Egypt 27 : Inside Karnak Temple

Okay, so where were we?
City of Luxor, Egypt.  September 15, 2001.
We left Crocodile Island and our first stop of the day: Karnak Temple.
See the 20 LE on the ticket stub?  That's 20 Egyptian Pounds.  Or roughly $5 American at the 2001 exchange rate.  Entrance fees into sites such as this were included in our tour package.

Inside the Hypostyle Hall.
Yes, I thought about TripleX and James Bond
when I was in here -- how could you not?

However, instead of Jaws after me, I had Gram chasing me saying "take a picture of this, take a picture of that"...  at some point, it must have seemed that I would rather have had Jaws after me, because Sherri discretely took Gram's elbow and steered her off to the cafe, so I could have some quiet time in the temple!

Detail under a lintel in the Hypostyle Hall -- under there, where sun and rain and sand storms didn't wear it away, color from the original painted hieroglyphics could still be seen.  Amazing.




Detail on hypostyle pillar.  I love the ankh in the middle.  The bee hieroglyph is a symbol of royalty.  I could've stayed in the Hypostyle Hall, looking at hieroglyphs for days and days.  Tour books recommend two four-hour visits to Karnak.  We got about two hours.  Not nearly enough time to soak up the wonder of the ancients!