Item 01: Irene Victoria Read letters from her husband, 27 November 1914-1 November 1915 - Page 158

[Page 158]

Another officer Capt. Fletcher & I have just returned from a two days excursion to Luxor. We left Cairo at 8 on Wednesday night by the express de luxe & travelled south along the Nile for over 400 miles putting up at Luxor at 9 next morning. We had a compartment to ourselves & so were able to stretch out & have a bit of sleep. Arriving at Luxor we made for the Luxor Hotel & after a wash engaged a dragoman Mr Youssef Mohamed & with him set out on donkeys to do the wonderful sights of the town. We first visited the Temple of Ammon at Karnak about two miles from Luxor. This is one of the most famous temples in Egypt & is a wonderful monument of the art of the ancient Egyptians. It covers an enormous area of ground and is in a wonderful state of preservation. Various kings of various dynasties took a hand in building it & each succeeding one seemed to vie with his predecessor in the magnificence of his work. The finest part of the temple is the hypostyle hall in which there are some 130 huge pillars all embellished with interesting hyeroglyphics in bas relief. We visited this part of the temple again in the evening & by the aid of a beautiful full moon saw everything to very great advantage – the light & shadow - effects amongst the great pillars was a thing never to be forgotten