Last Saturday, we took the train to Cairo, boarding it in the morning and arriving in time for lunch. We spent the afternoon at the Egyptian Museum, which included a visit to the mummy room, after an introduction by an Egyptologist.
Yesterday, we visited various sites in historic Cairo, including the Ibn Toulum Mosque and the Khan el-Khalili Bazaar, the hanging church, St. Sergius church, and the Ben Ezra synagogue, representatives of four great religions: Judaism, Chrisianity, Islam, and Shopping.
Today, we’re to fly to Luxor, from which we will take a train to the Karnak and Luxor temples, the first of which is the largest temple complex ever built. We will then board our floating hotel, the MS Royal Viking, for our cruise up the Nile. That afternoon, we’ll hear a presentation about the Opet Festival, an ancient Egyptian annual celebration, in which the statues of the Theban gods – Amun, Khonsu, and Mut – were escorted from the temple of Amun in Karnak to the temple of Luxor, about two miles away. We’ll also hear about the ongoing restoration work at Luxor.
[written while still in New York, based on the official itinerary. I look forward to reporting some of my observations when we return.]
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