What To Expect Depart your central Luxor hotel or Luxor river port by minivan and drive to the Temples of Karnak on the Nile’s East Bank. As you travel, hear how Luxor stands on the 4,000-year-old site of Thebes, Egypt’s ancient royal capital, and how Karnak is the largest of its temple complexes. Discover how this vast collection of buildings was developed by more than 30 pharaohs, including Amenhotep IV and Ramses II. On arrival, walk along the Avenue of the Sphinxes to the gateway, and then explore inside with your Egyptologist guide . Continue to Luxor Temple, an ancient temple in the center of Luxor laid parallel to the Nile. Hear how it was built in around 1,400 BC, and added to by Tutankhamun, Ramses II and even Alexander the Great. Admire the two colossal statues of Ramses at the entrance, and the granite gateway obelisk whose original counterpart now stands in Paris’ Place de la Concorde.