We are now entering the Nile, the longest river in the world. It goes on for Niles and Niles and Niles, and if you don’t believe me, then you’re in…DENIAL!

After we finished up the Edfu Temple we started the 3-hour ish cruise towards Luxor. It was quite the spectacle once we arrived at the lock near Esna. I was sleep deprived and was trying to take a nap – and woke up to a bunch of shouting and honking. We figured we had reached the lock.

Once we were on the sundeck we saw a variety of Egyptians throwing packages onto the deck – and hoping tourists liked what they saw. If the tourists did, they would throw money back in the package and pay them. There was a lot of throwing back and forth and I’m not sure if anyone actually purchased anything. Regardless, it was a chaotic and funny scene!

Once we docked, we took off for Karnak Temple. And I know what you’re thinking – and YES! We went to a lot of temples! I don’t think we broke our record from Thailand, but it felt pretty close. Karnak Temple area reminded me so much of the Roman Forum in Italy. It was so vast and spread out. There was a lot to look at and Michael had warned us to be careful to not get lost.

The Karnak Temple dates back from around 2055 BC to around 100 AD. Being the largest building for religious purposes ever to be constructed – it was an ongoing project by different dynasties over the ages.

So much of the Temple is still actively being restored. As this is a work in progress, you can see some colors start to pop out in the pillars and other structures.

While Michael gave us free time, we were walking through the different columns and a man approached us. We didn’t understand what he said to us – but he was gesturing for us to follow him. We realized we were in a pretty secluded spot in the complex – and it just felt like a bad idea. Unfortunately, he followed us for a while until we got back to a more crowded area.

Others in our group told us that they had something similar – and the man took them to look at a black scarab. We don’t think it was the same guy, but thankfully the tour group’s (armed) security guard went with them. Who knows, weird things happen wherever you go. It’s best to just follow your intuition and mine was telling me – run!

After Karnak Temple, we head over to the Temple of Luxor. Another cool experience as we got there at sunset. Watching the columns light up was magical.

We returned to the ship and were able to celebrate our anniversary together and with some of our new friends. Another adventure filled day came to a close!