September 15 - 18, 1999 - Luxor, Egypt
We arrived in Luxor on our "pleasure
boat" without missing any more temples, we don't think. We were promised two days of
tours, and, cynical as we were, still hoped for the best. There was so much to see, so
many fabulous ruins in the Valley of the Kings, Queens, Karnak, and after missing Abu
Simbel, Edfu, and Esna, we didn't want to miss anything else.
We were whisked off our boat by a new
"coordinator" and taken to a hotel to drop off our packs. We immediately headed
to The Valley of the Kings, consisting of over 64 known tombs located in a very compact
desert valley. We saw three tombs: Saptah of the 19th Dynasty, Ramesseus III of the
20th Dynasty, and Ramses IX, the largest. Seti I, which we'd been told was in great
condition, was closed for renovation. We didn't go into King Tutankhamen's tomb; it was
very expensive and we were swept up on the tour so fast that morning we didn't have time
to get more money. We had about 10 LE between us ($2.50). We ran into some of the people
we had met in Aswan, and they had gone into King Tut's tomb and said it wasn't too
exciting. Ramses IX had the most tomb paintings left intact.
Next we went to Hatshepsut's temple. The only
woman to rule Egypt as pharaoh. This was also the infamous place where a large number of
tourists were gunned down less than two years ago. Kelly happened to mention that little
tidbit to Dave and the guide (who was sitting in front of us) quickly turned around and
"shushed" her. We don't talk about that, he said. The tomb was huge and
completely isolated, very different from the others. The top floor was under renovation,
so we could only walk amongst the columns in the lower area.
Third stop: Valley of Queens. By this time our
heads were pounding, we were getting frustrated because we couldn't understand our
guide's English, and we were on our 5th liter of water. Our handy zipper-pull thermometer
read 110 degrees F and there was no breeze or shade in sight. Even the momentary reprieve
while inside the tombs was minimal. We visited three tombs again, including Kha-em-wast.
By the time we finished, we felt dizzy and were about ready to pass out. Plus we both had
severe headaches. We eventually realized our bodies were in very short supply of
electrolytes. For the last week, we have been sweating all of the salt from our
bodies but only replenishing it with water. We brought rehydration salts from home
to replenish our bodies, but of course, had left our entire supply sans one packet in
Cairo. We shared the packet, made sure to eat salty foods for awhile, and eventually felt
better.
The following day we resumed our touring
schedules. Stop 1 of 2: Karnak Temple. This was the most complete of all the ruins we saw.
It was a conglomeration of several temples; started out with the oldest part in the back,
and as each ruler tried to outdo their predecessor, the temples got progressively more
majestic as time went on. The complex covers more than a hundred acres; and its history
spans thirteen centuries. We loved the statues of Ramses--he added images of himself under
rows of goat/lion statues already there. Hatshepsut's replacement destroyed all images of
her here, but couldn't remove her Obelisk (it was the largest in Egypt) as it was a
tribute to the gods, so he built a column around it to obscure it from view. There was
sculptured walls, remains of bright colored paints, mutilated colossi, shattered pylons,
and lots of hieroglyphic inscriptions. This rivaled the great pyramids as one of the
most spectacular places we visited.
We had gotten used to the Luxor Temple by the
time we visited it. It runs parallel to the main street in Luxor, just across the Nile.
Wandering through it was finally nice. The huge statues of Ramses adorning the entranceway
were almost menacing. The temple had been completely buried under the sand for awhile. A
mosque had been built onto the back of it and the door of the mosque now stands several
meters off the ground. Alexander the great added an image of himself getting a blessing
from the well-endowed fertility god Min. As recent as 1989 relics were still being
discovered under the sand of this ancient temple.
On our last day, we couldn't decide between
taking a bus down to Edfu to see what we missed, or take a felucca ride down the Nile to
Banana Island, hit the Luxor Museum, and meet friends met in Aswan (Meg and DJ) for
dinner. The decision was made for us. We were waiting at the bus station to catch the bus
to Edfu, and it never came. So we took a leisurely trip down the Nile to Banana Island--a
privately owned island filled with lemon, mango, date, and of course, banana trees. We
walked through the virtually deserted plantations and ate bananas under leafed tents. Next
was the Luxor Museum. This was the polar opposite of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
Instead of being crammed full of stuff, this quaint museum had a few select,
well-preserved items that were artistically placed, and each included a description of the
item in four languages. One of the most amazing things was a granite statue which
was almost four thousand years old but it looked like it could have been carved yesterday.
Afterwards, we took a leisurely ride in a carriage to meet Meg and D.J. for dinner.
After almost three weeks in Egypt, this was our first taste of koshari, a
very tasty Egyptian dish consisting of noodles, beans, and dried onions mixed with a
tomato/salsa sauce.
So we packed up and readied ourselves for
another night train, and again back to Cairo.
