This morning at breakfast we had a lovely view from the hotel rooftop of the hot air balloons floating high in the sky.
Then we headed off to a major highlight of our tour - the Valley of the Kings! Heads up, unless you pay 300 Egyptian pounds ($27ish Aussie) you can’t take photos once inside the gate, even of the mountains. I saved my money instead for monuments, but got some photos off Google to show you what it was like. Any photo of inside something on this post is not mine.
Our first stop was to the Colossi of Memnon. These are two 13m tall statues left from the tomb of Amenhotep III, the biggest found in Luxor for a tomb. Unlike most statues here, these ones were constructed out of multiple pieces of rock. Earthquakes and time mean that these statues have not fared all that well and the pieces are falling apart.
Next was Howard Carter’s House. Mudi surprised us as this wasn’t included in the itinerary, but G Adventures shouted us. We saw the house in which Howard Carter lived during his time exploring the Valley of the Kings in search of King Tut. We saw his desk, his bed, lots of photos, and much more. He was like me - we also saw a page of notes he had made on a particular day ready to be typed up on his typewriter. That’s how I write my blog! I take notes and then summarise at the end of the day.
We also saw a reconstruction of King Tut’s tomb. The attention to detail was impressive.
Then we were off to the Kings’ tombs. In the past, artisans, labourers and others lived in this complex protecting and guarding the tombs. Until a generation ago, there was even a small village there that has now been moved on to protect the nearby structures. They started to stay away from constructing pyramids after the sixth dynasty because these were like a giant beacon that screamed “THERE IS TREASURE IN HERE!” and therefore attracted thieves. In order to be more inconspicuous they began building tombs in the hidden valley here, making them underground.
It was their belief that you would be resurrected in the afterlife, and you would live in your tomb enjoying whatever you had taken in there with you. For this reason, the tombs were filled to the brim with treasures and goods (food, jewellery, small statues that would look after you etc). Most were plundered and robbed over the years. The only example of a tomb that was basically left untouched was King Tut’s tomb (more on that soon). It is said that workers who came here to carve and paint the tombs were brought here on donkeys and blindfolded so as to not know the location of the tombs and keep it secret.
At the Valley of the Kings thus far, 63 tombs have been found. Only 6 or 7 are open to the public at the one time. The tricky thing here is that obviously people want to come and check them out, but they were not designed to be opened up. They were designed to be sealed and left for all eternity. As a result, many reliefs have faded badly.
Our ticket got us into three tombs. Each tomb is assigned a KV (‘Kings’ Valley’) number, in the order in which they were found. The cliffs surrounding the valley were magnificent, and you could see so many holes and tunnels leading to lots of tombs.
The first tomb we went into was KV 11, Ramses III. It is one of the longest tombs at 188m long and was explored between 1768-1792. Originally, it was started by the pharaoh Sethnakht but was abandoned when workers hit the shaft of another tomb. Construction then recommenced for Ramses III and a corner turn was included so to not interrupt the other tomb. We descended into the tomb only to find his sarcophagus is at the Louvre!
Next up was KV 8, Merenptah, the pharaoh in Moses’ story. This one had huge high ceilings. Merenptah was Ramses II’s son (the one who constructed Abu Simbel). However, because Ramses II lived for so long (well into his 90s - an amazing feat for any time let alone back then!) Merenptah did not succeed him on the throne until he was in his 60s. A rare mistake was made by the Egyptians for this one - the outer sarcophagus apparently didn’t fit through the entry gates and they had to hack them off to get it inside. I’ll allow them one mistake - everything else has been pretty perfect!!
Then came the one I had been waiting for - KV 62 - King Tutankhamen’s tomb. This was an extra $25 Aussie, but coming here and not seeing Tut would be like visiting Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower. So I paid and went in. There weren’t many reliefs in here at all, and it is suspected that this is because King Tut died early and unexpectedly at the age of 19. It’s not 100% known how, but some people suggest he died of malaria. The headress we saw at the Egyptian Museum that was King Tut’s is believed to have been made for a woman. It is thought that it was used because he died suddenly.
After spending six seasons searching on the coin of Lord Carnarvon, Howard Carter hadn’t had any success finding King Tut’s tomb. Carnarvon was threatening to not renew his permit because nothing had been found. But luckily, Carter struck gold. On the 4th of November 1922, the first of the steps to Tut’s tomb was located. Carter called Carnarvon and got him to come back to Egypt quickly. Together they opened the tomb and unusually, found it full of what he said were “wonderful things” and not plundered. Just a few months later, Carnarvon died of blood poisoning and peneumonia.
Over 5000 items were found inside, and only 30% of them have been fully investigated. It will be fantastic when the new museum is ready in Cairo to house these and show them in the best way possible.
Many of the treasures were in messy piles in the small rooms. A few reasons have been suggested for this. 1) Tut died unexpectedly so it was all a great hurry. 2) These were placed in a messy way to dissuade thieves and make them think it wasn’t a tomb concealed behind the door/had already been plundered. 3) Because his Dad was so unpopular (Akenhaten - I mentioned at the Egyptian Museum that he changed religion to one god only and the people did not like it), Tut was buried hastily with many items left from this period to “get rid” of them.
It was well worth going in. Though small, seeing King Tut’s preserved mummy and coffin down in the tomb was incredible. I got goosebumps, it was a really great experience.
Our final tomb was KV 2, Ramses IV. His unexpected death meant that the tomb length was cut short by 89m. The colours in here were very impressive, especially a huge gold goddess on the ceiling contrasted with a royal blue background. His sarcophagus was also huge underneath this. This one in particular was “home” to Greeks, Romans, and Coptics over the years. Many of the tombs were used as “houses” by people over the years and you can see graffiti evidence of this. Fortunately, glass protectors have been put up these days.
Next we drove to the Temple of Hatshepsut. On the way we could see holes in the mountains that were the tombs of local regular people back in these times.
Hatshepsut was a much loved female pharaoh (woo - girl power!) who was a great politician and brought economic prosperity to Egypt. The people loved her. She took over from Tuthmoses III because he was just five years old when he became pharaoh. She made an agreement with a priest saying she was the daughter of the sun god and could therefore be royalty. Unfortunately for Hatshepsut, Tuthmoses III became leader of the army when he grew up, and when he was 25 he had her murdered. The people did not like this and therefore him, because Hatshepsut had been such a good Queen.
The temple was constructed in about 1450 BC and originally had a Sphinx lined walkway leading up to it like in Luxor. Its layout is similar to other temples, but because it is built into a 300m high cliff face, the levels ascend into the face itself. The result is a really dramatic, magnificent temple backed by beautiful cliffs. It was magnificent!
It was pretty warm here. I then read in my Lonely Planet book that in the summer months, this area is one of the hottest on earth. Yuck! I’m so glad I’m here in winter. We had some free time to explore and enjoyed some more colourful scenes on the walls.
Next, we went to a local family’s house for lunch. While we waited for our food, Mudi and I played with the kids of the house. I started playing a clapping game with them and ended up being mobbed by about eight kids high fiving and hugging. They were so cute and seeing the smiles on their faces when I played with them really warmed my heart. The food was the best I’ve had in Egypt by far with lots of meats and vegetables.
After lunch we had free time for the rest of the day. Nine of us (Cam, Teresa, Kristine, Harrison, Brabbyn, Nikki, Jason and myself) decided to hire the van driver we had had all day and go to the much less visited Valley of the Queens (and children). I said we should call ourselves the ANZACs (Australia, New Zealand and Canada) haha.
Our main ambition at the Valley of the Queens was to see the tomb of Nefertari, which was discovered in 1904 by an Italian explorer. She was the main wife of Ramses II (Abu Simbel constructor) and was clearly much loved and very beautiful judging by her amazing tomb. The number of visitors to this tomb is limited every day, so we crossed our fingers and toes, and it worked - we got tickets! The price tag on this tomb is insane, 1200 Egyptian pounds ($100 Aussie) per person. But as we were about to find out, it was worth it.
You know those times in life when you see something so incredible it literally takes your breath away in surprise and awe? This was one of those times. The nine of us had the tomb to ourselves, and instead of giving us the usual ten minutes inside, the guides let us stay in for 20. The vibrant colours in this tomb were absolutely stunning. We finally got an idea of what all of the temples and tombs would have looked like back in this time. I’ll let the photos do the talking, but even they don’t do it justice. My favourite part was seeing the hieroglyphics in colour with lines and details to them. It was so interesting seeing them and some of the gods in full colour. It really gave you a new perspective. Absolutely outstanding! Come and see it before it’s even more expensive, they review the prices of tourist attractions every six months apparently!
We then continued and saw three more tombs - Titi, Ramses III’s wife and then Amunherkhepshef and Kha M Waset, sons of Ramses III. We all agreed that these were in better shape colour wise than the Kings’ tombs, and this is possibly because not as many people visit. Though they were smaller tombs, having less people around made it a nicer experience. When we exited our last tomb, we were the only people left in the precinct. The touts literally chased us to our van trying to sell us things. Luckily, Ildi had taught me Arabic for “I have no money” (which phonetically is “ma fish faloose”. It was true because after paying for Nefertari’s tomb I was cleared out!!
We headed to Luxor Temple as the sun was setting and enjoyed the way the light played on the temple. This was our final temple, and to be honest, I am a little templed out!! Haha. There was a mosque built in the middle of this one though. And when the call to prayer came over it was a really interesting juxtaposition of Egypt's past and present.
Tonight we had our final Egyptian dinner. Tomorrow, we fly to Cairo and have a huge layover before flying to Amman in Jordan. G Adventures have organised a free van to take us into the city to fill in the day. I’ve found a palace I haven’t seen that I think I’ll go to.
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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