A full day finished by 1130 hrs.

Luxor 2 a full day finished by 1130
In the van at 0630 and onto the Valley of the Kings. It was an hour’s drive away as the bridges across the Nile are spaced 20kms apart, so had to head South and then back North. Arriving at 0830 the temperature had already jumped a few degrees. We were ready to start the Tombs – the first one was Ramses III – King Tut. As with all of the tombs we looked at there was a long downward walkway decorated with carvings. Some tombs, those that had been worked on for many years were more elaborate but we didn’t see any of those.

The next tomb was Ramses I. This Pharoh started the dynasty and his tomb was a bit more elaborate than his son’s and had a longer passageway and side rooms. The interesting backstory to this was that the tomb had been exposed for years and looted by robbers for years but his Mummy (sarcophagus not Mother!) turned up in later years and returned to Egypt in 2003.

The last tomb we saw in the Valley of the Kings was that of Ramses IV, the reason we were shown this one was because this tomb had been used by Christians over the ages and Coptic graffiti was all over the walls. His tomb was an elaborate one also.

Leaving the Valley of the Kings we moved onto Medinet Habu, this was a large complex dedicated to religion. First a Temple for the Pharohs and then when the Romans came it was

used by the Christians. It fell into disuse and the locals moved in and in the late 1800s villagers were moved out and restoration began. The restored columns were especially colourful.

The last place we went and we were all feeling the effects of the 40C heat and it was only 1100 am by then, was the Temple of Hatshepsut, a female Pharoh. This edifice was different in that the complex was carved from the mountain and not underground. [/caption]We did not stay long and moved on to lunch. A full lunch for five and it only cost $48cdn (1100 EGP).

Back to the hotel for ‘happy hour’ and the A/C in the room.

 

 

 

 

A few pics from the Tomb