Egypt - January 30

Karnak (meaning "windows") is grand. Of all we saw in three hours I will only mention the, yes, amazing column gallery. 144 of them, beautiful and round, 20 meters high, each from about 10 stones weighing many tons each, all supporting a ceiling with similarly weighted blocks. I'll also mention the relevance to the history of Israel (which we saw in other places) from several carvings of conquests of it by Seti I, Ramses II and Shishaq, which is mentioned in the Bible. The names of the conquered towns (in particular those in Israel) all appear in hieroglyphics on the walls.



The group's bus dropped us off in the hotel, we said goodbye to everyone, and went to check out and go to the airport. Then we learned from Ahmed, Ayala's Egyptian representative, and various other sources, slowly over a couple of hours, that all of EgyptAir's flights were canceled, that the Luxor airport is closed and that we are stuck here.

After treating ourselves to lunch in the hotel, we set off along the Nile to the other large temple, Luxor temple, which is a 10 minute walk from the hotel. As our guide and group were visiting Tutankhamun's grave, we had to make do with Yuval's guidance. After three days of carefully listening (and remembering) Danny's lectures, he got quite good at reading hieroglyphics, recognizing gods, kings, and classical wall reliefs. So we know a lot about this temple too, and we'll see if we have to revise this knowledge when we meet Danny this evening.





We went to the mall to get some water at the small mini-market there. Adjacent to the hotel is the local government headquarters and the mall immediately after it. So the shopkeeper starts talking to us (he recognized us as Israelis) - all within earshot of the soldiers next door. It was amazing. He described how fed up people are with the corruption, both at the State level and locally. For example he complained about the sugar prices rising immensely while the government did not raise the price they give him for the sugar cane he grows. And about the fact that the price of gas rose by about a factor of 10 due to a short supply and asked why does Egypt continue selling gas to Israel if there is a shortage. Locally, he complained about Saudis and such buying up property in Luxor with the blessing of the government. People are forced to sell their properties at very low prices if they do not want to get into trouble with the officials who were bribed. And then he gave us the most amazing piece of gossip - he claimed that Gamal Mubarak is hiding in Israel! This whole experience was fascinating if bizarre and we sure hope he does not get into trouble talking like this next to the soldiers. We parted with the mutual hope that he will get to Jerusalem to pray there. A lovely man!