With our Nile river cruise over we board a minivan and are
whisked away to Luxor via the worst truck
stop we’ve ever seen. I won’t go into details except that it left mental
scarring. Before we went into Luxor properly we went to visit an animal rescue
and shelter that is supported by Intrepids charity arm. ACE (Animal Care Egypt)
in Luxor takes in sick and injured animals then nurses and treats them back to
health or if need be humanely puts them to sleep, all for free. Here we learned
about the huge ignorance in the community of animal care basics and the horrible
injuries animals sustain in their day to day lives. For instance did you know
if you give your animal water during the day it will die? Or if you put burning
hot irons across a horses legs it will run faster? These are just some of the
awful ‘untruths’ that are commonly held across the Egyptian populace. ACE is
trying to change this with early intervention programs with school children and
educating them about animal care basics that we take for granted. It is great
an organisation like this exists, as it is clear around Egypt that animals are
key to people’s lives but are treated so poorly.
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| This poor donkey was having his last meal :( |
After dropping our things at the hotel we go for an
expedition to explore Karnak temple. Ahmed guides us through the history of the
complex right up til the current time. The ruins are impressive with lots of
colours still visible on the roofs and on the columns. A lot of the kartushs
(the pharaoh’s symbol) are carved extra deep to make sure that no later
pharaohs can ‘rebadge’ the place as their creation. This was primarily done by
Ramses II, he did it so deeply because he stole other peoples work, but didn’t want
others stealing his. Again proving this mans never ending narcissism.
There are some stunning examples of architecture and
engineering in the temple including several obelisks which were no mean feat to
erect without the use of modern aids. Dozens of carved stone statues depicting gods,
pharaohs and mythical creatures cover the site with rows upon rows of them
collected together. Hieroglyphs cover almost every surface with their details inscribing’s
of birds, squiggles and things we can only guess at.
Later in the afternoon when the sun has lowered and the heat
has dropped (its roughly 42 degrees everyday + humidity) we go for a walk
around Luxor to get oriented and for Ahmed to tell us about the Luxor temple.
Luxor is a lot cleaner and better presented than other places we’ve been, we
put this down to it being a massive tourist town so presentation is everything.
There are dozens of cruise ships moored idly at the riverside with no one to
ferry upstream and the horse and cart drivers hound us relentlessly for our
business. Lines like ‘you no ride my horse no eat’ are thrown about and looking
at the horses condition he’s probably not lying. A 90% drop in tourists for the
last few years has left many people out of work and desperate for our pounds
but we will not be intimidated or threatened into giving away cash.
The hassles aside Luxor is very pretty, situated right
beside the Nile it catches the setting sun on the water making the whole river
shimmer with an orange glow. The Luxor temple itself is right in the centre of
town and still has one of its original paired obelisks, the other is famously
at the end of the Champs Elysees in Paris. You might remember seeing it in our
Paris photos. Right in the centre of the temple is a mosque, it was built
several hundred years ago when the ruins were not an important historical site
but rather a good way to reuse an existing space.
Finishing up our walk we decide to get some western food, it’s
been meat and rice for too long and we need some home comfort. We learnt there
is a Pizza Hut a short distance away and decide to get a local bus to take us
there. Local bus means a minivan that has its door open whilst driving and you
just get in, give the driver half a pound and he’ll drop you off close to where
you want to go on his route. Not an exact science or a regulated industry but
it works. Ahmed flags a bus and we all pile in to the amusement of some locals
and frustrations of others. We pay the local fare of half a pound each (about 7
cents) but the man sitting in the front asks for 1 pound each. An argument
breaks out between two locals about us with finally the man in the front
getting out and yelling at us as we drive off. Apparently the busses ‘are not
for tourists’ he says, but the other locals don’t seem to mind, and the bus
driver is just happy to have a full van. Pizza Hut turns out has closed down
(probably due to lack of tourists) but there is a KFC there and that will do
instead. A greasy dinner and a decent walk back to the hotel and we’re very
ready for bed.
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| Riding in the minibus |
Welcome to the Valley
of the Kings. No photos allowed.
*all photos below are of Habu Temple.
Sadly we have no photos of our trip to the Valley of the
Kings. The local authorities have had such issues with people taking pictures
where they shouldn’t that the whole area is now camera free, we had to leave
all our stuff in the van.
The Valley came about after the pyramid era when Pharaohs
cottoned on to the fact that shortly after being interred in their magnificent
pyramids they were broken into and robbed. So to discourage this the valley is
a huge area of hidden underground tombs designed to be hard(er) to find and
rob. This didn’t work out well, as all but one (that has been found so far)
were inevitably lightened of their contents. The famous tomb of Tutankhamen was
found intact and its contents we saw earlier at the museum of Egypt in Cairo
where again, you cannot take photos. What do they have against photos anyway?
We visited three tombs and on Ahmeds advice did not go into
Tutankhamen’s as its now almost empty (all the good bits are in the museum) and
it’s not so well decorated plus you need to pay extra. Instead we went to see
Ramesses the 4th tomb which was still extremely vibrant and colourful.
The reliefs are also still quite intact
with massive carved figures beside the entrance. Absolutely stunning you’ll
just have to and see for yourself.
Ramesses the 3rds tomb was impressive but in a different
way. Much much bigger in size and depth but not as bright as Ramesses the 4ths.
During this tombs construction they accidentally entered another tomb which was
hastily walled up leaving a strange kink in the hallway. There are lots of
unfinished rooms at the end because when the Pharaoh dies work stops of
expansion and everything is rushed to completion.
Our last tomb was pharaoh Merenptah. His tomb is very deep
and a long way down. Unfortunately it is quite badly damaged and interestingly
has Coptic Christian graffiti on the walls from some hermits. The main burial
room has a massive barrel vaulted ceiling and the room itself is huge. On entry
there is a beautiful raised relief.
As usual there are very few tourists around. There are lots
of shelters to take cover from the sun but they are mostly all empty or full of
guides waiting for their flocks to return from tomb exploring. The Valley has
this completely dead feeling to it, like nothing could ever or has ever lived
here. It is really a shame we could not take photos, we will have to rely on
our memories. As a side note I googled the Valley to see if there are any
helpful images I could point out but there aren’t really which is unhelpful.
Habu Temple was an optional side adventure we could do on
the way back to Luxor so we opted in, when are we likely to be back after all?
Habu is an absolutely huge place with seemingly endless rows of walls and
columns forming cloisters and squares one after another each different and
spectacular in their own right.
Just wandering the place was great an Ahmed picked out some
of the best hidden spots to show us the best kept reliefs and scenes carved
into the walls.
Returning back to the hotel we have the rest of the afternoon
and evening to ourselves so we literally chilled out at the Sofitel Winter
Palace on the shores of the river. Keen for a really nice modern meal and a
relaxed space with wifi to get some blogging done it was the perfect place. The
hotel is an amazing colonial period building complete with all the trimmings and
a beautiful garden and swimming pool in the back of the grounds. After a
delicious lunch outside by the pool we retired inside to get catch up on some
blog and just enjoy relaxing somewhere beautiful.
Later that night we all meet back at the hotel to get the
overnight train once again back to the north of the country. We had the reverse
experience of the way down, complete with the bread with bread and bread and
some more bread for breakfast. Overall excluding the loads of bread for
breakfast thing, the Egyptian overnight sleepers (at least for us) were
outstanding.
Lessons Learnt
Sometimes there are just no lessons to take away from a
place.
Parting Thoughts
Luxor is a nice place to swing through and check out the
local sites. I can see how during regular times it would be even more appealing
with more things open, people less desperate and the whole place buzzing.
The Valley of the Kings whilst amazing was disappointing we
could not take photos. Such a shame that it got to the point of too many people
doing the wrong thing its spoiled it for everyone. Not even backshish was going
to help this time.
Simon and Amy xoxo
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