Luxor

Luxor is built on Thebes, the capital of pharaonic Egypt, and the whole town amounts to an open excavation. Karnak Temple is the largest religious complex ever raised: its hypostyle hall holds a hundred and thirty-four columns as tall as buildings. In the middle of town, Luxor Temple is floodlit after dark, and an avenue of sphinxes almost three kilometres long once joined the two sanctuaries. Across the river, the Valley of the Kings hides some sixty tombs cut into the rock, Tutankhamun's among them, their painted walls still holding their colour. The Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut rises against the cliff in three terraces facing the desert. The Luxor Museum shows, in low light, the statues lifted from a cache buried under the temple floor. The Nile runs between the two banks, edged with green fields and palms, and feluccas sail up against the current.