Valley of the Queens, Valley of the Kings
Trip Start
Mar 07, 2006
1
10
21
Trip End
Jun 07, 2006
Luxor,
Egypt
Monday, March 27, 2006
The first visit of the day was the massive funerary temple complex of Ramses III, Medinat Habu. The carved reliefs on the walls here were in really good condition with some still brightly painted. The reliefs themselves are a portrayal of the greatness of Ramses III, particularly in the many battles that were fought during his reign, these guys definitely had a pretty high opinion of themselves, I mean seriously, who builds themselves a temple so your subjects can worship you as a God in life and after your death.
Back on our trusty steads, mine we named Racer cos he couldn't handle anyone passing us, had to be first all the way and Tramp's Sleepy cos he would barely go above a walk without a whack on the rump!
Abdo our travel guide
! Lovely to go around on Donkey though, not just in a hot sweaty taxi. It's quite hot now, up around 35C easily so the hat and sunscreen are definitely getting a good workout. The Valley of the Queens and the Tombs of the Artists were the two highlights of our first day on the West Bank. The mountains are dramatic here, the Nile lies behind you with all it's surrounding greenery but in front is rocky, barren mountains with hidden valleys housing the many tombs this area of Luxor is famous for. The beautifully painted tombs are stunningly decorated. Some look as though they may have been painted only yesterday. The Royal Tombs adorned with pictures of the deceased being presented to the Gods along with scenes from the Book of the Dead and the Artists Tombs have family scenes and pictures of daily life. The paintings are all incredibly detailed and brilliantly coloured. An amazing experience and then the race was on amongst the donkeys to see who would be the first home.
After our day at Abydos and Dendara on 28th we arranged with Abdo, our guide from yesterday to take us to the Valley of the Kings, again by donkey. After crossing the Nile once again in one of the many small motor boats that line the banks we again had tea in his house and chatted with him and his family before setting off to the donkey yard
Painted colums, Medinat Habu, Valley of the Queens
. Racer and Sleepy weren't exactly raring to go, no change in attitude for these two. Racer was still wanting to be out in front and Sleepy would have been much happier sleeping under a tree in the shade all day. First stop Valley of the Kings, about 8km from the West Bank of the river, we rode through rural areas and small villages well away from the tourist road. The road leading into the Valley is lined on both sides by huge mountains and is an impressive sight, barren, dry and starkly beautiful.
There are over 60 tombs in the Valley but only a handful are open to the public. Some have been open since Roman times and Tutankhamen's remains the most recently discovered from 1922. Some of these tombs are massive with several chambers and passageways and all beautifully painted with scenes of the deceased in the presence of the Gods. Some of the tombs are quite large and go up to 300m through passageways into the mountains, with small rooms off the sides of the main passageway.
Once again, as seems to the be the norm, camera's are forbidden inside the tombs, unless of course you're willing to pay enough baksheesh to the guards in which case they'll turn a blind eye. We opted not to, so no piccies from inside sorry. Mass tourism here has seriously affected the quality of the paintings due to flash photography and humidity from peoples sweat and breathing down in the tombs, There are so many tour buses here they're like a flock of sheep.
On leaving the Valley we left the million tourist buses behind, jumped back on the donkeys and proceeded up the side of a very steep hill, glad we didn't have to do that one on foot
Relief of Semkhet, Goddess of Chaos, Medinat Habu
. From the top of this mountain we had the most magnificent views and best of all we were the only ones there, no other tourists which is rare in a place like Luxor. So from the top of this mountain we had a view down into the next valley which houses the magnificent and imposing Temple of Hatshepsut set up against a steep limestone cliff. Hatsepshut was the most famous of the few female Pharoh's and reigned for approximately 20 years after the death of her brother/husband until her son who she was supposed to act as co-regent with regained control in his early 20's. She opened up trade routes down into Africa and to other parts of Arabia which continued long after her detah. An awesome temple and difficult to express in words. It must have been even more amazing during her lifetime though as gardens led up to the temple and during the flood season the Nile almost reached up to the steps of the Temple, amazing. With this view laid out in front of us we also had the eclipse of the sun in progress which cast a beautiful rose glow on all the surrounding mountains. Although it was only partial here, it was still a memorable moment. One of those unforgettable places that you hear so much about but still you don't quite know what to expect before you arrive.
