EGYPT PART 2

If you read my last post, you know that I've been trying to figure out how to do some kind of "show & tell" about my trip to Egypt and not bore you with details or overload you with images. The struggle is real. So, I've settled on breaking the rest into two posts: above ground and underground. Today is the "above ground" part. I was fortunate enough to visit dozens of temples and monuments around Egypt. None of them much younger than 2500 yrs old, and most about 3500 to 4000 yrs old. This is the thing that continued to blow my mind. Of course there have been restorations and preservation of a lot of these places, but to a large degree they are pretty intact, and you are looking at stuff built 3500 yrs ago. The engineering of these sites alone is insane, and makes you wonder what they knew and how they knew it, before the rest of the world caught up. They moved ridiculously large quarried stones hundreds of miles, stacked enormous blocks, built 90ft walls and columns, and carved and painted them with a precision that would make any current day architect or artist jealous. And I haven't even mentioned the pyramids. It's just jaw dropping. I'll spare you all the nutty stuff I learned about the gods they worshiped and which temple is dedicated to which god or pharaoh. A lot of the same characters show up at most of the temples, including a handful of pharaohs who spent most of their reigns building monuments to themselves. Yeah, I'm talking to you Ramses! One last thing, I was lucky enough to have unknowingly picked an amazing time to be there. Not a lot of folks were traveling again at that point, and you'll notice that there are few if any people in most of the shots. For the most part, I had these places to myself. Enjoy the photos. You can click on them to start and stop.