Breakfast is
fantastic. We sit in a garden area with tiny song birds twittering and I would
presume bickering
When the couple
moved from the table set for them to another, the guy explained to the waiter,
“Too much bird action.”
over bread crumbs. The one other couple having breakfast was
of mixed race, both in their early 40s, she Chinese and he, white American. He's reading an English guidebook, she, a Mandarin one, which is their spoken language of choice.
The breakfast is
delicious. Of particular note is the fruit cocktail, all fresh with the unusual
addition of lemon peels and, rose water. We’re going to be sorry to leave this place. It’s almost empty however, when
Nicola checked with Booking.com for another night, she discovered it full.
Our driver yesterday
asked that we request him again for today. It’s what all the drivers say, taxi and
 |
Steps to tomb which we find closed
after climbing |
otherwise, but this guy was particularly good. So, we make arrangements with
the man at reception for a taxi to take us to our new hotel and then, the Valley of the Kings and the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut. The desk clerk phoned the same agency as the previous day but we get a
different driver. Bummer. This is an older gentleman in a robe who speaks
competent English but not so eager to please. (Or please at all.)
We drop off our bags
at the Luxor Guesthouse. Ahmed, one of the owners meets us at the gate to his
compound and says that he will take our bags to the room. We can look at the
room now or later. We choose the latter.
The Valley of the
Kings is amazing. They’re all located in a desolate valley not far from the
city of Luxor, or what would have been the ancient city of Thebes. The kings of
the Third or last Kingdom preferred to hide their remains rather than announce
them with giant pyramids like those built by Khufu and his son Khafra in Giza.
Kings like Tuthmosis I and Ramses II realized that the tombs of their ancestors
had been raided and they didn't want the same to happen to theirs. So, they hid
them among the desolate cliffs just west of Thebes.
When we enter the tombs, we must descend numerous steps, sometimes almost bent in half to make our way through a low
passage. However, the actual burial site, the area where the king's sarcophagus
and items
 |
| Pharaoh's sarcophagus |
for the afterlife are always spacious, some huge such as that Ramses
II. Unfortunately, all the tombs recommended by our guidebook "Lonely Planet for Egypt" were
closed.
Of interest in the
tombs were the paintings and carvings on the wall. Some still had vibrant
colours and the carvings still distinct. Others were faded or had been
chiselled out. We saw lots of images: of Anabis represented by a jackal who's the
god of mummification and watches over the dead; Thoth, the god of wisdom and founder of
writing often seen with a pen and papyrus paper; Maat, the goddess of truth who plays a big part in the judgement of
the dead: Horus, a falcon and symbol of the kingdom of all Egypt; and the sun
god Ra, represented by a falcon headed man with a sun disc on his head wrapped
in a cobra. The significance of all these figures and their legends are all
very
 |
| Tomb entranceway |
complicated. Suffice it to say, they were meant to protect and guide the
dead in the afterlife.
We take a short
drive to the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut. From a distance, it's architecture
looks like something that could have been built in the twentieth century.
Unfortunately, the inside is mostly closed off, the sculptures removed or damaged and the carvings in the walls, also damaged.
Breakfast is
fantastic. We sit in a garden area with tiny song birds twittering and I would
presume bickering When the couple
moved from the table set for them to another, the guy explained to the waiter,
“Too much bird action.”
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