March 22 Temple of Amun

Noga Tours picked us up at nine to bring us to the Karnak Temple, an extraordinary complex of sanctuaries, kiosks, pylons and obelisks dedicated to the Theban gods and pharoahs. The main structure, the Temple of Amun, is the largest religious bulding ever built.We spent an hour wandering through the gigantic complex with our guide, Maria.

The temple is massive. – it covers over 2 square kilometers. It was the most important place of worship in Egypt during the New Kingdom. The Temple of amun had 81,000 people working in or for the temple, owned hundreds of thousand of cattle, 65 cities, 83 ships and 691,000 acres of agicultural land,

We were in awe of the what the ancient Egyptians used for scaffolding. The piled mud-brick ramps hundreds of meters high to construct the walls and pillars of the temple. The boys enjoyed walking around a large stone altar seven times in order to guarantee a healthy productive life.

After visiting Karnak Temple we went to the Mercure Hotel to swim and relax. It was a huge hit with the kids! We swam until sunset and then went to a traditional Egyptian restaurant by the name of Sofra. It is a house built in the 30s with authentic furniture from the time period. The food was incredible. Both boys had koshari – pasta, rice, fried onions and a spicy garlic sauce. I had some cold mezzes and Joe had brochettes of lamb, beef and chicken.