Habu Temple, Karnak Light Show, Tea Quilt
Welcome to our last trip to E£gypt. This is Habu Temple. There is a good ariel pic in link.
Most of the engraving is propaganda showing pharoah- Ramasses III conquering the sea peoples.
This gatehouse leads to the main mortuary temple.
Sekhmet the lion headed goddess. She protected pharoah and led him in warfare, hence her importance here.
Female figure by a doorway.
Through the pylons to the temple.
Looking back. The temperatures were in the 50s celsius 122+F so we tried to be quick crossing the open areas.
Our guide gave us talks in the shaded covered areas.
Where there was the best preservation of colours.
The whole complex was surrounded in a now eroding mud brick wall like a fortress.
This gives you an idea of scale.
Some carving was half a hand deep. This was one pharoah who was determined not to be chiseled out of history as Hatshepsut had been by her stepson Tutmoses III.
Wings of Isis above doorways is a popular motif.
Less colourful depiction.
I tried to imagine this all in colour, vibrant and the scenes easier to pick out.
The best Wings of Isis.
The statues were carved in granite- built to last.
Suplicating figures.
Deep carving and painting. We were all glad to be out of the sun after this and back on our air-con bus.
There were hardly any hawkers here as it is only a recent addition to the tour the cruises offer, instead of going to Edfu Temple due to the recent troubles. It was bliss not to be constantly disturbed.
Some of you have asked why we weren’t allowed to take pics of the Valley of the Kings. I think it is down to money -they want you to buy the postcards and books the hawkers keep trying to push on you. Also the men at the entrances if you are the last of a group inside a tomb will let you take photos for a backhander, even though it isn’t really allowed. Such a shame as a tourist, as there were some scenes I really wanted to record to make appliques from. That part was a let down, but I guess they want more people going there for themselves and spending money in the country.
Tourism is way down and a lot of cruise boats were just moored at the banks. Our boat was full and we travelled in a convoy of 3. It meant that we all moored together so a lot of the time we had no view from our cabin window except into another person’s cabin. Curtains were best kept shut. Perhaps it was for security reasons or perhaps so they didn’t pay for lots of berths? It meant that when we were travelling we opened the curtains wide and enjoyed the views of the banks of the Nile, little changed from pharonic times.
Now let me take you out later that evening. It is still hot and a bit humid. A couple of older ladies fainted. I caught a glimpse of daughter doing what I thought was mawkish filming of this on her camera, and then realised that she had had the presense of mind to be using her camera light to let the helpers see what they were doing. We had a giggle about that afterwards.
To me this was the highlight of the whole trip.
Karnak is so different by night. You get a real sense of the majesty and ceremonial use of the buildings.
The Sacred Pool brought the stars themselves into the holy place for the priests to chart. I’ve found a video on You Tube as my videos in the new blog system don’t always work for everyone. Please enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okN_fBuP16A&feature=related
Monkey hanging from the ceiling towel sculpture. A nice note to end Egypt on.
This is Deb in New Zealand‘s birthday present. I had a lot of fabric left over in the Aster Manor range after making “Hearts and Dragonflies” and as she liked it, I made her a quilt of her own from them.
The centre stitcheries.
tilt head to left- what has blogger done?!
All the things anyone could want for afternoon tea.
The back -all pieced from the left overs.
I am looking forward to sharing Scarborough with you next. It is a little seaside town on the North East coast. Daughter wants to go to uni there (Hull Uni)- her grades come out on the 18th. We were there in the beginning of July, and have been to a few places since, so I must get a move on sharing these places with you and hurry up and finish a few things I’ve made.
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