Marvellous Medamud

The temple of Medamud lies in a small town just outside Luxor. It is, officially, a closed site, so we always have to see at the time of the excursion if we can get permission to enter it. That’s not a problem usually though. It is a fantastic site, beautifully positioned in the middle of the Egyptian heartland and agricultural fields. The elegantly pillared kiosk with its long causeway to the Nile docking station is still intact and the sphinxes lining it are awesomely powerful – you’d expect them to just jump up and bite you, were it not for the fact that their heads are missing! ;-)

The temple lies in the centre of the current Egyptian village, and sometimes we attract quite an audience when visiting the temple – one wonders exactly who or what is on display! It is a marvellous site, with beautiful intact parts such as the site where the bull of Montu used to deliver its oracles, and it’s full of scattered blocks that hold magnificent reliefs. There is even one of an enormous snake with hair on its head! This block used to belong to a ceiling and so the hair would not have been visible normally, but we were assured that some snakes in Egypt, if they grow to a very big size, actually do get a kind of spiky hair on their heads – and so once again, the Egyptian depictions of nature were true to form in every detail. Awesome. And that is just one of the treasures to be found here amidst the scattered blocks. Exploring them makes one feel like a real archaeologist on a modern-day treasure hunt!

Tip: This trip is easily combined into a full day trip with the excursion to Al Tod Temple, which is nice because both sanctuaries are dedicated to the same god, the god Montu, who ruled the area of Luxor as reigning deity before Amun came along. Both temples are part of a vast temple field dedicated to Montu, encompassing the whole Luxor area, giving it its ancient name of Hermonthis (in the Greek version). On the way, we catch lots of glimpses of real Egyptian daily life, fascinating and inspiring in its simplicity.

Tip 2: Medamud and the monastery at Garagos where the fabulous pottery comes from are also easily combined, as they are in the same direction out of Luxor.

Price for Medamud: 45 euros per person
Price for Medamud and Al Tod: 95 euros per person (also includes lunch, with tea and soft drinks)
Price for Medamud and Garagos: 60 euros per person

Includes: set-up, transport, explanation, tickets

For up-to-date Currency Conversion - Exchange Rates, please go Here...