Around the World in 106 Days with

Ray & Claire!!

Part 9 – Karnak Temple

Safaga, also known as Port Safaga or Bur Safaga, is a small port town on the coast of the Red Sea, located 33 miles south of Hurghada. It is the main tourist center and second largest city in Egypt on the Red Sea coast. As a port, it is used for the export of phosphates from local mines and also serves as a port for ferries to and from Saudi Arabia.

40km from Safaga, there is the site of a roman quarry and fortress complex, which was also a slave

settlement and the end of the line for Roman prisoners brought here to hack out the granite from the

mountains. The grey granite columns of the Pantheon in Rome were quarried here at Mons Claudianus; each one was 39 feet tall, five feet wide, and 60 tons in weight.

They were dragged more than 100km from the quarry to the river

on wooden sledges, and were floated by barge down the Nile

River, before being transferred to vessels to cross the Mediterranean Sea and to the Roman port of Ostia

There, they were transferred back onto barges and pulled up the Tiber

River to Rome.

Usually the most common reason for calling in to Safaga is to make for Karnak, Luxor and the Valley of the Kings.

With a three hour trip to Safaga it gave us time to enjoy the local countryside

A railway is under construction beside the road to Luxor – as is a water supply from Luxor to Safaga

Madam’s telephoto at work again

Sugar cane

These statues line the route between the Karnak and Luxor

Temples

Karnak is one of the premier sites in all of Egypt and one of the most visited

If you had the time it would normally take days to explore this remarkable site, for there are numerous pillars, obelisks and smaller temples within this

one complex. Everything here is on a gigantic scale and the site is large enough to fit around 10 cathedrals inside.

This is perhaps one of, if not the largest, temple complex ever built, dismantled, restored, enlarged and added to, representing the

combined achievement of many generations of ancient builders.

The Temple of Karnak is actually three main temples, smaller enclosed temples, and several outer temples, situated on 247 acres

of land.

The largest system of temples here, is that of Amun, a local god of Thebes, who rose to national importance during Egypt's New Kingdom.

The tops of the outside walls (see right hand side of the picture) had

slit windows which let in the

morning and evening sunlight to light up the

holy spots.

They also provided a sort of soothing whistling sound

Originally, these long spaces in the wall would have

housed some

enormous figures such as the one below

The overall size of the Temples just take your breath away

The walls of the temples were repainted every year and to get to the top, they piled mud against the walls

Karnak is actually the site’s modern name; its ancient name was Ipet-isut, meaning "The

Most perfect of places”, and during

the height of the Theban power,

Karnack was the most important

place of worship in all Egypt

The Hypostyle Hall is considered to be one of the world's greatest architectural masterpieces

Construction began during the reign of Ramses the

first; the king who founded

the Nineteenth Dynasty

although he was only king for one year

The work continued under Seti the first and completed by Seti's son, Ramses the second.

Covering an area of 6000 square metres, the Hall is large enough to contain both St. Peter’s in Rome and St. Pauls in London, and the

impressive 134 papyrus shaped stone pillars are amazing

These walls were repainted, using special pigments, every year

R&T with Kay

Renovation work

Our guideProf Dina Touta

The large sacred lake was the main place of worship of the Thebans Amun Mut and their son Khons.

The sacred Scarab

It was believed that if you walked round the scarab ten times, then you became fertile

(Many visitors to the site of the Temple apparently still believe in its “magic”!!)

We now need to strike camp and its off Valley of

The Kings

But first we need to join the rest of the crowd for a bite to eat beside the Nile

....in a nice hotel

....overlooking the Nile