A balloon with a view

Up at 3:30 am, we head by bus to the waters edge, cross on a boat, load onto another bus and make our way to a field near the edge of the dessert. By now it is 5 am and we climb into the basket of the hot air balloon and ascend into the air just in time to see the sunrise. The air is cool but the heat off the burners more than keeps us warm. I've wanted to take a balloon ride for some time now and I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to do so in this location. Ballon rides have only just begun to be offered again after the tragic accident a few months ago.

We fly on the edge of the valley of the kings, the Hatshepsut temple, remnants of Ramsey's temple, wheat fields, sugar cane fields. We float along and across the Nile river with fishermen in their boats below. Our ride is about 1.25 hrs with a soft landing. The perfect first experience and exhilarating in many ways. We head back to the boat to check out and board the bus to visit the Karnak temple.

This temple is the largest ever found and covers 62 acres of land. Construction of the temple cover the dynasties of 10 pharaoh's family lines and archeological evidence shows that materials and different parts of the site span of about 2500 years of this temple being built and used through the many phases of it's construction. The columns in this temple are the largest anywhere. The encryptions, the architecture, the statues and the Oblisks create a sense of awe that one can certainly see would have contributed to the ancient sense of reverence and awe. I can see why we visit this one last, as while the other temples are equally impressive in their own right, they would be anticlimactic after seeing this one.

The Luxor temple is less than 5 km away for the Karnak temple and it is the temple that was the home of the wife to the god of the Karnak temple. They are linked by road that was lined with 1600 sphinx statues on either side. Parts of many of them still remain to this day. The Luxor temple though was buried under sand for a number of centuries but its excavation has revealed much about its history. During the post Constantinian era, the hieroglyphics were plastered over and Italian type Christian frescos were painted on top. Remnants of these can also be seen but most have crumbled away to reveal the original Egyptian carved limestone underneath. Ramses II was mostly responsible for the building of this temple and several statues of him also grace the grounds. It was said that the two ages would visit one another's home for a holiday each year- 15 days in each place.

We spend the remainder of the afternoon in Luxor relaxing and reading before our night train takes us back to Cairo for the day. Its been a long day having been up 22 hours. The trip is almost over and it has been an incredible journey but I can tell that parts of my mind have drifted home to people and places I love and am ready to return to. A day of rest tomorrow to recuperate from the overnight train ride. Then off early to Alexandria for our last day in Egypt.