To finish with this little report on my experience in Egypt, I want to tell you about Sekmeth, the lion goddess. In the Egyptian pantheon several gods have animal heads, Thoth-ibis, Anubis-jackal, Horus-falcon are among the most famous ones. These gods were known in the whole country, but every city had special relations to one or several of them.

I left Luxor again at the hour of sunrise. Through the window of the bus back to Hurghada I watched the sun, and knew that it would never look the same again for me after this trip.

Day 3 was the 21st of December, day of the winter solstice. Only a few years ago it was discovered that Karnak temple is constructed and aligned in a way that during sunrise at winter solstice the sun just climbs up about the central axis of the temple, probably also to bring sunrays to the sanctuary and illuminate the statues of Amun.

On the second day we started very early in the morning to the Theban Necropolis, on the other shore of the Nile, traditionally considered the land for the dead. The city of Luxor, known as Thebes in antiquity and Waset for the ancient Egyptians, is on the east shore, Luxor temple and Karnak temple included.

Day 1 was dedicated to Karnak temple and Luxor temple. Our guide Ali, originally from Alexandria but with a strong connection to Karnak, showed us around and explained some of the buildings, statues and hieroglyphs, and also left us lots of time to enjoy the atmosphere at the site and to make our own discoveries of favourite spots. Now it was a pleasure that there were so few other tourists around!

I never had a special relationship to Egypt or felt particularly attracted to its ancient culture. So it became one of the wondrous gifts of life that on december 18th 2014 I started on a short trip to Luxor and returned only a few days later but with lots of energizing, inspiring and transformative experiences and definitly in love with this place!

I decided to open a new section in my blog, about another of my passions which is quite connected to my general interest for new experiences: Travelling! Some weeks ago I made a great trip to Egypt, and later this month I will travel for the first time (finally!) to Japan. So there is lots to tell and to share – I’ll do it in English, because like this more of my friends all around the world can read me. Sorry for the mistakes in my English, I am not a native speaker! Hope you enjoy.