Egypt, Ever a Wonder! (Part 8): And Then, There Was Dendera!

- April 5, 2026, Sunday, Easter.

- Ancient Egypt is home to a civilization that reveals more mysteries the more humans understand it. One temple that embodies just that is none other than Dendera Temple in Qena, around an hour north of Luxor. (We booked this day tour at GetYourGuide.)

- Dendera Temple was built in the 4th century BCE and is one of the largest ancient temples in Egypt. It was built during the time of Ptolemy XII until the time of Cleopatra VII (the Cleopatra the whole world knows of). It is dedicated mostly to Hathor, the cow-headed goddess of fertility. 

Dendera.

My tour guide's idea.

Zodiac signs in the sky.

Pillars with the face of Hathor.

Pharaohs giving offerings to gods.

- But more than this, the temple is also known to be a source of great energy. The temple, for instance, shows what people call the "Dendera Light", carvings which appear to depict light bulbs millennia before the year most people knew they were invented. Hence, enthusiasts of the supernatural and aliens have taken an interest in the temple. There are also some people who come to the temple to meditate (which I found out was supposedly not allowed). 

Dendera Light.

Inner shrine for Hathor.

More ceiling carvings.

Hathor's head.

The only temple where I was able to go to the rooftop!

Large pillars with Hathor.

There was an Isis temple at the back.

Inside the Isis temple.

Cleopatra VII and her son Caesarion. They were also the last Ptolemaic pharaohs.

I'm a sphinx!

- Our tour was supposedly a Dendera-Abydos Temple tour. However, our tour guide gave us the option to go to a closer temple, since Abydos was around 2 hours away from Dendera (then 3 hours back to Luxor). While Abydos is an important temple, fortunately, the alternative was one of the other temples that I had wanted to visit as well. Now, we had more time to go around Dendera, and go on a more relaxed pace from there on. (My dad and I were still recovering from our long trip to Abu Simbel the day before, after all.)

- The Medinet Habu was built in 12th century BCE during the time of Ramesses III. It is located near the Valley of the Kings at the West Bank of Luxor. It was a mortuary temple dedicated to himself, as well as to Amun-Ra. What makes this temple more interesting is that the archaeological site that surrounds the temple shows human settlement through different historical periods. This is also one of the temples that also acted as the pharaoh's palace. Speaking of pharaohs' palaces, most of these palaces didn't survive because they were built to last for as far as the pharaoh was alive. However, mortuary temples and burial chambers were built to last forever as death is eternal.

Medinet Habu entrance.


Main temple.

Hieroglyphs.

Bas relief details.

Hypostyle Hall at the back of the temple. This area is in ruins.

Statues of Ramesses III.

 

If you look closely at the bas relief, you'll see Ramesses III on a horse.

I'm standing on there Ramesses III's throne would have been.

The royal toilet. And yes, I'm not joking.

Ruins of various settlements.

Hey there little buddy.

- We had lunch right after our temple visits, and were driven back to our hotel. The drive was quick since we were just at the opposite side of the Nile from our hotel. I spent the early afternoon doing some last minute shopping in El Souk, but had to rush back to the hotel (Hilton Luxor) to hop on a felucca for a one-hour cruise along the Nile (I booked the one we had at the hotel; it was slightly more expensive but at least I didn't have to haggle anymore). The felucca is a traditional boat used in Egypt and nearby countries. I was really really glad I got to do this because there was only one slot left, and all slots left for the rest of the day were already full. Even better, I had the felucca all to myself!!

On a felucca. My boatman, Sharif, is there at the back making sure our boat moves.

My first time to see a wild kingfisher! Sharif pointed it out to me.

This is a tiny island called "Bird Island", and it looks like it's floating along the Nile. Not sure if this is the official name, but that's what Sharif told me. He said it's because there are many kinds of birds on that small island. That's the same kingfisher in the photo above.

It's so hard to take a photo of them. They fly fast!

Pretending to be in charge of the felucca.

View of downtown Luxor (and a bit of the Karnak Temple at the right side.)

Fixing the sails.

I never expected him to go all the way up!!

With another felucca at the back.

Inside the felucca.

- My last day in Luxor was well spent, and over all, Luxor was such an amazing gateway to Upper Egypt. I'm also thankful that there are so many day trip options too, since driving on my own would not have been practical. I learned and immersed myself so much in ancient Egypt during my 5 days in Luxor. At the same time, rural Luxor did make me miss the hustle of urban Cairo!

** Check out my other adventures in Egypt here!

Part 1: Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) and Giza Pyramid View Inn (Rooftop Cafe) - here

Part 2: Islamic Cairo - here

Part 3: Pyramids of Giza, Memphis, and Saqqara - here

Part 4: Coptic Cairo - here

Part 5: Luxor - here

Part 6: Aswan - here

Part 7: Abu Simbel - here

Part 9: Egyptian Museum in Cairo and Abdeen Palace Museum - here

Egypt, Ever a Wonder! (Part 5): Luxor, the Land that Once Saw Luxury

- April 1 and 2, 2026, Wednesday to Thursday.

- I'd be a fool if I didn't take time to see Luxor - even if I flew out of Cairo on April Fools' Day. Luxor, or Thebes as it was called in the past, was the capital of Upper Egypt. Although located in the south, the terms "Upper" and "Lower" Egypt were based on the flow of the Nile. The Nile flows from south to north, hence, the seemingly opposite use of Upper and Lower. The word "Luxor" has also been speculated to be the origin of the word "luxury", based on the royal treasures in the capital, but this is proven to be a mere coincidence.

- Our flight via Nile Air from Cairo took around an hour. From Luxor Airport, my dad and I took an Uber to our hotel, Hilton Luxor. (Ubers, I read, aren't always available. In case they're not, people may choose to use InDrive. However, booking an Uber car was never a problem for me in Luxor.) Speaking of hotels, my family and I don't often choose to stay in 5-star resorts. But in Egypt, anything below a 5-star hotel may not be as decent (compared to other countries where even budget hotels are amazing). Another thing was that hotels close to downtown were mostly fully-booked so I wasn't able to get one closer to where the crowd is; the Hilton was a few kilometers away from the downtown and it was almost fully booked too.   

- I wasn't sure if there would be flight delays (and how bad they would be in case), so I planned our first day in Luxor to be a more relaxed one. My dad could rest until the end of the day, while I went around the hotel and also check out the street bazaar downtown, called El Souk. El Souk feels a lot less overwhelming than Cairo's Khan El Khalili. By the way, since Luxor is in Southern Egypt, it was significantly warmer there than Cairo, which was cool and windy as it was the end of winter.

Here I am! This is the city's official logo by the way.

Our hotel faces the Nile. We have our own feluccas as well. (The felucca is Egypt's traditional boat.)

I told you it was hotter here.

El Souk.

Streets of the bazaar. At least it's partly covered, making shopping a bit more comfortable.

- The following day, we had a day tour around Luxor, exploring both the East and West Banks (from Klook); the East Bank is where the downtown area is and where most hotels are, while the West Bank is where the royal tombs are. Most of our sightseeing in southern Egypt was through a pre-booked day tour since the places were far and hard to access by oneself unless with a private car. We started by visiting the Karnak Temple, located within the downtown of Luxor. 

- Karnak Temple is one of the most important temples in Egyptian history. Built in the 20th century BCE, it was a complex of temples used for 3000 years. While many gods are worshipped in Karnak Temple, the most prominent would be Amun-Ra, the combination of Amun (king of gods), and Ra (falcon-headed sun god). 

Karnak!!!! (And the bright sun.)

Gates are lined with ram-headed sphinxes, which are symbols of Amun.

Osidie ("like Osiris") statues of Ramesses III.

I think this is Ramesses III on the temple walls.

Under one of the temple's many light sources.

Papyrus-motif columns.

These pillars are larger than life. They used to have a ceiling by the way.

Obelisks. Some of the obelisks are in France.

Gateway.

Khepri the scarab god, symbolizing the rising sun and reincarnation.

- Following a visit to the grand temple that was Karnak, was a trip to the West Bank of Luxor to visit the grand cemetery of the ancient Egyptian royalty, the Valley of the Kings. The Valley of the Kings if just part of the greater Theban Necropolis, which include other collections of tombs. The Valley of the Kings had been used since the 16th century BCE. These tombs gained more attention after the 1922 discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb; it was nearly intact when found and the only one found in this condition to date. However, the other tombs of the kings were bigger and more ornate than Tutankhamun's. I only got to explore 4 tombs out of the many, many ones in the valley. I doubt all are open to the public too.

Ramesses IV. One of the nicer tombs.

Just look at all the colors!

I'd spend more time inside if it weren't so hot and crowded inside.

This is what's left of the tomb. Most artefacts in the tombs have been sent to the museums.

Ramesses III.

This one has so many colorful pillars.

Please, no curses. (If you know, you know. Just search for the "pharaoh's curse", particular the one that seemed to affect Howard Carter and his team after discovering King Tut's tomb.) ---- Although actually, it was also said that the curse wasn't much of a curse. Rather, the infections were really just caused by the bacteria and all the chemicals locked up inside the graves.

King Tut.

What's left of the tomb since most of it has been transferred to the Old Egyptian Museum in Cairo, and more recently, to the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) in Giza.

His mummy.

Ramesses IX. This wasn't a super ornate grave, but still nice. 

With wall carvings.

The vallley.

- Behind the Valley of the Kings is Hateshepsut's mortuary temple. Built in the 15th century BCE, the temple was dedicated to Pharaoh Hatshepsut, who was a queen that declared herself king. Apart from it being a way to legitimize a pharaoh's rule by connecting with the divine, the temple was actually used to worship gods as well, such as Hathor and Anubis. I'd like to also note that Hatshepsut herself wasn't buried here, but in the Valley of the Kings.

Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut.

Shrine for Anubis.

Horus.

Carving of Hathor, the fertility goddess often portrayed as a cow (or a woman with cow ears.)

Depth.

Amun shrine.

Osiride statues of Hatshepsut.

Temple facade.

From the side.

- After lunch we had a quick photo stop at the Colossi of Memnon. Built in the 14th century BCE, it was supposed to be the largest mortuary temple in the area, although almost none of it is left. Only statues of Amenhotep III, to whom this temple is dedicated, are left. The name "Memnon", which is Greek in origin, was used to refer to the statues because the Greeks thought the statues represented the mythological hero Memnon. 

With what's left of the Temple of Amenhotep III.

- Finally, we went back to the downtown area at the East Bank to visit Luxor Temple. It was built in the 14th century BCE dedicated to the god Amun, his wife Mut, and their son Khonsu. The temple was expanded and repurposed through time, so the presence of other religions like Christianity and Islam can be found on the temple itself.

Entrance to Luxor temple. Another missing obelisk currently stands in France.

The avenue of sphinxes that connect Luxor Temple to Karnak Temple.

A closer view of the entrance, with a seated Ramesses II.

I think they're of Ramesses II as well.

Grand Colonnade.

If you look closely, you can see Roman wall paintings.

With the temple walls.

More columns.

I cannot get over how precise these wall carvings look.

With many statues of Ramesses II.

- That evening I was able to slightly pamper myself with a dinner at the hotel with a cultural program. I saw various dances, especially belly dancing (though not Egyptian style), as well as the most-awaited tanoura dance (men doing tricks with colorful skirts). The belly dancer even asked to dance with her!

Belly dance. (I was told she was doing a Lebanese style, rather than an Egyptian style dance.)

Tanoura.

With a tanoura dancer.

Oud player.

- My first two days in Luxor were fantastic introductions to the city and to ancient Egyptian history. However, tourists don't often go to Luxor and stay in Luxor. Often, Luxor is a good starting point for many day trips in southern Egypt - and that was exactly what we did, explore more of southern Egypt, or "Upper Egypt"!

** Check out my other adventures in Egypt here!

Part 1: Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) and Giza Pyramid View Inn (Rooftop Cafe) - here

Part 2: Islamic Cairo - here

Part 3: Pyramids of Giza, Memphis, and Saqqara - here

Part 4: Coptic Cairo - here

Part 6: Aswan - here

Part 7: Abu Simbel - here

Part 8: Dendera and Medinet Habu - here     

Part 9: Egyptian Museum in Cairo and Abdeen Palace Museum - here