Athens to Muscat - The Middle East with a Muse

[Silver Spectre]

This guy was our onboard guard. Note the large slightly ill fitting jacket, it hid a sawn off butt sub machine gun on his right hip. He chastised me for getting behind taking photos when we first started into the temple, then after a conversation he made it his mission to keep me safe, make sure I didn’t get lost and was never more than a couple of paces away. We really appreciated his presence.

 

[Stumblefoot]

8 hours ago, Silver Spectre said:

...it hid a sawn off butt sub machine gun on his right hip. He chastised me for getting behind taking photos when we first started into the temple, then after a conversation he made it his mission to keep me safe, make sure I didn’t get lost and was never more than a couple of paces away. We really appreciated his presence.

Wow Mr. Silver.  Reading this scares me.  I know we'd be pretty afraid of visiting over there with such security measures necessary.

[Silver Spectre]

1 hour ago, Stumblefoot said:

Wow Mr. Silver.  Reading this scares me.  I know we'd be pretty afraid of visiting over there with such security measures necessary.

Bearing in mind how important tourism is to the Egyptian economy it is not surprising that the government wishes to avoid further terrorist attacks on tourists. We found the security rather comforting.

[Silver Spectre]

Finally, the Luxor Temple. The first shot of the needle is very similar to the one on the Embankment on the Thames.

 

[Silver Spectre]

[Silver Spectre]

This is a huge restoration project. Examples of where friezes have been reconstructed.

 

[Silver Spectre]

The Mosque in the temple, without and with grockles 

Edited December 2, 2018 by Silver Spectre

[Silver Spectre]

And a famous frieze depicting (I think) preparation for the afterlife, the bit down at the bottom is the lungs.

[Silver Spectre]

[Silver Spectre]

And a section from Roman times, unfortunately a little dark in the corner

 

[Silver Spectre]

Photobombed by my guard

 

[Silver Spectre]

The story behind this cheeky chappie is that he stayed behind when the Pharaoh went to war and was responsible for the wives of the soldiers. When they returned most of the wives were pregnant, so he had his arm and leg cut off. I can’t imagine why.

[jpalbny]

Hm. It wasn't the arm or the leg that was the problem, Silver. I always thought that the Ancient Egyptians were more medically sophisticated! 

[Stumblefoot]

Good one JP. 

Mr. Silver, looks like a phallic symbol to me.  

[Silver Spectre]

4 hours ago, Stumblefoot said:

Good one JP. 

Mr. Silver, looks like a phallic symbol to me.  

Really?

[Silver Spectre]

The shadows made it tough for my iPad to cope

 

[Silver Spectre]

Me and my head

 

[Silver Spectre]

A penultimate shot of the Avenue of the Sphinxes or Sphinges.

 

Edited December 5, 2018 by Silver Spectre
Spelling

[Stumblefoot]

3 hours ago, Silver Spectre said:

Me and my head

 

It does mysteriously look like something akin to an alien.

 

 

16 hours ago, Silver Spectre said:

Really?

 

Just teasing.

[Silver Spectre]

And a final parting shot of the magnificent Luxor statue and then it’s off for lunch and the Valley of the Kings, and we will see how easy it is to post the next set from my phone.

[Silver Spectre]

Entrance to the Valley Of The Kings

 

[Silver Spectre]

7 hours ago, Silver Spectre said:

Entrance to the Valley Of The Kings

 

Non of this was here when we visited 20 years ago, there was a rudimentary car park and a walk of about a mile up the valley. Now there is a visitor centre and a road train to take you up to the tombs, plus security and loads of shops of course.

[Silver Spectre]

The visitor centre has many diagrams and an excellent 3d model of the tombs

 

[Tothesunset]

Fascinating stuff Mr Spectre. Much appreciated. 

[Silver Spectre]

17 hours ago, Tothesunset said:

Fascinating stuff Mr Spectre. Much appreciated. 

Thanks TTS