Crane in the middle of the structure of the Karnak temple in Luxor

In many of the previous photos, I have shown parts of the great Karnak temple in Luxor, as well as the crane that is there in the structure. In this photo, you can see how the actual size of the structure is pretty huge, and no photo (except for overhead photos) can really convey the true impression of the size of this temple. It seems remarkable that 35 centuries back, people could have constructed this huge temple, with so many artifacts inside it.
Learn more about Egypt. Buy the Lonely Planet Guide. Click to buy.

Crowded lane inside the Khan el Khalili market in Cairo

The Khan el Khalili market is one of the most famous tourist attractions, being located in the Islamic quarter of Cairo, very close to the Al Azhar university. Once you are inside the market, you see a long lane of shops where you can buy a number of curios such as figurines, hukka devices, paintings, etc.
Inside the lane, you can see a lot of old construction, such as in this photo where you see buildings at the far end, in pretty bad condition.
Learn more about Egypt. Buy the Lonely Planet Guide. Click to buy.

Open air cafes in front of the Khan El Khalili market in Cairo

The Khan El Khalili market is a very famous tourist attraction in the Islamic quarter of Cairo, very close to the Al Azhar Islamic university (the most prestigious university in the whole of the Islamic world).
This photo is of the cafes that line the front section of the market, and to the edge of the cafes, there are entry to lanes that lead inside the market. From this area, you cannot get an idea of the congestion inside the actual market.
Learn more about Egypt. Buy the Lonely Planet Guide. Click to buy.

Khan el Khalili market in cairo - The front section of the market, on the outside

To get to the Khan el Khalili market in the Islamic Section of Cairo, you would normally take a bus or a taxi (or as part of a guided tour). You approach a square (with a small central garden), right next to the Al Azhar University, and get down there (and the entry point to the market is right next to the structures seen in this photo).
Your vehicle is not allowed to remain parked there, probably for security reasons, and you then make you way into the market, hopefully for some successful bargaining. Our travel in the market was remarkably safe, and we did not encounter any problem inside the market.
Learn more about Egypt. Buy the Lonely Planet Guide. Click to buy.

Khan el Khalili market in Cairo - a wider part of the market

The Khan El Khalili market is located near the Al Azhar university, one of the most important centers of learning in the Islamic world. The market fits one of the symbols of the Islamic world, the bazaar where a lot of stuff is available, a lot of people are there, and you can do a lot of bargaining.
The market can be very narrow, but in this case, there is a slightly wider section of the market. This is near the entry to the market, and hence is wider; can get much narrower as you go inside.
Learn more about Egypt. Buy the Lonely Planet Guide. Click to buy.

Khan el Khalili market in Cairo - right near the entry point to the market

The Khan el Khalili market is located in Cairo, in the Islamic district. It is one of the most famous tourist attractions in the city, and being a bazaar draws a huge number of people. The bazaar is very old, having been dated back to the year 1382, being the creation of the Emir Djaharks el-Khalili.
Why do people come to Khan el Khalili ? Right now, most people come there because it is a big tourist attraction, and for the chance to do some shopping, buy local curios, and do a lot of bargaining.
Learn more about Egypt. Buy the Lonely Planet Guide. Click to buy.

Lot of structures inside the Karnak Temple in Luxor

A photo of a lot of structures inside the Karnak temple in Luxor. The Karnak temple is one of the most visited temples in Egypt. A lot of the structures inside the temple are in a decent condition, but some of them are in a pretty bad condition, as can be seen in this photo.
Learn more about Egypt. Buy the Lonely Planet Guide. Click to buy.

Cordoned off section inside the Karnak temple in Luxor, with a lot of broken down stones

Inside the Karnak temple, there are a number of structures (primarily the Hypostyle Hall, and others) which are in a fairly good condition, or have been restored. But there are many other sections that are in a bad condition, such as this cordoned off section where there is a lot of material lying on the ground, and the construction is fairly destroyed.
One hopes that the section has been cordoned off in order to do restoration work, since the temple is an incredibly important historic evidence of ancient Egyptian history and culture.
Learn more about Egypt. Buy the Lonely Planet Guide. Click to buy.

Trees and a crane at the end of a path inside the Karnak temple

In previous photos, a number of them inside the Great Karnak temple in Luxor, some of the photos have been regarding the bad condition of many of the structures inside the temple, as well as some of the restoration work that is happening there. A crane showed up in some of these photos.
In this photo, you can see the crane is actually inside the precints of the temple complex, probably used for moving some of the heavier blocks of stone that make up the temple walls.
Learn more about Egypt. Buy the Lonely Planet Guide. Click to buy.

Angular view of the top part of an Obelisk at the Karnak temple in Luxor

The Obelisk is a truly fascinating structure. It looks pretty impressive, having been fashioned from a large piece of stone in quarries (through an elaborate system where water is frozen,expands and breaks the rock; and then the Obelisk is sent on river barges to the site of the temple).
Inside the Karnak temple, this is just the top part of the Obelisk, put on some supports and kept in such a way that the magnificence of the structure is clearly visible to all tourists.
Learn more about Egypt. Buy the Lonely Planet Guide. Click to buy.

Collapsed structures against the backdrop of a crane at the Karnak temple in Luxor

When you have an ancient structure such as the Karnak temple in Luxor (built approximately 35 centuries back), there is the chance of tremendous wear and tear, and damage to the structure over the centuries (consider that at another site, the Colossi of Memnon, the entire temple has vanished over the centuries).
In this photo, you see how much of the structure has actually been damaged, with the stone blocks that make the walls of the temple lying around, and broken.
Learn more about Egypt. Buy the Lonely Planet Guide. Click to buy.

The leaves and branches of a palm tree inside the Karnak temple in Luxor

There are very few trees to be found inside the complex of the Karnak temple. It is only to the rear of the temple complex, near the water pond that you will find signs of greenery. When I reached this area, the heat was pretty bad, and it was a pleasant sight to see a tree even though the palm tree really did not have any kind of shade to offer from the hot sun.
Learn more about Egypt. Buy the Lonely Planet Guide. Click to buy.

The thin needle of the Obelisk emerging from the surrounding structures

The Obelisk is one of the most distinctive structures of the various monuments of ancient Egypt, and such is the beauty of the thin structure that a number of other countries boast the same Obelisk (taken from different sites in Egypt) in their cities.
Here, you see an example of how the Obelisk makes a mark, with the needle emerging strong from the surrounding structures and dominating the whole surroundings.
Learn more about Egypt. Buy the Lonely Planet Guide. Click to buy.

Tourist and trees inside the rear portion of the Karnak temple in Luxor

A view of tourists and trees inside the rear portion of the Karnak temple in Luxor. In previous photos, you would have typically seen a lot of the structure of the temple, and very little of greenery. In this photo, you get to some of the sparse greenery around the structures. Because of the low level of greenery, it can get very hot during the summer months.
Learn more about Egypt. Buy the Lonely Planet Guide. Click to buy.

Pond of water inside the Karnak temple in Luxor

Typically, most temples have a pond of water or some other source of water. In the case of the Great Karnak temple in Luxor, the pond of water is located near the rear of the temple, and must be pretty deep when full. Right now, the level of water shown in the pond is pretty low from the high point (you can see that in the walls of the pond).
Learn more about Egypt. Buy the Lonely Planet Guide. Click to buy.

Portion of an Obelisk laid down for some restoration

Obelisks are one of the most important symbols of ancient Egypt. The pharaoh would typically erect an Obelisk at the entrance to a temple, and you can find one at the entrance to the Karnak temple as well (although to a tourist, it no longer seems to be at the actual entrance to the temple).
In this photo, you can see the top portion of the Obelisk (with carvings being very clear visible) laid down on some supports inside the Karnak temple in Luxor. There must have been some restoration work happening over there.
Learn more about Egypt. Buy the Lonely Planet Guide. Click to buy.

Statue of a pharaoh, but without the head, inside the Karnak temple in Luxor

If you go to any of the ancient monuments in Egypt, you will find that there are numerous traces of the pharaoh who built them. This is typically true of the temples, where there will be statues of the pharaoh making up part of the structure of the temple, as a part of the walls of the temple or free standing statues.
Inside the Karnak temple, you can find more than one, since there were numerous pharaohs who played a role. In this case, you can see a statue which no longer has a head, but the rest of the statue remains in fairly good condition.
Learn more about places to visit in India. Buy Lonely Planet Guide to India. Click to buy.

Cut section of a pillar inside the Karnak temple in Luxor

The remains at the Karnak temple are pretty extensive. There has been a lot of restoration at the site, and some of the structures remain in pretty good condition, while the conditions of many of the other structures is far worse. This is a photo of a pillar at the temple, where the top parts of the pillar are no longer existing, and it seems that the pillar has been sliced into 1/3rd of the original section. This could be because the original pillar was made of several stone sections put on top of one another, and the sections on top got removed.
Learn more about Egypt. Buy the Lonely Planet Guide. Click to buy.

The sheer view of the structure of the Obelisk inside the Karnak temple

The Obelisk inside the Karnak temple is real spectacular, given that it seems to rise among the ruins all around it. I have no idea whether the Obelisk was there from the beginning, or was restored and then placed later, but it looks great in this view, rising from the middle of the structures. The Obelisk is a symbol of ancient Egypt, being placed at the entrances of temple by the pharaohs of the day.
Learn more about Egypt. Buy the Lonely Planet Guide. Click to buy.

Ruins and remains at the Karnak temple in Luxor

This photo was the first photo I took that actually showed the extent to which the structure inside the Karnak temple in Luxor has suffered over the centuries. The walls, pillars, and other structures all seem to have suffered different levels of damage, some of which seems more than that caused by weather (for example, the pillars seem to have suffered different levels of damage, with some sharp cuts, and other cuts where the cut is not smooth.
Learn more about Egypt. Buy the Lonely Planet Guide. Click to buy.

The obelisk rising above some of the other structures inside the Karnak temple

The obelisk is one of the most famous symbols of ancient Egypt, with the sharp and slim needle like structure having been taken to many cities of the world and erected in central locations. In this photo, you can see the top part of the Obelisk rising above the surrounding structures, which also is a contrast. The structures have all been weathered down, but the Obelisk still seems in pretty good condition, still seeming sharp and with the carvings on the Obelisk looking pretty good.
Learn more about Egypt. Buy the Lonely Planet Guide. Click to buy.

Path inside the Karnak temple, with fallen structures to the side

This photo actually shows the extent to which a lot of the structures inside the Karnak temple have suffered damage during the many centuries over which this temple has existed. The weather has been most cruel to the temples, with wear and tear, along with other phenomenon such as earthquakes also causing a lot of damage. It is only in the past few decades that there has been a focus on restoration, which has actually improved some aspects of the temple.
Learn more about Egypt. Buy the Lonely Planet Guide. Click to buy.

Crane near the Karnak temple structure in Luxor

Many of the ancient sites boasted by Egypt that are extremely popular with tourists are actually very close to civilization. In fact, except for the temple at Abu Simbel, other sites such as the ones in Luxor, or the Pyramids / Sphinx in Giza are all very close to large habitation centers. The photo shows an example of the same, with a crane showcasing some construction work near the Karnak temple in Luxor.
Learn more about Egypt. Buy the Lonely Planet Guide. Click to buy.

Statue of a pharaoh and other damaged items inside the Karnak temple

The Karnak temple is very old, atleast 35 centuries old. Given that it would have been exposed to so many disturbances over the past (both natural and man made), it can be hard to find anything remaining from that time.
Surprisingly, some of the parts of the temple still remain in good condition, but in this case, the place seems more in ruins, with damage visible everywhere.
Learn more about Egypt. Buy the Lonely Planet Guide. Click to buy.

Structures inside the Karnak temple in Luxor, looks in good shape

Some of the previous photos shown in this blog of the Karnak temple shows the pillars of the Hypostyle Hall, and many other magnificent structures near the entrance of the temple. This photo shows a different structure, a hall (most likely a set of rooms in the temple). Given that the temple is 35 centuries old, the place still seems in decent shape.
Learn more about Egypt. Buy the Lonely Planet Guide. Click to buy.

Following some people walking through the Karnak temple in Luxor

The Karnak temple in Luxor is fairly busy with tourists through the year (although there is a reduction in tourists as you head towards the summer season because of the heat levels). In this photo, taken in February, you can see a number of tourists in the frame, walking in between the path with structures of the Karnak temples on both sides. It was impossible to take a photo of the structure without tourists being in the photo, just because of the number of tourists who were there in the temple complex.
Learn more about Egypt. Buy the Lonely Planet Guide. Click to buy.

Sunlight twinkling through a section of the architecture of the Karnak temple

I always like taking photos of the light coming in the form of a twinkle. In this case, I was trying to get an image of the light twinkling through a section of the Egyptian structure of the Karnak temple. Parts of the structure are in a state of damage due to the long periods of time it has been exposed to destructive forces. However, the temple still displays a great sense of grandeur.
Learn more about Egypt. Buy the Lonely Planet Guide. Click to buy.

Tourists inside an enclosed section of the Karnak temple in Luxor

Typically, most of the photos that I have posted of the Karnak temple show the sorry state of the temple (given that it is around 35 centuries old), with the structure showing the wear and tear of the history; most of the roof of the temple is now gone. However, there are still sections of the temple where the roof remains, such as in this photo where you can see a number of tourists inside an enclosed section of the temple.
Learn more about Egypt. Buy the Lonely Planet Guide. Click to buy.