Egypt and the Nile
Mike and Judy Henderson
September 29 - October 10, 2018
I'm going to leave this map on each page so you can see where we are.
10/2/2018 (Tuesday) Our departure is scheduled for 7am this mornin, so Judy and I were up a bit before 5am. We go to the Dandara Temple (also spelled Dandarah or Dendera) today and our tour guides want us there before it gets too hot.
We bused to the temple. Here's Judy in front of the entrance. It was already hot.
A view of the main temple.
Some reliefs of people and gods.
One of the Egyptian workers. I took a number of portrait shots at the temple. The guards had very interesting faces.
Here's another guard.
And one more. I really liked this shot. A small tip is expected for these photos.
Inside the temple there were a number of large pillars with inscriptions on them.
The walls had inscriptions on them as well.
Even the ceilings.
After touring the main floor, we went up a narrow inclined passageway to the second floor.
Here's some of the group on the second floor.
A guard who was on the second floor.
After we went back down, we discovered a couple of rooms/passageways with very interesting lighting.
A passageway.
A highly decorated chamber.
Then we went outside to look at some of the figures on the outside of the temple. Its dizzying to take it all in, and to try to grasp meanings here and there.
Another group of people/gods.
The figure on the right is reputed to be Cleopatra (of Elizabeth Taylor fame, or Cleopatra VII).
There was a chamber in the temple that was reached by a steep stair down into a very low entry - and I went there next.
You can see in this picture taken from inside the chamber - while someone is leaving the chamber (look for the shoes) - how low the entry hole into the chamber is.
But there's really not much in the chamber. It's just a passageway that goes left and right for a few meters. Here are a couple of pictures inside the chamber.
And
That was the end of our visit to the Dandara Temple, and we bused back to the boat. Then we cast off and headed back to Luxor.
We arrived in Luxor about 4pm and immediately bused to the Luxor Temple. An ATM stop on the way gave us all an opportunity to get enough Egyptian pounds for the various activities in the Valley of the Kings tomorrow.
Luxor temple is very close to the Nile. You can see from this drawing that reconstructs how the temple looked in antiquity that it is right on the river.
Here's the entrance to the Temple of Luxor.
If you remember during our visit to the Temple of Karnak, there was a causeway between the Temple of Karnak and the Temple of Luxor. This is what the causeway looks like from the Temple of Luxor.
One of the many statues of Ramses II in front of the temple.
The main entrance to the temple
Looking into the courtyard as we entered.
The sun was setting as we toured the temple. I've lightened most of these photos but it was gradually getting dark. Here's the setting sun through some of the pillars.
Statues in the courtyard.
The temple was covered over with dirt for many years and people forgot about it. A mosque was built over part of the temple.
This is one of the workers in the temple area.
Going further into the temple we went through an area of many pillars.
Which led us to another courtyard. Note the building behind the pillars. We went back to that building and toured it. In later history of occupation this temple was used by Christians, and in the distance you can see the curved altar area cut into a wall.
Some relief figures in the back building.
By then, as darkness came, the lights were turned on to illuminate the temple.
The courtyard illuminated with lights.
We exited the way we came and looked back to see the facade in lights.
Then it was back to the boat. For entertainment that night, Uniworld had arranged for a local band and a belly dancer. Here's the band opening the show.
And here's the belly dancer. She did several numbers.
She pulled out a few of the guests to try their "hand" at belly dancing. Here's one brave soul.
Then a Whirling Dervish came out. He spun continuously for about 15 minutes. His spinning caused the "dress" to fly out, as shown here. In different phases the skirt separated into two levels, one of which he drew over his head, or he held tambourine forms which separated and he held in a variety of arrangements, spinning all the while . It me dizzy just to look at him! He got quite an ovation when he finished.
Then, it was to dinner and then to bed. We had another very early departure to go to the Valley of the Kings - to try to avoid the hottest part of the day.
Our adventure continues here