The temple of Hatshepsut is devoted to the Pharaoh Hatshepsut and the god Osiris. Hatshepsut was one of the few female pharaohs and was the most successful of the women pharaohs. Originally she was the regent for her step son, Thutmouse III, but she usurped him and claimed the throne for her own. All the statues and hieroglyphs show her as man wearing the pharaonic kilt and a false beard. By appearing as a man she was asserting her claim to the throne.

The temple is very impressive from far away but up close it's quite damaged (it's a monet! movie, anyone?). After Hatshepsut's death someone tried to erase her from the history records by destroying her monuments and chiselling away the hieroglyphs that referred to her reign. The who and why of the damage is still a mystery. Some Egyptologists believe that it was Thutmouse III. He destroyed the monuments out of resentment because he had to wait so long to be Pharaoh. Others believe that she was erased because a woman had no right to rule and that her reign may be seen as offensive to the gods. Whatever the reason, she almost disappeared from history forever.



I think we can sum up our visit to the Temple of Hatshepsut in one word. Hot! The temple is in the middle of the desert. We visited the temple in the mid-morning. Egypt was experiencing a heatwave with temperatures 9 degrees above average. The temperature was in the high 40s. Luckily they have a little train which takes you from the front gate to the temple itself. Any form of excerise in that heat is not very fun.

More photos on Flickr.

Our visit to the Temple of Hatshepsut was part of our Road to Jordan tour. We did a 17-day tour with On The Go to Egypt and Jordan and we had a lot of fun. Other entries from this trip include: More Egyptian Temples (Luxor and Karnak), The Tringles, Wadi Rum, Kom Ombo and Edfu, Feluccan Fun, Abu Simbel and The Dead Sea.

Back to Egypt for a little bit. I've already mentioned that we visited a lot of temples and we still have a lot of photos to post. I won't bore you too much (I hope!). I'll just continue posting the good stuff.

Luxor

Luxor was the only temple we visited at night. We got there just before sunset so we watched the colour of the stone change with the colour the sky.


At Luxor there are still the remnants of the Avenue of Sphinxes. In ancient times, the temples of Karnak and Luxor were connected by this avenue. Once there were 2000 sphinxes, now there are only 100 or so left.

Karnak

Karnak is the largest temple in Egypt and is actually the largest ancient religious site in the world. It's in the Hypostyle Hall where you realise just how big the temple is. The hall is full of massive columns (up to 21m tall with a 9m girth). You feel so small and insignificant when walking through the hall.

In ancient times, all the temples were painted in bright colours. There is still some evidence of this at Karnak on some hieroglyphs which are protected from the weather.

There is a new tradition surrounding the statue of the giant red scarab statue at Karnak. Our guide told us that if you circle the scarab seven times you will soon find love. If you're already in love, circle the scarab fourteen times and you will soon be married. Everyone in the tour gave it a go... just in case you know.




More photos of Luxor and Karnak on Flickr.

Our visit to Luxor and Karnak was part of our Road to Jordan tour. We did a 17-day tour with On The Go to Egypt and Jordan and we had a lot of fun. Other entries from this trip include: The Tringles, Wadi Rum, Kom Ombo and Edfu, Feluccan Fun, Abu Simbel and The Dead Sea.

Thanks to Caitlin for featuring this post on her blog, Roaming Tales. Check out all the other great travel links in her weekly round up.

So why do you go to Egypt? To see the Pyramids of course. Well that was the main reason that I wanted to go to Egypt. Visiting the Pyramids fulfilled a childhood dream of mine.
I thought the Pyramids would be out in the middle of the desert, but they are almost as central to Cairo as the Harbour Bridge is to Sydney. Our first glimpse of the pyramids was driving from the airport to our hotel. We saw them again when we drove into town the next day.

Our first experience with the pyramids was the Sound and Light Show. It's a one hour "show" where they tell the story of the pyramids and the Sphinx. During the show the pyramids are lit with pretty colours and lasers. It was as exciting as it sounds. The Sound and Light Show featured in the James Bond film "The Spy Who Loved Me". The film was made in the 70s and the sound and light show is exactly the same now as it was then. It was very cheesy, very slow and for some reason quite difficult to follow. My advice is to skip it!



We finally got up close and personal with the Pyramids on the morning of the first day of our tour. We visited the three Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx. We even got a chance to go inside one of the pyramids.

I was surprised by the size of the building blocks that make up the pyramids. They are massive! It's amazing to think that they were able to move these blocks let alone stack them on top of one another. The Great Pyramid of Giza is the largest of the three pyramids. When it was constructed it was almost 150m tall (50 storeys). Researchers estimate that there are 2.3 million blocks in the pyramid and the average weight of each block is 2.5 tonnes. The largest block weighs almost 15 tonnes. Egyptologists aren't 100% certain on the construction process. However, they are pretty sure that they weren't built by slaves. They think they were built by a skilled workforce.
Did you know that the Sphinx is much smaller than the Pyramids? Most photos are taken at an angle that shows the Sphinx being a similar size as the Pyramids. But this is a trick of perspective. It's actually only half the size of the Great Pyramid.
More photos on Flickr.

Our visit to the Pyramids of Giza was part of our Road to Jordan tour. We did a 17-day tour with On The Go to Egypt and Jordan and we had a lot of fun. Other entries from this trip include: Wadi Rum, Kom Ombo and Edfu, Feluccan Fun, Abu Simbel and The Dead Sea.

Dahab, Egypt: Wednesday morning - Spring. Sydney: Wednesday evening - Autumn.

"We spent 4 days of our 17 day tour just lazing by the Red Sea in Dahab. There were optional activities: snorkelling, diving, camel riding, ATVing, climbing Mt Sinai. However, we weren't able to take part in many of these. My poor boy was very sick and suffering from severe dehydration. We had to take him to the local clinic where he was put on a drip for an hour or so. He'd also cut his foot while swimming in the Nile so hiking was out (Luckily, we didn't have to amputate).While he recuperated I spent my time relaxing by the poolside. No complaints here."




Check out Sue's day at noodlebowl.net and her photos on Flickr.

The Nile, Egypt: Tuesday evening - Spring. Sydney: Wednesday morning - Autumn.

"Back on the Felucca. (I kinda wish that I was back on the felucca now). Our tour group was split over two feluccas for the sailing trip. There was the party felucca and the other felucca. Andrew and I were on the other felucca. Our guide Sam would spend time on each boat. Sometimes he'd even swap feluccas while we were under sail. The two boats would cross paths and Sam would jump ship mid-tack. It was precision sailing and very impressive to watch."




Check out Sue's day at noodlebowl.net and her photos on Flickr.