Around the World with Marsha & Joel

A beautiful day to head to the West Bank of the Nile toward the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens. Our bus left Luxor going south and crossed a bridge over the Nile about 6 km south. We went from the hustle and bustle of Luxor out into the comparitively lush countryside.

The landscape turned green, not a prevalent color in Egypt (at least on our journey), with irrigation ditches running from the Nile feeding fields of sugar cane, with palms dotting the distance. It didn’t last long as we headed further west toward a brown, mountainous horizon.

It only took a few minutes to start encroaching on the Valley of the Kings with our first stop at the Colossi of Memnon (as the Greeks called him) but built for Pharaoh Amenhotep III. It’s the largest of all the funerary temples on the west bank. As we drove past its length, we could see hundreds of stones being unearthed as part of the continuing excavation.

Entering the Valley of the Kings is like stepping into a real moonscape; away from civilization, in a desert-dry, virtually uninhabitable place. It has been the site of royal burials since 2100 BC. But it was the Pharaohs of the New Kingdom (1550-1069) who chose this isolated valley, named the “Place of Truth”.

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The valley, under the pyramid-shaped mountain, Al Qurn (the Horn), is a series of tombs of many of the great Pharaohs. Above is the entrance to the tomb of Ramses III.

Photography is restricted, and in many cases forbidden in the tombs interiors, but we were able to get a few shots here to show the amazingly preserved, original color, glyphs and art. It was hard to believe these were not restorations.

The story of the discovery of King Tut’s tomb and all its treasures far outshines the reality of this small tomb of a short-lived Pharaoh. Although later, in the Cairo Museum, we were treated to those transported wonders. We explored several other rather claustrophobic, “watch your head” tombs with their wondrously preserved art, and got a few minutes rest in the only shade around on this 80 degree day (don’t attempt this in the summer).

Then off to the Temple of Hatshepsut with it’s back to the hill that contains the Valley of the Kings.

The Temple of Hatshepsut

This was a shocker. As we got off the bus we just saw a formation of monumental hills. As our eyes focused in, we saw what we thought a modern structure at the base of the cliffs. Nope. This was the beautifully restored and preserved Temple of Hatshepsut.

As we approached, saw the remnants of the Sphinx-lined causeway leading to the decidedly not modern Temple colonnade. It is certainly one of Egypt’s finest monuments. And, that’s saying a lot.

Part of the inner court and chambers behind the colonnade were a celebration of a Sun cult that once apparently worshiped there. You can also see where hundreds of excavaterd stones are laid out, numbered and almost ready for placement in the ongoing restoration.

What a great way to end a visit we’ll never forget. Now back to modern Luxor for a tour of the “modern” city and its local market.

Luxor View by Horse-Drawn Carriage

We’ll let the photos speak for themselves. You’ll see the local market, a school, a christian church, the train station, city streets, and the beautiful Temple of Luxor as the evening falls.

So another spectacular day ends as our carriage drops us off at the hotel. We found a wonderful Lebanese restaurant at the hotel next door last night, so we decide to take a real chance this evening at the sushi place (yes sushi in Luxor, Egypt) at our hotel. Let me say, meh, and hope it’s just, meh as we have the Luxor museum and most of the day free for exploration tomorrow. If we’re not down by 8:30, just head off on your own…and we’ll see you later.

While getting ready for a very important, and busy day, we took a look out our cabin window and saw the balloon tours lifting off to view the Nile and the Valleys of the Kings and Queens over on the west bank. We were docked on the east bank of Luxor, and would stay on the east today to explore the open-air museum of Karnak, and later the Luxor Temple and museums.

Karnak

It was a short bus ride to the expansive Temple of Karnak, an amazing complex of kiosks, pylons, sanctuaries and obelisks. The site covers 2 square kilometers. The Temple of Amun was the earthly home of the local god. This was the most important place of worship in Egypt during the New Kingdom.

The Temple of Amun-Ra dominates the complex with its hypostyle wall; a forest of papyrus-shaped columns.

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Entering the Amun Temple. Amun-Ra was the local god of Karnak. This temple reflected his status. The temple owned 65 cities, 83 ships, 421,000 head of cattle, and had 81,000 people working for it.

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Luxor Temple

Early in the evening, we made our way to one of the highlights of the trip, the Luxor Temple complex. The amazingly preserved, expansive complex is carefully lighted at night to provide an entirely new and different perspective – almost feeling as though you are there when it was in its full glory. The darkness outside isolates the site, and the light gives life and depth to the columns, reliefs and glyphs. It’s jammed full of local families and tourists, but large enough to accomodate all.

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Feeling totally immersed, heads expanding with new facts, we made our way back to the boat to expand our bellies – again. And, speaking of bellies, treated to a belly dance show that featured an elaborately costumed young man who spun without pausing on his own axis, in one direction, for close to 10 minutes, creating shapes with his own costume and props. Several audience members fell over, totally dizzy from watching, while the performer simply stopped, bowed, and walked away in a very straight line. Huh?

We hurried to get some rest in anticipation of our trip to the West bank tomorrow to visit the Valley of the Kings, and the Valley of the Queens. It looks like it’ll be another beautiful, cloudless day, in the upper 70s. Wear your shorts. Good night.