gold mask shown in photos 025 to 027.

Photo 016 shows the funerary beds that were found in the tomb and 017 shows an Anubis statue also found in the tomb. The throne, is shown in 018 & 019. It was of wood, overlaid with gold and silver.

Photo 020 shows the garment mannequin of the pharaoh. It is made of painted wood. The Canopic Shrine is in photo 021, with the Canopic Chest and Jars in photo 022. Each jar held a specific internal organ (liver, lungs, stomach, intestines) and normally featured a lid shaped after one of the Four Sons of Horus, who served as divine protectors. In this case, the lids all resembled Tut himself.

The guardian statues of King Tutankhamun (023 & 024) are a pair of life-sized wooden sentinel figures that stood facing each other on either side of the entrance to the pharaoh’s burial chamber. You may remember the photo of these in the tomb when it was discovered from the post about the Griffith Institute at Oxford University in England.

I took numerous photos of the mask from every angle. Here, I have included photos of the back of the mask (025), a side view (026) which shows a bit of the inside of the mask as well, and a full frontal view. Tutankhamun’s mummy remains in his tomb in the Valley of the Kings and will not be moved. We visited the tomb a bit later in this trip and I will be publishing a post of that visit, complete with photos.

Next – The Over Four Thousand Years Old King Khufu Solar Boats at the GEM