In the past Karnak and Luxor were connected with a path that nowadays is under earth, the government is recovering it. The ticket to visit Karnak costs 80 EGP. The entry hall has a large model of the entire temple.
The visit to the two temples was included in the package I booked with Mostafa guide, a nice guy, who has super fair prices and organizes all your logistics in Egypt.
He has a facebook page and we partnered so that If you visit Egypt look for him and tell was Franz Explorer reference. The entry has a corridor of sphinxes.
Our guide explained a bit how the Egyptians were able to assemble these tall structures back then. They made mountains of clay and used them as mats to carry the heavy blocks up. After the structures were finished, they demolished the mountains of clay. He also explained how the obelisks were placed. The temple is grand and full of columns that have been placed in different dynasties.
In the background there is a base of a broken obelisk that people today circumvent it seven times and make a wish. I met a group of young students who became curious about our hair and decided to interact with us. We did the 7 laps and the orders.
After Karnak we headed to Luxor, that has a huge obelisk in the entry and costs 60 EGP to visit the temple. In the interior greco-roman columns that were introduced after the original construction.
The guide told us that this area with the columns was used as an amphitheater for fight and presentations on the greco-roman period.
Inside the temple on a wall, one of the sculptures is with the black penis. According to the guide, this occurs because the symbol represents fertility and several women from around the world take a picture holding the penis. Oxidation causes the area to darken.
In the exit is possible to see the beginning of the path between both temples filled with sphinxes.