Back to the Nile

As soon as we step into the cruise ship, the first thing that we see is a Christmas tree! Well it was a couple of days after Christmas, true, but a tree on a boat (important to remember here, my first time on a cruise ship so I definitely wasn't used to the good life ;)

Freshen up, lunch and off we go. To the Karnak temple this time, a huge complex of ancient temples built by the Pharaohs. As Wikipedia correctly points out, only of the sections, the temples of Amun-re was open to visitors at that time. Walking through it though, you would not feel as if you were missing out anything by not seeing the other sections. The place was simply huge...everything was built to gigantic proportions and we kept feeling our own tiny stature. I think we still have a picture with an Egyptian army man against a backdrop of huge pillars, where we look like denizens of Lilliput land.

Citing extreme tiredness (I forgot to mention that our trip to Egypt had entailed three flight cancellations in three different countries and a resulting delay of a couple of days), we headed back to the boat, snatched a few winks and were out again. And as the sun set, Luxor lit up. We went back to catch a glimpse of the Luxor temple in the setting sun--it was fabulous--the night lights seemed to have added to the natural aura of the complex. A tonga (horse carriage) ride in true tourist style, Egyptian coffee in the Nile market, and the day came to an end. Though we still had some precious time left in magical Luxor and yes, adventures. In less than 12 hours!