Luxor East Bank: Karnak and Luxor Temples

Spend an afternoon with your Egyptologist guide on a private tour exploring the East Bank of Luxor to see two of the most impressive temples in Upper Egypt: Karnak and Luxor Temples. Start your day with a visit to the Temples of Karnak. Walk along the Avenue of Sphinx to enter the complex as your guide explains how the massive facade was constructed. On entering the Temples of Karnak, you will see each legacy left by the various pharaohs as the complex grew even larger. The deeper you go into the complex, the further back in time you will travel, with the oldest ruins dating back over 3,000 years. Walking through the Great Court into the Great Hypostyle Hall, it's hard not to be overwhelmed by the 134 columns towering above you like an ancient forest. At the rear of the complex you will find the sacred lake where centuries ago pharaohs and their offerings to the gods were purified. After a tour of the complex, you will have additional free time to explore at leisure. Continue to Luxor Temple which was once joined to the Temples of Karnak by a 2 kilometer long Avenue of Sphinx, a portion of which marks the entrance to the temple. Dominated by statues of the great warrior pharaoh Ramses II, Luxor Temple has survived Nile floods, foreign invasion and thousands of years exposed to the elements. A pure Egyptian temple, the inner walls and columns are decorated with intricate hieroglyphics which your guide will help you decipher. Find out how Alexander the Great wrote himself into Luxor Temple's history, and see one of the original pair of obelisks, the second of which now stands on the Place de la Concorde in Paris. This is a private tour allowing you to determine the amount of time spent at each of the temples during the tour.