Egypt, Part 2 - Luxor

I really liked Luxor. We stayed at a hotel right on the river and it was very beautiful. It was fun to see the contrast. You can definitely tell where the irrigation ends. The fields are very beautiful and green and then suddenly, they aren't. Then it's just desert.

I've wanted to go to Karnak since I knew of it's existence so I loved that part of the trip. But we also took a bus ride to the temples at Abydos and Dendera, which I didn't even know existed, but were absolutely a must see. Very much worth the long ride. It wasn't that far in distance, but the roads are small and the speeds are slow as you travel through small villages.

We had an armed police escort every time we went outside of city limits (in every part of Egypt). We were told these are tourism police and are there to keep the tourists safe. It just felt...odd. Seriously, I felt more like we had a target on our back because of it but I realize that I don't really know what's going on. And we were safe, so there is that.

One of the highlights of the trip was waking up at 4 am for a hot air balloon ride over the Valley of the Kings. It was fantastic. After that, we actually went to the Valley of the Kings and I went down into 4 of the tombs. The big ones were really crowded but I did get into one of them (either Rameses V or VI) that had almost nobody in it and it was probably my favorite.

Then we boarded The Nile Goddess and got ready for our cruise down the Nile.