Pharaonic Fatigue in Luxor

We departed from our cruise ship on Wednesday morning overwhelmed by the task of visiting the many tourist sights in Luxor. In fact, of all cities in Egypt, Luxor has the greatest number of historical sites (e.g. Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut's Temple, Colossi of Memnon, Valley of the Queens, Karnak Temple, Luxor Museum, etc.) On Wednesday we self-toured the East Bank and on Thursday we opted to see the West Bank's highlights via guided tour. By the end we truly had "Pharaonic fatigue". The sites are very impressive, larger than life, and so interesting to visit after studying Egyptian history as children and for myself, in a few art history classes while at Tufts. It's amazing to walk through the pyramids and tombs with such well preserved drawings and realize that you are looking at something that was made in some cases almost 5,000 years ago! But, like our many safaris in southern and eastern Africa, we have to admit that once you've seen one gazelle, you've seen them all...and over time the pylons and columns of one temple begin to look similar to the next. So, this evening we depart for Sharm-el-Sheik and a visit to the Red Sea. No more temples or pyramids. We'll spend the next few days by the beach and then visiting the religious landmarks of St. Katherine's Monastery and Mt. Sinai, and then we'll return to Cairo for our flight home! [Note: We have yet to find a computer in Egypt to upload our own photos...so for now you'll have to enjoy someone else's photos of the Valley of the Kings and Hatshepsut's Temple.]