The temple at Kom Ombo is a Greek Roman temple. The temple is believed to have been built on an old temple by Queen Hatshepsut during the 18th Dynasty. The temple is supposed to be as old as 200 BC and is dedicated to two gods Sobek, the crocodile god who used to be worshipped in the pre-dynastic times and the god Haroeris that is Horus, the solar gold of war. The temple was constructed at the time of Plotemis VII-XII and even today you can see a crocodile mummy which is preserved in the chapel of Hathor located at the right side of the temple entrance.

Horu(s) was originally the god of light whose eyes were associated with the sun and moon. The Horus temple was built during the reign of Ptolemy VI. Although the temple is not one of the best preserved ones, it is supposed to be the second largest temple after the Karnak Temples which is at Luxor. The impressive feature of the temple is that there are carvings and engravings in hieroglyphics which is the ancient Egyptian script and a large part of the same unfortunately has been defaced over the years. At the entrance of the temple are two very beautiful black granite statues on either side of the entrance depicting Horus in the form of the falcon.

The next morning we arrived at Luxor where we disembarked to take our tour to the necropolis or the City of the Dead on the West Bank of the Nile. On our agenda was to visit the Valley of the Kings, the temple of Queen Hatshepsut and the Colossi de Memnon. After having disembarked at Luxor, we traversed the imposing Luxor temple to cross the river Thebes to head towards the west of the Nile. The city of Thebes was the capital during the Middle Kingdom and the new Kingdom. Luxor is known as the city of palaces due to the innumerable temples. During the Greek time it was known as Thebes and is today known as the world's largest open air museum as it houses one third of the world's monument with the imposing Karnak Temples and Luxor Temple on the east of the river Nile.

On traversing the Luxor temple, our Egyptologists told us that this temple was built to worship the god Amun Ra. At Luxor one can find the Luxor museum which houses Pharaonic relics from Luxor and the mummification museum where the mummification tools that the ancient physicians used, relics of mummies and paintings representing the religious funerary rituals. Unfortunately, visiting Luxor and Karnak Temples was not part of our agenda and I would strongly recommend especially those interested in Egyptian history to have a two days extended stay in Luxor as Luxor has lots to offer especially those who would like to get into the details of the historical importance of Luxor and its temples.

The other famous tomb is that of Tut ank Amon which was recently discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter and the remains of the tomb can be found at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The tomb is set to be dated back to 1352 BC. It was believed by the Phraoahs that the name inscribed outside the tomb would ensure that the soul would come down from heaven, come in contact with the body and that would help the body to come back to life as the Pharaohs were quite obsessed with the idea of the rebirth or life after death. Here at the Valley of the Kings one can find 62 tombs. These tombs were made in the valley unlike the Pyramids so that the robbers would not be able to discover the tombs and the treasures hidden beneath as was the case with the Pyramids. The tombs were made as their house of eternity and the painting within the tombs tells you what would the King be in his second life. All the hieroglyphics within the tomb are colourful especially those of Ramses IV and Ramses IX which we visited as part of our tour.

After the Valley of the Kings, we went to see the Valley of the Queens and the tomb of Queen Nefertari which is beautifully decorated with murals and inscriptions. Queen Nefertari was the most favourite queen of King Ramses II. The paintings on the wall in her tomb are very beautiful and fragile and thus only 150 tourists are allowed to see the tomb at any one given time. Our next stop was at the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut which is located at Deir el Bahari. Queen Hatshepsut was the daughter of Tutmose I and wanted to rule Egypt and she gave gold to the priests who made the story that Hatshepsut was born from the God Amun

She ruled Egypt for almost 19 years and she dressed like a man, wearing men's clothes and even wearing a false beard. The Hatshepsut Temple points towards the East and consists of a series of vast terraces which by means of a ramp lead to the sanctuary. This masterpiece rises in three broad columned terraces from the desert floor against a backdrop of a limestone cliff.

After Hatshepsut's death her son Tutmose III buried her and destroyed her body and the temple as he wanted to become King. So the temple has undergone 70% restoration. Our last stop on the West of the Nile was the Colossi de Memnon where there are two giant statues of Amenhotep II standing alone at a place that used to be the entrance to the city to scare the enemies and drive them away with their magic spell. The two giant statues are 20 metres high and 2 metres long and 1 metre thick and were cut out of single blocks of sandstone. The statues are partially damaged due to the earthquake in 27 B.C.