Egypt - Temples and Tombs

It was great getting a more in-depth insight into Egyptology before venturing further afield to Luxor where there are many temples and other historical sites to visit.

One of the more adventurous forms of transportation would be the overnight train from Cairo to Luxor.  

In a cabin about 1.5m x 1.5m all three of us, plus suitcases fitted in for the night.  Poor
Grant, it just wasn’t long enough for him to stretch out!

We arrived in Luxor (built of the site of the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes) early in the morning then travelled about 1 ½ hours to the Temple of Hathor in Dendera, through some desert roads.  When I say desert roads, it was quite a new motorway!

On this site a few temples have been built on top of each other with the current one built 54 BC.  In there are 24 columns and the ceiling depicts many astronomical scenes and celestial constellations on both sides of the axis.  There are also six worship rooms.  The hieroglyphics on the walls were amazing to look at and with the help of our tour guide, we were able to understand some of the stories they tell.

Later that evening, we were taken to the Luxor Temple and what a magnificent sight at night.  It is one of the best preserved and links to the Karnak Temple by a 3km avenue of sphinxes, with the last 500m still under excavation.  Amenhotep III started building the Luxor Temple 1390-1352BC, finished by Ramesses II, which is why he features a lot, and several other notable kings and queens helped with the design and building of the sphinx avenue.

The Karnak Temple, east bank of River Nile north of Luxor, is the largest manmade temple in the world and represents the combined achievement of many generations of ancient builders, Rameses II and Rameses III to name a couple. There are a remarkable columns, some of them destroyed over the years, but the highlight for us was Queen Hatshepsut’s tallest and heaviest obelisk which was made in Aswan.  How on earth did they a) make it so smooth out of one piece of stone; b) transport it the 300km to Luxor and c) erect it?  See below for some more info on this remarkable woman!

The Valley of the Kings was an incredible place to visit.  We arrived early in the morning (to escape the heat) to see three separate tombs – Rameses IV, Merenptah and Rameses III but you can see from the map that there are many other tombs that have been discovered, and they are still finding more every day.  Instead of building pyramids for the tombs they realized it was better to go underground, which reduced the risk of their tombs being robbed.

We didn’t go into the tomb of Tutankhamen, as we saw most of his treasures at the museum, but the reason why it didn’t get discovered until 1922 was because it was underneath Rameses VI’s tomb.

It was then on to see the awe-inspiring memorial house to Queen Hatshepsut, a ruler for 15 years 1473-1458BC.  She was regarded as one of the great Queens and had a reputation for having a great business brain.  The Egyptian economy was healthy when she was in charge.  

Here is one of her original statues

and I was a bit afraid when I was put up on one of the sacrificial altars!!

Now cruising on the River Nile which is relaxing and peaceful as only 7 guests on board.  Probably more staff on board than passengers but that is great as we are getting waited on very well.

This isn't our boat but a similar one.