Wednesday, April 29, 2009

We began the day with a short flight from Sharm El Sheikh to Luxor, in the south of Egypt, called “Upper Egypt” because it is higher than the northern part of the country and from where the Nile River flows over the Aswan Dam, north trough “lower Egypt” to the Mediterranean Sea.

Our first stop was the Temple of Karnak, the largest columned temple in the world, embodying temples from many of the Pharaohs and the elaborate artwork and architecture that have distinguished Egyptian History. We were all amazed as we walked amongst the collection of pillars, chapels, obelisks and various other things that make it so good a representation of the lives and reigns of the kings.

We left Karnak, driving past several other temples and went to the Valley of the Kings, where many of the Pharaohs were buried, and where we were able to go inside of and view three of the thirteen tombs. The inside of the tombs were elaborately carved and beautifully painted as they depicted the lives of the Royalty they housed. They are various sizes, depending on how long the Pharaoh reigned. Each tomb was begun as soon as the Pharaoh took office and the work continued until the Monarch was ready to occupy it. The largest of the tombs, Ramses I, took 67 years to complete, the length of his time in office. All of the tombs are under ground on bedrock and were sealed and covered with dirt and rocks to hide the entrances. King Tut’s tomb that is so famous, was under the tomb of another pharaoh and was not discovered because of that until after all the other tombs had been opened. His is the smallest of tombs, because he only reigned for a short period of time.

After the Valley of the Kings, we took a short boat ride across the Nile and ate a terrific lunch before going to an Alabaster factory, where they shaped alabaster stone into beautiful objects. We learned the difference between machined alabaster objects, they call “faster alabaster” and the genuinely handmade articles that are more beautiful and much lighter. We drove by several other sites of interest as we made our way to the airport where we departed for Cairo, where we will be until we fly home Saturday morning early.

It was another spectacular day of site seeing and learning about history we’d only heard about before. The weather was exceptionally hot, 110’, but didn’t stop us from having a great time. We followed our Guide Osama’s advice and all drank copious amounts of water. Dinner was late and we all looked forward to another night’s sleep as we anticipate a busy day tomorrow.

~ Clergy Comments ~

Last night Dr. Bob shared with the group three of the Biblical figures who came “out of Egypt” – Abraham, who returned to Canaan with sheep, cattle, donkeys and servant’s (Gen 12:16) following a famine; Moses, who led the people of God out of slavery (Exodus 12:31-42); and Jesus, who escaped the hand of Herod into Egypt, before Joseph and Mary returned to Nazareth (Matthew 2:13-15). Certainly Egypt is an important place in Biblical history. Today we experienced some of the very places that Abraham, Moses and Jesus may have visited – what a thrill! In spite of the hot weather and a bit of walking, our group is doing very well and are looking forward to seen the sites at Cairo tomorrow and Friday, the last days of our fabulous Holy Land Pilgrimage. - Bruce