Early rising this morning, but we had lots of rest and are ready to go to before our 5:30 wake up call. And as a bonus – we are treated to a beautiful view of balloons being launched on the West Bank of the Nile. There are tons of them! Now I know what the guys who were paying their bill at the same time we were last night were doing this morning – because they asked for a breakfast box. Makes sense coz they must have had to leave the hotel at 5am! And we thought we were early birds.
We’re ready for breakfast as soon as they open at 6, and what a breakfast! That buffet was just an embarrassment of riches! Anything and everything you could ever want was available – if we were staying here another day, I’d say we’d come back here for brunch instead of breakfast! But as it is, we are here for sustenance before we begin our tour at 6:45.
Amr and Achmed are out front early – as usual – and we are on the road in a jiffy. It takes about 30 minutes to get over to the other side of the Nile because there is only one bridge across the to West Bank. There is a security check here too where Achmed is asked where we are from and where we are going today. Sort of creepy weird, but it’s better than having to have an armed caravan all the time. As we are approaching our first stop, we go right past the launching area for the hot air balloons and get to see them up close. Really pretty – but no way, no how would we ever do that! Yikes. They can hold 26 people, and well, that isn’t a positive to us! Amr agrees, he’s never been in one and doesn’t plan to, even though one of his daughters keeps asking him to take her!
A few minutes later we arrive at the Colossi of Memnon – two giant statues of Amenhotep III in the middle of a field. Amr tells us there used to be temple here behind the statues but is all gone now and only the statues remain. Makes for a better sight actually – just these massive things standing there all alone with the Valley of the Kings mountain in the background. The statues themselves are pieced together, they weren’t found whole, but that makes them even more incredible! Like a giant 3-D jigsaw puzzle! There is even the little Queen on the left side by the King’s leg. There are a couple of other statues in the background – one of which is only a piece of a leg and a hand. Can you imagine finding that when you are excavating for a building or something?
Back in the car we head toward the Valley of the Kings, passing the limestone mountains with all the tombs and caves cut out. Some are actual tombs, some are just explorations that turned up nothing. But there are a ton of them all over, dotting the hillsides.
As we approach the Valley of the Kings, Amr gives us the some history and explains that the location was chosen for a number of reasons: The limestone was easy to cut into for tombs; the site is away from city; the location is high enough that floods didn’t affect the tombs; and the mountain above the valley is in shape of pyramid (I think that was the biggest selling point!). The reason why this complex, if you want to call it that, was developed is that the Kings realized that the Pyramids were not sufficient to protect their ancestors’ tombs, bodies and funerary objects. Tomb raiders consistently broke into the pyramids and stole everything they could. The Kings wanted to hide their tombs away from grave robbers, and when King Thutmosis chose this area for his tomb, others began to follow.
Inside the Visitors Center, we quickly look at a scale reproduction of the Valley. It is really cool with the all the tomb entrances marked out on the top of the model, and then models of the actual tomb rooms and corridors underneath. Really fabulous conceptual idea! There are a total of 62 tombs (that have been found, that is) and we are going to see 4 of them.
We start off with Ramesses IV tomb which is supposed to be the most impressive of all the tombs, being discovered as early as 1737. Three 3 groups of artists worked on the decorations inside the tomb and because they were working during a time of peace, without any wars, they had plenty of time to finish. The painting and carvings are amazing – they are still so vibrant and bright. With all sorts of scenes of the Book of Caverns, Book of the Dead and Book of Gates. There are cartouches of the king’s names and winged scarabs and hovering vultures (who protected the royals) – still so vibrant and bright – and these are original, not restored!
The hieroglyphics are beautiful and intricate and so well done. It is just so hard to wrap your mind around the fact that these were all done around 1160 BC.
There is also a burial chamber with a huge stone tomb there. The ceiling in the burial chamber depicts the Book of Heaven (makes sense!).
Because we are here so early, we are managing to skirt most of the crowds. But, we still weren’t early enough to avoid them completely. Take for example this particular tomb. It was at the front of the complex, and a popular visit, so most people went here first, making it jammed with dumb tourons who don’t know how to snap a picture and hold up the whole line. Jeez just push the damn button! They also just stand around like a deer in the headlights. At the end of Ramesses IV tomb is a dead end that opens up onto an anteroom and the people jammed the walkway coming from both sides and then couldn’t figure out how to get out of the way or move to keep the traffic flow going. Ugh. Otherwise – it was an amazing tomb!
The next tomb was Rameses IX, which was equally amazing, this time more for the carvings than the colors. The detail that remains of these things blows your mind. This tomb is newer – haha – relatively speaking – it dates from around 1120 BC! The walls hold a lot of the same scenes – the Book of Caverns and the Book of the Dead, but also a lot of representations of the kings themselves. Plus of course the vultures flying overhead on the ceiling and the tops of gate-like structures.
There were also a lot of snakes – cobras representing royalty and divinity – in this tomb. Plus some more fabulous cartouches and a great carving of the King on his boat – Kings were always transported on their boats – and were carried through their kingdom over land in their boats.
There are also lots of King and Queen carvings, the Jackal headed god and protecting monkeys. Such detail.
At the end of this particular passage tomb, there is another burial chamber down a steep set of stairs that is off-limits to visitors. A “guard” guy is there and he will you’re your camera down the steps to take photos of the tomb – for a cost of course! I’m not doing that, but I do try to get a few snapshots, risking my life by kneeling down to get a shot down low.
Risking my life because it is a massive bottleneck back here because it is in a little alcove at the end of the passageway. One way in, one way out. Thus, it is 8 people deep trying to push their way into the alcove. I managed to get in, get my pictures and then couldn’t get out for the life of me! I mean honestly – if you want to come in to see this, you have to let people out – which means me! I finally had to literally shove my way out, getting nasty looks from idiots who couldn’t figure out that if they don’t let me out – they ain’t getting in! Ack.
We beat feet out of there – snapping as many photos on the way out as we could.
Once outside we headed toward King Tut’s tomb – our extra cost included ticket (most tours don’t include this tomb). We’re lucky here, it isn’t that crowded (probably because of the extra cost!) and we can spend as much time as we want without feeling crushed or pressured. This is the smallest tomb in the complex, which is weird, because it was also the one that held the most treasure. It was found in 1922, hidden under Ramsesses IV’s tomb. While all them main artifacts (the sarcophagus, the famous mummy forms and mask plus additional treasures) have all been removed to be displayed in the Cairo museum (what wasn’t looted that is), but the mummy and coffin still remain. King TuTankhamun died very young, and when you walk into the chamber that holds his mummy you can tell – he is teeny. His little feet are just tiny!
In the room next to King Tut’s mummy is one of the sarcophagus – a huge gorgeous carved stone affair, carved with protective figures of goddesses and surrounded by even more gorgeous paintings. One wall depicts the funeral procession, including King Tut’s mummy being dragged by high officials.
One wall shows King Tut’s successor with a leopard skin and King Tut standing before the Goddess Nut who is welcoming him to his tomb.
Another wall displays 4 baboons in 3 rows, representing the 12 hours of night with standing gods and the sun barque above them with the scarab.
The final wall, which you can’t see very well because it is in an awkward position from the railing that keeps visitors away from the tomb, depicts King Tut standing between the Jackal-headed God Anubis and the Goddess Hathor who is giving him an ankh, the symbol of life.
Totally awesome! Meeting Amr outside the tomb – in the shade of course! (Guides aren’t allowed inside the tombs, because of the additional carbon dioxide they would produce which hurts the paintings – but it is also probably because there is no way a guide could narrate inside these tombs, it would create a bottleneck to end all bottlenecks and it is bad enough in there already!) Here we exclaim over what a fabulous tomb and all the symbolism, etc. We have one more tomb to visit – Amr gives us a choice of steep steps and beautiful colors or long steep steps and beautiful carvings. We choose the colors and head off to Ramesses I tomb.
Amr is correct – these stairs are steep! And we are way down deep in the ground but with hardly anyone here. The tomb is indeed colorful with incredibly vibrant paintings. The tomb is actually unfinished because the king died after only 2 years of rule. But boy, what they did during those 2 years!
His sarcophagus is still down there, carved with 2 protective goddesses. As well as paintings of the King making an offering to God Nefertum and the King on his Barque. Plus the King with God Osiris and so much more. It is beautiful.
And to make it even better, one of the guards down there lit up these little alcoves for us to see, then took tons of pictures of the two of us – for money of course. We gave him 2 bucks and he was so happy. As were we, well worth the investment!
Meeting back up with Amr, we buy a package of photos with a CD of explanations and more photos as a souvenir (and to remind us of what we have seen), then hop in the little golf cart like trolleys that take us back to the entrance. We navigate through the stalls of the market at the entrance, stopping at #46 to buy a book on the Valley of Kings from the vendor we promised at the start of our visit, and we’re off to the other side of the mountain and the Valley of the Queens, otherwise known as Hatshepsut Temple for Queen Hatsheput who had it built.
This tomb/complex was wholly different from the Valley of the Kings. Built into the side of the limestone mountain on the exact opposite side from the kings, it’s massive with 3 stories and pillared with huge figurines. The architect promised the queen he would build her a tomb like no other in the land and he did. Built for the wives of the Pharoahs, it was also used for nobles and other members of the royal families. Over 90 tombs were initially found here.
I read somewhere that it is an unimpressive place, but we would have to thoroughly disagree with that statement. Driving up to the tomb – or I’d even call it a palace – it is totally impressive. Three stories of columned building in the middle of the desert looking regal and completely out of place in the vast nothingness here! I mean just look at that façade!
Walking up to the building, we can see statues of some Kings near the pillars, but not the Queen for which the place was built. Apparently there used to be statues of the queen as well but they’ve been destroyed, probably by the stepson who hated her.
The first place we visit is the little chapel on the side with paintings and carvings of the King and the Queen. But here again, the stepson has chiseled out all the Queen’s images. Brutal! Don’t get on his bad side! Wow and they say hell hath no fury as a woman’s scorn! Whoever coined that phrase never met this guy!
Next we troop over to the other side of the tomb to the chapel with carvings of the bull feeding the queen – I think, I can’t remember the story now – and then other carvings and fresco paintings of cartouches and the populace picking wheat (which I think meant the valley was fertile) and a beautiful deep blue ceiling and huge carvings of a goddess on the top of some columns.
Next we walk through a little portico area with carvings and paintings of the wheat harvest with huge wheat stalks – again I think signifying how much the valley produced. On the way out and up to the upper floors, we stop next to the grumpy falcon. It is said he was grumpy because he fought with his father for 100 years before he could take over the throne. I’d be grumpy too!
Amr then leaves us on our own to wander through the upper chapels with lots of carvings and cartouches and stories. Again, here, everywhere, the Queen is chiseled out. Look at any of these photos and you will see the King (you can recognize him with the 2 long feathers atop his head) and other beautifully painted and carved figures – but anywhere you see a cut out section, it is the Queen. Still, what remains is amazing.
We wander through the courtyard and the different chapels with stone parapets and carved walls, and tons and tons and tons of carvings and painting. The colors! Amazing – and I know I’m saying that too much, but I don’t know how else to describe it!
When we’ve finally had our fill, we head back out to find Amr, taking a few pictures of the remaining King and God figures still adorning the pillars as well as the long shots down the desert across the ruins of other rooms that have been destroyed and lost, the sphinx (who I adore!) and then the ruins of the original gates.
Back in the car – Whale Travel no less!! – we head to our “shopping” stops. Amr reiterates that we do not have to buy anything, and we don’t even have to go, but what the heck – we’re still way early for lunch, so might as well fill the time. Our first stop is the Alabaster showroom, where the guys making the alabaster (yeah right!) put on a little performance explaining how they “make” the pieces we will see inside, which is sweet and funny! Once done, we are escorted inside to look at all the things they have there – which are all gorgeous and cool but we really don’t need. We decide that maybe we could manage a candle holder and actually pick one out. But when it comes time to negotiate, Ed goes to the bathroom and I ask the price. They guy starts at 20,000,000 (yes, you read that right, 20 million!) Egyptian – which is like $64,000 USD. I’m so stunned I tell him I don’t even know how to negotiate off of that! And he doesn’t offer a 2nd or anything! I guess I should have said, oh yeah, I’m thinking 200 Egyptian ($6USD) and started it off, but I didn’t and, well, that was that! Not a big deal, really. We didn’t need it and don’t know where we’d put it anyway, so…..all was well.
The 2nd stop was at a woman’s weaving place where they were making scarves and shirts and dresses. All really lovely, but again, nothing we need. By now Amr has figured out that we aren’t buying and we should probably go to lunch. But, it is still too early for lunch – because we are speed tourists! That got a laugh out of Amr. But honestly – it just lets him get home faster and we’re quite happy!!!
So it is off the restaurant we go – passing an ubiquitous donkey cart hauling clover, back past the Memnon statues and to this really nice little place on the 2nd floor of a building – where, because it is so early, we are the only people there and we need to wait 20 minutes before they can even begin to think about serving us! LOL.
The wait was worth it. The food was awesome – chicken and beef tagine with an awesome little salad and marinated fried eggplant that we will make when we get home. Plus a ton of pita and these great Strawberry and Mango juice drinks (extra cost of course! But oh so worth it! If only we could get mango in the States like this!).
And then we are done. And back in the car, retracing our steps across the Nile on the one and only bridge, back down the East Side of the Nile, dropping off Amr – because Achmed is driving us back to the ship alone – going to get gas (always important) and Achmed stopping and buying us beer for the road as a gift from him! Too sweet. Of course he did that because he wants some too – um – ok – is that really a good idea? Coz once we are out on the road, he drives like he thinks he’s Barney Oldfield. Or in current times Helio Castronoves! He is whipping down these desert roads like nobody’s business!!! Average speed? 140kph. Kid you not! If we didn’t trust him so much, we’d be petrified. Although he did get into a little skirmish with a van driver that I completely missed, Ed watched. Achmed backed off, which I guess was fortunate because Ed said it was getting ugly! Well, you know…..Egyptian drivers and all that!
We stopped at a rest area for Achmed to get more coffee (yeah, after the beer!! Of course we only gave him a little then drank the rest of the BIG bottles really quickly so there was none left to share – LOL) and we bought some snacks that were super expensive – but it was the last of our Egyptian money, so we figured, what the heck. Ed also had broken his sunglasses, we managed to buy a cool looking pair for $5 USD. The guy was a hard negotiator, and we didn’t think we’d get them for that – and as a matter of fact, we think he had this whole discussion with Achmed (in Egyptian of course, so we can’t be sure) telling him he wasn’t going to get a commission coz we were so cheap! Well, you know, we are!
The rest of the ride was completely uneventful – just desert kilometer after desert kilometer. Achmed manages to even drive us into the port and deposit us right at the port building which is perfect. A perfect end to a fabulous 2 days in Luxor. It’s been a blast! And we are so glad we did it this way and not try to fit everything into one day. Totally perfect!
We are so early – we can start our normal routine of gym, Mark and sunset bar drinks, then show in the room – why would we go back to the theater with the hacking and coughing and crowding? The cabin is fabulous to watch these shows.
There was supposed to be a belly dancing show put on by local performers at 5:15, but the Egyptian immigration officials wouldn’t let them board the ship. Such jerks. Sometimes….but, hey, what can you do? Smile and sail away is what you do, and that is exactly what we did, into a beautifully gorgeous night. Perfect.
Andiamo 