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Last stop was the Ramses IX tomb. This tomb was also decorated in the colorful style of the first tomb, although it was smaller. We didn't take any pictures of this one, as we were still a little shaken from our last experience :) Outside of this tomb was the famous tomb of King Tut. Unfortunately, they were charging a large additional fee, on top of the normal entrance fee, to get inside. We were running out of the money we had brought, and heard that it wasn't any different than any of the other tombs, so we didn't choose to go inside. Besides, we had already seen the major pieces of treasure that were once inside the tomb while visiting the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
Day 83 - Luxor < | Index | Photo Galleries | > Day 85 - Luxor and Wrapping up Egypt © 2007 Blue Ocean Studios, LTD. All rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Services | About | Contact Prints | Return Policy | View Cart World Travel Galleries | World Travel Blog | Links |
As Mario was still feeling a little sick, we had a slow start this morning. About noon, we headed out for the West Bank of the Nile, to the Valley of the Kings. We hired the taxi driver who brought us from the train station yesterday, to bring us on a 4 hour tour of the valleys. All this for only $12. We drove through the streets of Luxor and then crossed the Nile and headed West out into the sandstone hills. The Nile River is an amazing river, delivering water to most of Egypt's population. You can find narrow strips of farmland on either side, which abruptly end in sand. I cannot imagine these people would be able to survive without the Nile. What is sad is the sanitation conditions of the canals which bring the water from the nile - they are green troughs, where we've seen people literally sweep the garbage and dirt into (almost unbelivable). This water is used to irrigate the fields - amazing (easy to get sick here :)).
We headed into the Valley of the Kings, and I felt like we were in the Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom movie :) Rugged sandstone hills were on both sides of us, with no vegetation in sight, and you could sometimes spot a Bedouin (desert person) standing alone on top of the hill. The Valley of the Kings has more than 60 tombs of kings from the 18th and 19th dynasties. With the entrance fee ($10pp), you can choose any 3 tombs (from the tombs that are open for viewing) to visit. We talked with a tour guide on the way in, who suggested Ramses III, IV, IX, and Thutmosis III. Our first stop was the tomb of Ramses III. This was a very large tomb cut deep into the sandstone cliffs. As we entered, we immediately noticed that these tombs were very well preserved compared to those we saw in Cairo. Most of the hieroglyphs still had their original coloring, and were much larger than we had seen before. There was a Bedouin "security guard" (not sure if he works for the park or not) inside, who showed us around a little bit, and he motioned that we could snap a few pictures if we hurried! (No pictures allowed in the tombs) We took a few quickly, thanked him and gave him a tip. Surprisingly, the hieroglyphs in many of the tombs were actually behind glass - wow - they're actually thinking about keeping these preserved!
Next, we went into the Thutmosis III tomb, deeper in the valley. This tomb is different from the Ramses tombs, as it is a little further from the main path, and the drawings inside are in a different style. Thutmosis III ruled Egypt from 1504 to 1450 B.C. The drawings inside were noticably different - very small, fewer colors, and seeming painted on instead of carved into the stone and then painted. Many of the figures were more stick figure type instead of lifelike. Mario took 2 pictures in here, as we had seen a sign that said no flash photography (we weren't using a flash). A Bedouin man was inside and he grabbed the camera lens and wouldn't let it go, as he told us we could pay him or he would take us outside to the police! We didn't want to start trying to explain flash vs. non-flash photography, so we had to give him 10 EP (<$2) so we could go. 
Leaving the Valley of the Kings, we stopped at the Deir el Bahri, a large temple complex made for Queen Hatshepsut. The large temple backs up to a huge sandstone cliff, and it is a very impressive sight. It is lined by many columns, each which used to have a large statue in front of it. Many of the statues are still intact, as are the hieroglyphs on the inside walls. 
We opted not to visit the Valley of the Queens, as the most famous tomb of Queen Nefertari, was closed to individual travelers, as the group tours take up all of the tickets (and it is very very expensive). Instead, we stopped at the , which is alongside the main road. The Colossi is two enormous statues, with a view of the cliffs and villages behind. These statues were larger than any we have seen, but are unfortunatley not in the best condition. 
Back at the hotel, we rested for an hour before beginning our next adventure. We had arranged with our driver to have his friend take us out for a felucca (sailboat) ride for 1 hour at sunset along the Nile. The boat ride turned out to be somewhat of a bust, as there wasn't any wind! Our boat captains tried to take us out anyway, and after paddling us out into the middle of the Nile with their oars, they stopped and began to whistle loudly. We were wondering if this is some kind of SOS signal??! A large ferry boat came motoring over, and sure enough, our captain threw him a rope. Soon, we were being pulled behind the noisy ferry with its exhaust fumes blowing in our face - not exactly the peaceful felluca ride we were looking for! Even crazier is that we passed another stranded felluca, who threw us a rope and then we had 2 fellucas towing behind the ferry! :) At least some other unlucky tourists were in the same situation as us. After about 20 minutes of our "cruise" up the river, we unattached from the ferry, and drifted back down towards where we started. The sun was now set and the mosquitos came out in full force - so bad that we had to use our "emergency" DEET that was in the camera bag! West Nile virus anyone? Should we feel any safer on the East side of the Nile? :)
Our driver was waiting for us at the docks and we had him drop us off at a popular tourist restaurant in town. We are hoping that because it was popular, it means that we won't get sick! I guess we'll be finding out soon enough... The food was OK, but nothing special. It was the cheapest - hopefully that's not a bad sign (Mario had pasta for $1 !) Afterwards, we hopped in one of the many horse and carriages, for a $4.50 ride back to our hotel. It was a nice to take a relaxing ride after being in the taxi all day. 
