Day Six (Part 5) - Karnak Sound And Light Show

At 7pm Karnak Travel arrived at our hotel, in a private car, to take us to Karnak for the Sound and Light show. After a two minute journey we arrived at Karnak. Our 'guide' took us to the ticket office, got our tickets and told us that the car would be waiting in the main car park for us when we had finished. Sabine and I then made our way through the security checkpoint and entered Karnak for the second time during our trip to Luxor.

Just before the first pylon were a set of gates which were currently closed. The show was due to start at around 7:45 so we had to wait around in the rapidly growing crowd until then. Eventually the gates opened and we made our way into Karnak proper.

The Karnak Sound and Light show portrays the history of Thebes, including the lives of the pharaohs who built the necropolis. The story is narrated over loud speakers and, during the narration, certain statues and monuments are lit up in the darkness. The entire show lasts around 1.5 hours.

At certain points during the narration it would stop and we would then all move to a different location with Karnak. The narration and lighting of key statues and monuments would then begin again, moving through time and being narrated as if it was the actual pharaoh and people of the temple speaking.

To be honest, at times I found it quite boring. The narration was interesting and done well but the so called 'light show' was poor. I was expecting a little bit more that a spot light showing up the odd statue here and there. But, I then kept remembering where I was and how Karnak must have looked in all its full glory. By night, with torches flickering it must have been quite a magical place. As I let my imagination roam, with the narration in the background, it suddenly wasn't quite as boring.

At the final stage of the 'show' we moved to the back of the sacred lake where there is a raised seating area. This part of the show is probably the longest and actually the best part. With the narration being given through speakers on either side of the lake, one being used for one voice, the other for another voice, so sound is going backwards and forwards across the lake, you look out over the lake towards the temple which looks amazing when lit up.

Eventually the show was over and we all made our way leisurely back through Karnak and out to the car park. Surprisingly we found our car quite easily and returned back to the hotel.

It had been, by far, the most interesting day of my life.

Day 7 - New Years Eve in Luxor >>