If you walk over to the Tenth Pylon which is only a short distance away from the Khonsu temple, you will find that it is barred and locked, you can´t get through. On the other side, the processional route to the Precinct of Mut stretches out. The temple is not visible, probably because it lies in ruins. On the other side of the gate are walls of earth and debris along the sides of the stone paving. People live here in simple huts and goats are grazing the slopes.

The old Processional Route to the Precinct of Mut stretching ahead.

Closeup on the far end of the Processional Route. This is how much you can see of the Precinct of Mut from Ipet-Isut

With the Tenth pylon at the back looking towards the Ninth Pylon

Turning your back to the Tenth Pylon you can however walk through the Ninth, Eight and Sevent Pylons towards the main Amun temple. The Sed Festival Temple of Amenhotep II is situated between the Tenth and Ninth pylons, it has been reconstructed and is believed to have been situated in front of the Eight pylon originally and transferred by Horemheb. Despsite the reconstruction, it seemed rather ruined to us, with very damaged reliefs.

One of the columns in the Heb Sed Temple of Amenhotep II.
Some original color is still to be seen above a carving of Amun receiveing the King.

Then walk through the Ninth Pylon, across a wide but rather anonymous courtyard where some excavations are being done but nothing really intelligible is to be seen there yet. Proceed to the Eight pylon, which you will also find barred, but only with a rope.

The Eight pylon. The Sed Festival temple lies to the right outside the picture.

Most visitors don´t go this far and the ghaffir smiles benignly as he holds up the rope for me to climb over. This pylon is built by Hatshepsut. A much smaller court behind the Eight pylon leads to the Seventh pylon. In this court a little door is leading out to the Sacred Lake.

A corner of the Sacred Lake. In the background, the Thutmose Festival temple and the Gate of Nectanebo

The Sacred Lake seen from the far end, looking towards the First pylon.

The Seventh Pylon leads you right into the tourist crowds again. It was in this courtyard that the so called "Karnak Cachette was found in 1903. Over 90 statues and statuettes were found here. They dated mainly from the 20th Dynasty to the Ptolemaic Period and had been "stored" here by the priests when the temples got too filled with statues donated by rulers. Having no way of geting rid of these surplus statues, as they were dedicated and sacred, digging a pit and keeping them within the temple precinct was a reasonable solution. Another cachette like this, was found in the Luxor temple 1989.

The Sevent pylon. In the distance the two obelisks,
the one in the background by Thutmose i, the other by Hatshepsut.

Even closer: Sideview of the Third pylon. Behind it to the left the roof of the Hypostyle Hall can be seen.

By now the day was hot. But the Egyptians are dressed in scarfs and furlined coats and are well covered. Why is it that Western Man so loves to expose her piggy-pale body as soon as the weather gets a little bit warm? It´s not even healthy and in most cases outright ugly. It´s a misconception that you get cooler if you take off your clothes when the weather is too hot. Loose fitting clothes made from cotton protects you from the heat.

In the afternoon we walked over to the Luxor Museum. The entrance fee is now 70 LE per person. A rather steep raise since last time. Not that it isn´t worth it, the museum is fantastic and houses many wonderful treasures, no photography is allowed inside, but I can refer you here to see some examples of what´s there.

Some week later when we had done the Nile cruise, we returned to Ipet-Isut and spent another bunch of hours there. This time we started out with the Open Air Museum.