Today we visit Hatshepsut Temple. The Taxi driver expects us at the entrance. With hiking boots and plenty of water equipped we start. Mohammed is delighted, because we really have appeared, he says, that he is sometimes ordered by some tourists but then they do not show up what may well be due to an aggressive type of advertising of this guy. In brisk ride in the old rickety Peugeot it goes to the other side of the Nile.
After a short trip, we face the huge building of Hapschepsut.
From the desert plain rises over several terraces, the temple complex. This temple is perfectly built into the limestone of the eastern slope of the Theban rock. Around the temple there are a number of cave tombs.
The Hatshepsut Temple is one of the most beautiful monuments of ancient Egypt. Over a 37-meter wide access you get to the three huge terraced courtyards. The steps are each disposed through colonnades. Ramps link them. The excavations began in 1891 and lasted five years. Hatshepsut was the daughter of Tutmosis I. Due to lack of succession to the throne Hatshepsut was appointed regent. She ruled for 15 years with the support of the priests.
On the way back we stop at the huge Colossi of Memnon . The two 18 meter high sitting faceless statues are remains of the funerary temple of Amenhotep III.
The temple was said to be huge but due to its location in the flooting zone of the Nile nothing but the statues are left any more.
With the visit of the statues we end our stay in Luxor. Tomorrow we shall continue along the Nile to Aswan, where we have to make bookings of the ferry across the lake Nasser.