What we saw today - the tombs in the Valley of the Kings, Queen Hatshepsut's mortuary temple and Karnak temple - astonished us, and was without doubt the most impressive sights we have seen on this trip. I am still processing all that we saw. First of all we made the right decision to come into Luxor the night before as it allowed us to see as much as possible of the ancient sights, and it allowed us to get an early start at 7:30 am. before the heat of the day completely sapped our strength. I had made the foolish comment that dry heat would be easier to handle than humidity. Not so. By noon, I actually felt sick, and thought I might pass out as we were leaving Karnak temple, so dehydrated was I, and my head was pounding. We were drinking as fast and furiously as we could, which was the only antidote.
I will confess that in spite of our guide doing a superb job of telling us the history of all that we saw, we were seeing so much history which was 5000 years old, and he was telling us about it in such minute detail, that after awhile it all began to blur. We had to buy a book so that we could put it all into context when we returned home. We had thought we were so smart to have watched a documentary on Egypt before we came - which helped for sure- but given we don't really study this in school, and given the fact that the rulers kept using the same names for themselves (there were 7 Cleopatra's and only the last one is the one we know about; and many Ramses Pharaohs), and the absolutely staggering scale of what they built, we just couldn't absorb it all and make sense of it.
What can I tell you? The Valley of the Kings is the site chosen by the later Pharohs to build their tombs so that grave robbers would not be able to identify where they lay. The pyramids had been the tombs of the early Pharaohs and their contents had quickly disappeared. The Egyptians believed in the life hereafter. They only knew Egypt and so their construct of the universe was based on the fact that the sun which they worshipped, rose every day and set every night and, they determined, must after setting go under the earth to a river where a great battle took place with the underground devils only to rise successfully each morning. As each Pharaoh came to power, the construction of his tomb began, and depending on his lifespan, it would either be finished before his death, or not, and then work on the new Pharoh's tomb would begin. There is a geologically formed pyramid in the mountains at the top of the Valley of the Kings that foretells the choice of location, but the rock that was dug out of the tombs was used to "entomb" the tomb and disguise it's location, so the discovery of this area took centuries. The only intact tomb to this day, remains that of Tutenkamen.
This UNESCO world heritage site, forbids the use of cameras, presumably to protect the tombs, and we left them on the bus, as we proceeded into the area. The number of visitors per day, into each tomb is also tightly controlled. At 8 a.m. it was already hot. One just cannot comprehend how the construction and artwork of these tombs took place in this heat and in this desolate area - for there is not one green living thing here. We visited tombs, each one chosen to show either a completed one, an unfinished one, and in the case of Ramses III, one that had, during it's construction, run into another tomb and had to detour around it. It is quite cool inside the mountain, and each tomb is constructed the same, with a long tunnel that goes deep into the mountain. The walls and ceilings are finished smooth, unless of course incomplete, and covered every inch in hieroglyphics which do not tell a story, but instead tell the gods, why they should grant eternity to the Pharoh. The coloured paints remain more noticeably on the ceilings - which are painted a deep cobalt blue with white stars, and the ochre, blues yellows are still evident in most. The splendour of these tombs in their original state, must have been breathtaking, and it is startling to see them so untouched and preserved after thousands of years. The skills of the artists who carved the details of the hieroglyphics so many centuries ago, is on display for all of us to see, so perfectly imagined and executed. They foreshadowed the temples we would see later in the day. Each tomb entry corridor eventually led to where the tomb was and only in the first one, was the tomb intact. It was a very large carved stone coffin, with a lid in a domed room.
A side note here - we had been warned not to engage in any way with the hawkers who the guide described as persistent. That is putting it mildly. He said don't make any eye contact or even talk to them, or it will impede us seeing the tombs and no means maybe. These poor people are the most aggressive hawkers we have met yet - and boy do they get in your face, even when you don't look at them. I, personally, have a very difficult time, not interacting with them, as if they are inhuman, but we all took his advice.
Off to a photo stop at the Temple of Hachepsut, the only female Pharoh in history. This building, carved into the mountain actually stuns you when you see it at first as it is so modern looking and it looks like it could be used today. It is magnificent. Then we went to Habu Temple, followed by a photo stop at the Colossi of Memnon (where you can see Barry standing by one of the two statues for size reference). The major feature was the Karnak Temple which was under construction for over 2000 years - each Pharaoh adding his own imprint, and finally even the Christians got in the act.
By this point, we were having a very difficult time integrating the sheer scale of what was constructed here since 3000 BC. First of all that it exists in its present state is a wonder. Secondly, the difficulty of building these immense temples in this desert climate, where we were exhausted from just walking. The art work, like any art work, once you exam the details reveals both the extremely great talent of some, and the mediocrity of others, but when viewed holistically, it is just amazing. I have tried to show the details in some close ups.
At this point we returned to our hotel, where I showered, checked out and had another wonderful buffet lunch. At 3:30 we went to the Luxor Temple, and then to a Papyrus Factory. I pride myself on being able to absorb a fair bit of data, and to be able to spout it back, but I will confess that this day challenged me. We took a faster route home to the ship and arrived back after 8 p.m., exhausted, but exhilarated. At the port entrance were about 400 men, with all their worldly goods, sitting on the streets, waiting to catch the ferry docked behind our ship, to go across the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia for work.
Over dinner we heard stories from our friends that had to bribe the port security guard to gain entrance with their taxi, because he said it closed at 3 pm ( we left at 11 pm.) and he was going to make them walk the very long way in the dark, and another friend whose taxi driver abused them, when he changed his agreed price mid route, ( out in the desert - 3 women and him), and she eventually got him back to the ship, and had our security deal with him, but not without a great deal of difficulty. This corruption and frankly desperation is prevalent all over the country.
We were relieved to have gotten back safely, and to have witnessed the marvel of what we saw in Luxor, but we were not alone, among our friends, in saying of all the countries we have visited on this cruise, this one left us feeling the saddest for the people.
We are not done with Egypt - as tomorrow we have a brief stop in Sharm el Sheik, the luxury sea resort across the Red Sea by 75 km.
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