Day 8 Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London
An early start saw us in the train into the nations’ capital city to see two of the worlds’ premier tourist destinations but as it is now September the tourists are scarce on the ground
First up Westminster abbey the Nations’ parish church and called a Royal peculiar church, that is to say the church answers only to the Sovereign and is outside the Church of England hierarchy. 11 of our previous sovereigns lie buried here, Edward the Confessor, Henry III, Henry V, Henry VII, Elizabeth I and Mary Tudor lie in glorious tombs of importance and splendour. But tucked away in a little wall space you would hardly notice there are some gold letters saying here lies Anne of Cleves Queen of England, the only memoriam as far as I know in the country to her.
We travelled by river boat to the Tower and arrived Traitors gate just as Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard and Princess Elizabeth would have done. It takes about 4 hours to see all that the Tower has to offer, because it’s not just one tower, it covers 22 acres full of the nation’s history. It can be crowded but today the tourist were not too many.
The White Tower is the one that everybody sees on TV but the place is much, much more than that, to begin with there is the Chapel of St Peter Ad Vincular where Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard and Lady Jane Grey all lie and all three queens of England. There are other towers that held important prisoners not least of which is the Bloody Tower, so called as this was where the two Princes were said to have been done to death in 1483 under the orders of Richard III.
The White Tower holds the oldest tourist attraction in the world, the line of Kings, all the kings of England on horseback with armour quite an impressive sight. Also somewhat gruesome, is an executioners axe and block. On the top floor is Keeper, a magnificent sculpture of a dragon made will all the bits that represent the institutions that once or are still in the Tower.
We got into the Crown Jewels late in the day and were practically the only people in there so we had along good look at these fabulous crowns, sceptre and gold plate. The largest single cut diamond in the world is here on display and a trick of the light through this unique object throws a tiny rainbow on the wall across the room, yes there is gold at the end of the rainbow.
All that history and grandeur in one place and we were not finished for the day. A Medieval banquet in St Katherine’s Dock was the final event of the whole tour. A splendid banquet held in underground vaults near to the Tower. We were treated to feasting , music, dancing, acrobats and some of the best sword fighting you’ll see outside of the movies.
All to soon we had to finish back at our last character hotel near to the River Thames in Southwark to say our final farewells.
all together a terrific tour through Tudor England.
Sunday 15 September 2013
Six Wives of One King day 7
Day 7 Hever castle and Penshurst Place
We travel north from Lewes into the high Weald of Kent & Sussex to Hever castle the childhood home of Anne Boleyn. Pausing again briefly in the village of Hartfield to shop at Pooh Corner, Winnie the Pooh is not exactly Tudor but historic and delightful none the less. Visitors come from all over the world to see the real sights of these famous stories.
Hever Castle was looking splendid in the late summer sunshine after the rain yesterday and to walk around the perfectly manicured lawns & grounds is a pleasure. The castle has had a long history and has passed through a few hands since Anne Boleyn was here. One previous owner was Anne of Cleves who was given it as part of her divorce settlement. It fell into disrepair for 150 years until it was bought by W.W. Astor who set about restoring the castle to it’s former glory and creating the Italian gardens. He did a good job of it too, there was to be a wedding held in the afternoon we were there and the great hall was being set for the dinner. There are many portraits and artefacts of Anne Boleyn in the castle including her book of hours(prayer book) inscribed by her in the margin.
Just outside the gates of the castle is the parish church of Hever, touching notice on the wall reads “here lies Thomas Boleyn grandfather of Queen Elizabeth I” something that is not generally thought about.
After Hever we set off across the high Weald to Penshurst Place Home of the Sidney Family for over 450 years. The p[lace has a completely different feel to Hever as it has been in the same family for all that time. The walled garden holds an apple orchard, fish ponds, a union jack flag, half the size of a football field that you can see the red & white roses and blue lavender form the air as you land at Gatwick airport.
Elizabeth I visited here often as the place had fine hunting lands and the parkland is open to the public to walk around. Many period films were made here including “ Anne of a Thousand days” and The other Boleyn Girl, some of the costumes from that films are on display. Richard burton lost out for the best actor Oscar in 1968 to John Wayne in True Grit, not often a king loses to a Duke.
We spent the night in an old coaching Inn in the town of Tonbridge, the staircases wander around up and down before you reach your rooms.
We travel north from Lewes into the high Weald of Kent & Sussex to Hever castle the childhood home of Anne Boleyn. Pausing again briefly in the village of Hartfield to shop at Pooh Corner, Winnie the Pooh is not exactly Tudor but historic and delightful none the less. Visitors come from all over the world to see the real sights of these famous stories.
Hever Castle was looking splendid in the late summer sunshine after the rain yesterday and to walk around the perfectly manicured lawns & grounds is a pleasure. The castle has had a long history and has passed through a few hands since Anne Boleyn was here. One previous owner was Anne of Cleves who was given it as part of her divorce settlement. It fell into disrepair for 150 years until it was bought by W.W. Astor who set about restoring the castle to it’s former glory and creating the Italian gardens. He did a good job of it too, there was to be a wedding held in the afternoon we were there and the great hall was being set for the dinner. There are many portraits and artefacts of Anne Boleyn in the castle including her book of hours(prayer book) inscribed by her in the margin.
Just outside the gates of the castle is the parish church of Hever, touching notice on the wall reads “here lies Thomas Boleyn grandfather of Queen Elizabeth I” something that is not generally thought about.
After Hever we set off across the high Weald to Penshurst Place Home of the Sidney Family for over 450 years. The p[lace has a completely different feel to Hever as it has been in the same family for all that time. The walled garden holds an apple orchard, fish ponds, a union jack flag, half the size of a football field that you can see the red & white roses and blue lavender form the air as you land at Gatwick airport.
Elizabeth I visited here often as the place had fine hunting lands and the parkland is open to the public to walk around. Many period films were made here including “ Anne of a Thousand days” and The other Boleyn Girl, some of the costumes from that films are on display. Richard burton lost out for the best actor Oscar in 1968 to John Wayne in True Grit, not often a king loses to a Duke.
We spent the night in an old coaching Inn in the town of Tonbridge, the staircases wander around up and down before you reach your rooms.
Tuesday 10 September 2013
Six wives of One King day 6
Day 6 Lewes.
The English weather finally caught up with us in Lewes, but the rain didn’t dampen our resolve to see the town and the important historic features. History in Lewes is always just around the corner.
For a start it has a castle, what self respecting town doesn’t have one? But this castle has seen real action, in 1264 Simon de Montford beat Henry III at Lewes and forced Henry to sign the Mis of Lewes, a document that gave us the Parliament that we know today. Henry got his own back the following year at the battle of Evesham, Simon was killed. We had a very engaging chat with a group of dedicated ladies who are sewing a tapestry to commemorate the battle, suing dyes and wool thread that would have been around at the time. It has to be ready by Christmas so the panels can be mounted and ready to display in May of next year.
Looking out over the soft rolling countryside of the south downs from the top of the castle keep is a beautiful sight, even if it has been raining.
Also in Lewes is the Priory ruins, not much to look at now but one of the largest and most important in the whole country until Thomas Cromwell destroyed it during the dissolution. Some of the buildings in Lewes are made from the stones taken from the Priory over the years. Nearby there is Anne of Cleves house, given to her as part of the divorce settlement , she didn’t live there but enjoyed the rental income. The building also holds the town museum and the iron works museum an internationally important collection of the iron workers art.
A couple of hundred years ago Thomas Paine, a radical thinker and agitator wrote and debated his ‘Rights of Man’ and ‘Common Sense’ documents that led to the American war of Independence.
There was also plenty of time to wander around this grand town and browse the antique shops.
The English weather finally caught up with us in Lewes, but the rain didn’t dampen our resolve to see the town and the important historic features. History in Lewes is always just around the corner.
For a start it has a castle, what self respecting town doesn’t have one? But this castle has seen real action, in 1264 Simon de Montford beat Henry III at Lewes and forced Henry to sign the Mis of Lewes, a document that gave us the Parliament that we know today. Henry got his own back the following year at the battle of Evesham, Simon was killed. We had a very engaging chat with a group of dedicated ladies who are sewing a tapestry to commemorate the battle, suing dyes and wool thread that would have been around at the time. It has to be ready by Christmas so the panels can be mounted and ready to display in May of next year.
Looking out over the soft rolling countryside of the south downs from the top of the castle keep is a beautiful sight, even if it has been raining.
Also in Lewes is the Priory ruins, not much to look at now but one of the largest and most important in the whole country until Thomas Cromwell destroyed it during the dissolution. Some of the buildings in Lewes are made from the stones taken from the Priory over the years. Nearby there is Anne of Cleves house, given to her as part of the divorce settlement , she didn’t live there but enjoyed the rental income. The building also holds the town museum and the iron works museum an internationally important collection of the iron workers art.
A couple of hundred years ago Thomas Paine, a radical thinker and agitator wrote and debated his ‘Rights of Man’ and ‘Common Sense’ documents that led to the American war of Independence.
There was also plenty of time to wander around this grand town and browse the antique shops.
Monday 9 September 2013
Six wives of One King day 5
Day 5 Arundel Castle
We head south from Warwickshire on the longest single journey of the tour to the town of Arundel in West Sussex.
Arundel castle dominates the skyline and all approaches to the town with it’s Norman Keep and massive towers. It is the very epitome of what a castle should look like, High towers, a large keep and battlements along all the high walls.
Arundel is the home of the Dukes of Norfolk and we now have the 18th Duke but it his forbears the 3rd and 4th Dukes we have come to see. The 3rd Duke was uncle to Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard both executed Queens of England. Such was the nature of the greasy pole of Tudor court life the 3rd Duke was also to be executed on the orders of Henry VIII, but Henry died the day before the Dukes appointment with the block so he survived. The 4th Duke was not so lucky, he was executed on the orders of Elizabeth for plotting to marry Mary Queen of Scots.
There is the rosary that belonged to Mary that she handed to her lady in waiting on the scaffold as she was about to be executed in 1587 on display in the castle along with many painted miniatures of famous figures form the Tudor such as the poet Earl, more of him when we get to Penshurst.
Whilst waking the ground of the castle we discovered two large white Rhea's, a large flightless bird and not what you expect to find in a medieval castle
The Fitzalan chapel is worth noting as it is unique with two denominations, catholic and protestant sharing the same building but separated by a glass and iron gate that has only been opened 4 times in the last 400 years.
We set off at the end of the day along the south coast to the East Sussex county town of Lewes on the next stage of our Tudor journey.
We head south from Warwickshire on the longest single journey of the tour to the town of Arundel in West Sussex.
Arundel castle dominates the skyline and all approaches to the town with it’s Norman Keep and massive towers. It is the very epitome of what a castle should look like, High towers, a large keep and battlements along all the high walls.
Arundel is the home of the Dukes of Norfolk and we now have the 18th Duke but it his forbears the 3rd and 4th Dukes we have come to see. The 3rd Duke was uncle to Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard both executed Queens of England. Such was the nature of the greasy pole of Tudor court life the 3rd Duke was also to be executed on the orders of Henry VIII, but Henry died the day before the Dukes appointment with the block so he survived. The 4th Duke was not so lucky, he was executed on the orders of Elizabeth for plotting to marry Mary Queen of Scots.
There is the rosary that belonged to Mary that she handed to her lady in waiting on the scaffold as she was about to be executed in 1587 on display in the castle along with many painted miniatures of famous figures form the Tudor such as the poet Earl, more of him when we get to Penshurst.
Whilst waking the ground of the castle we discovered two large white Rhea's, a large flightless bird and not what you expect to find in a medieval castle
The Fitzalan chapel is worth noting as it is unique with two denominations, catholic and protestant sharing the same building but separated by a glass and iron gate that has only been opened 4 times in the last 400 years.
We set off at the end of the day along the south coast to the East Sussex county town of Lewes on the next stage of our Tudor journey.
Friday 6 September 2013
Six Wives of One King
Day 4 Peterborough and Kenilworth
The magnificent 800 year old Cathedral in the centre of Peterborough is where Catherine of Aragon was laid to rest, but even in death Henry VIII was unkind, he ordered her to be buried as the Dowager Princess of Wales. Today, her grave is marked by a memorial suitable for a queen of England. Paid for by a national newspaper in the 1800’sasking all women called Catherine to donate a penny to help pay for it. The people loved her then and still love her today, rarely a day goes by without fresh flowers being placed in memory and respect. We laid a pomegranate and some Rosemary brought from Catherine's Garden at Buckden, it seemed a right and fitting mark of respect.
The Cathedral also used to hold the body of Mary Queen of Scots after she was executed in 1587 before her son James I had her removed to Westminster Abbey in London. (More of her later in the week when we reach London. ) Curiously the same grave digger performed both burials 53 years apart, a man by the name of Old Scarlet.
A long drive west took us to Kenilworth castle in Warwickshire, a place that has seen some of the most important moments in history. Henry V was here in March 1415 when he received a present of tennis balls from the French Prince, an insult that rebounded spectacularly when Henry, in October of that year fought and won the battle of Agincourt. His small army of about 7000 archers took on a French army three times that number and decimated the flower of the French nobility in one afternoon.
It was here in 1575 that Robert Dudley spent millions in today’s money to convince Elizabeth I to marry him. It was on a glorious progress that Elizabeth spent 17 days here feasting and partying but all that money was not well spent by Robert, Elizabeth turned him down.
Robert lies with his second wife Lettice Knowlys in the gothic family chapel of St Mary’s church in the centre of Warwick.
The magnificent 800 year old Cathedral in the centre of Peterborough is where Catherine of Aragon was laid to rest, but even in death Henry VIII was unkind, he ordered her to be buried as the Dowager Princess of Wales. Today, her grave is marked by a memorial suitable for a queen of England. Paid for by a national newspaper in the 1800’sasking all women called Catherine to donate a penny to help pay for it. The people loved her then and still love her today, rarely a day goes by without fresh flowers being placed in memory and respect. We laid a pomegranate and some Rosemary brought from Catherine's Garden at Buckden, it seemed a right and fitting mark of respect.
The Cathedral also used to hold the body of Mary Queen of Scots after she was executed in 1587 before her son James I had her removed to Westminster Abbey in London. (More of her later in the week when we reach London. ) Curiously the same grave digger performed both burials 53 years apart, a man by the name of Old Scarlet.
A long drive west took us to Kenilworth castle in Warwickshire, a place that has seen some of the most important moments in history. Henry V was here in March 1415 when he received a present of tennis balls from the French Prince, an insult that rebounded spectacularly when Henry, in October of that year fought and won the battle of Agincourt. His small army of about 7000 archers took on a French army three times that number and decimated the flower of the French nobility in one afternoon.
It was here in 1575 that Robert Dudley spent millions in today’s money to convince Elizabeth I to marry him. It was on a glorious progress that Elizabeth spent 17 days here feasting and partying but all that money was not well spent by Robert, Elizabeth turned him down.
Robert lies with his second wife Lettice Knowlys in the gothic family chapel of St Mary’s church in the centre of Warwick.
Six wives of One King
Day 3 Cambridge, Buckden & Kimbolton.
Today saw us travelling North from Hampton Court across London to Cambridge by train and underground. Pausing momentarily to take a photo at Platform 9 ¾ at Kings Cross railway station (for all you Harry Potter fans ) we boarded our final train to Cambridge.
In Cambridge, we saw what is my favourite of all the buildings that Henry VIII has left us, Kings College Chapel. Henry didn’t start it but he finished it and in some style too. Finished in 1525, the building is full of superb features, the largest fan vaulted roof anywhere in the world. The stained glass windows are fantastic and have a guide book alone, in one of the windows we see Henry VIII as Soloman and Katherine Howard looking up at him. Also high up on the East window her initials alongside Henry. There is also Anne Boleyn initials carved in the provost stall along with a falcon with a queen’s crown. Quite how they remain when Henry ordered Anne Boleyn to be airbrushed out of history remains a mystery.
Pausing again for a while outside Trinity college Cambridge in front of an apple tree, a descendant of” The Tree” that Isaac Newton sat under ( he was a professor of mathematics at Trinity), we set off by road to Buckden Towers.
Buckden Towers on the edge of the fens, is where Catherine of Aragon was sent to by Henry VIII. She lived there for 16 months before Charles Brandon tried to move her to a more secure place. He was prevented by the local men standing guard with farm weapons. This standoff lasted for 5 days before he went away to get some more men.
Bathed in sunshine, Catherine’s garden was a quiet little haven with features recreated form the period that she would have known. Buckden has seen many famous & royal visitors down the centuries and today it is a Catholic missionary centre and busy with visitors from Spain, which given Catherine was Spanish seemed appropriate somehow.
On to Kimbolton castle next where Catherine in failing health and spirits spend the last 20 months of her life almost a recluse and with just three maids for company and support. Kimbolton is now a private school with extensive grounds and has been substantially remodelled in the early 1700’s but the Headmasters office is the room where she wrote her last letter and Catherine died. A very odd feeling indeed to stand in that room.
Today saw us travelling North from Hampton Court across London to Cambridge by train and underground. Pausing momentarily to take a photo at Platform 9 ¾ at Kings Cross railway station (for all you Harry Potter fans ) we boarded our final train to Cambridge.
In Cambridge, we saw what is my favourite of all the buildings that Henry VIII has left us, Kings College Chapel. Henry didn’t start it but he finished it and in some style too. Finished in 1525, the building is full of superb features, the largest fan vaulted roof anywhere in the world. The stained glass windows are fantastic and have a guide book alone, in one of the windows we see Henry VIII as Soloman and Katherine Howard looking up at him. Also high up on the East window her initials alongside Henry. There is also Anne Boleyn initials carved in the provost stall along with a falcon with a queen’s crown. Quite how they remain when Henry ordered Anne Boleyn to be airbrushed out of history remains a mystery.
Pausing again for a while outside Trinity college Cambridge in front of an apple tree, a descendant of” The Tree” that Isaac Newton sat under ( he was a professor of mathematics at Trinity), we set off by road to Buckden Towers.
Buckden Towers on the edge of the fens, is where Catherine of Aragon was sent to by Henry VIII. She lived there for 16 months before Charles Brandon tried to move her to a more secure place. He was prevented by the local men standing guard with farm weapons. This standoff lasted for 5 days before he went away to get some more men.
Bathed in sunshine, Catherine’s garden was a quiet little haven with features recreated form the period that she would have known. Buckden has seen many famous & royal visitors down the centuries and today it is a Catholic missionary centre and busy with visitors from Spain, which given Catherine was Spanish seemed appropriate somehow.
On to Kimbolton castle next where Catherine in failing health and spirits spend the last 20 months of her life almost a recluse and with just three maids for company and support. Kimbolton is now a private school with extensive grounds and has been substantially remodelled in the early 1700’s but the Headmasters office is the room where she wrote her last letter and Catherine died. A very odd feeling indeed to stand in that room.
Thursday 5 September 2013
Six wives of One King tour
Day 2 Hampton Court Palace
On a glorious day all we had to do was walk across the road into the palace grounds right up to the front gate before all the usual visitors got there.
It’s one of those great moments to go into the Great Hall when you are the only people on the space. For some reason there is a magic spell that makes you whisper so that you don’t disturb the ghosts of history. Just for a few minutes every sound seems magnified even the eavesdroppers seem that little bit closer looking down from the rafters, and then somebody else walks into the space and breaks the spell.
The palace has loads to see and the list seems endless, the Tudor kitchens, the Chapel Royal, A real tennis court, the rules of the game escape me, complicated for the outsider but easy once you get to know the game.
The Gardens are still spectacular to wander around, after taking a small diversion to walk around the famous maze we visited the oldest known grapevine in the world and still harvesting delicious grapes too.
Inside the palace there are still exhibitions to see like the secrets of the Royal Bedchamber. Huge State beds on display each with a tale to tell of conspiracies and intrigue.
The best part of the day was to follow the story of Henry VIII and his pursuit of Jane Seymour and the downfall of Anne Boleyn. Played out in episodes around the Palace and by the best costumed actors you’ll see playing Henry and His new love. We were fortunate enough to ask his majesty to tarry a while so we could take a quick image.
A perfect end to a perfect day was to have a jug of Pimms quintessentially English on the water deck of the Mitre hotel right on the river Thames and watch the swans go serenely by.
On a glorious day all we had to do was walk across the road into the palace grounds right up to the front gate before all the usual visitors got there.
It’s one of those great moments to go into the Great Hall when you are the only people on the space. For some reason there is a magic spell that makes you whisper so that you don’t disturb the ghosts of history. Just for a few minutes every sound seems magnified even the eavesdroppers seem that little bit closer looking down from the rafters, and then somebody else walks into the space and breaks the spell.
The palace has loads to see and the list seems endless, the Tudor kitchens, the Chapel Royal, A real tennis court, the rules of the game escape me, complicated for the outsider but easy once you get to know the game.
The Gardens are still spectacular to wander around, after taking a small diversion to walk around the famous maze we visited the oldest known grapevine in the world and still harvesting delicious grapes too.
Inside the palace there are still exhibitions to see like the secrets of the Royal Bedchamber. Huge State beds on display each with a tale to tell of conspiracies and intrigue.
The best part of the day was to follow the story of Henry VIII and his pursuit of Jane Seymour and the downfall of Anne Boleyn. Played out in episodes around the Palace and by the best costumed actors you’ll see playing Henry and His new love. We were fortunate enough to ask his majesty to tarry a while so we could take a quick image.
A perfect end to a perfect day was to have a jug of Pimms quintessentially English on the water deck of the Mitre hotel right on the river Thames and watch the swans go serenely by.
Six wives of one King tour
Day 1 Windsor
The late summer has given us a splendid sunny start to the tour so form our base hotel right opposite Hampton Court palace( more of that later? We set off to Windsor only a 40 minute drive along the River Thames, passing the site where Magna Carta was signed at Runneymede in 1215 along the way.
As it is the end of the summer the crowds had gone, so we had a pleasant stroll around the castle and St Georges Chapel. Some of the favourite Tudor portraits had been taken off to Buckingham Palace for a special exhibition of Tudor fashion, never the leas there was plenty to see. After the castle we wandered down to the river side to have pleasant lunch on a terrace whilst watching life on the river.
We had the last guided tour of Eton College summer holidays before the students are back. It is a fascinating place, full of history and quirky customs. Founded by Henry VI in 1440 the original classroom is still there and still in use. Many famous people went to school there, Damien Lewis actor, our present Prime Minister Prince William and Prince Harry to name just a few.
Our final appointment was to attend evensong at St Georges chapel, it’s a great feeling to just walk up to the castle gate and say to the policeman there that we are attending evensong. He simply points you inside. The service itself has remained almost the same for the 500 years that the chapel has been in existence so it somehow gives you a little uplifting feeling to have been part of that kind of history. So at the end of the day we travel back to Hampton court to have dinner at the Blubeckers pub by the river Thames.
Monday 25 February 2013
day 7 Karnac Temple
Feb 18 day 7 Karnac Temple
Karnac Temple today, just a lazy start as the temple is only a few minutes from the hotel and we have an afternoon flight home.
Karnac Temple is the single largest religious site on the entire planet earth and it is huge. It is surprisingly unfinished, I don’t mean because it’s a ruin. No if you look at it from the front, the stonework is still rough, there are no reliefs carved on the pylons and the mud brick ramp has been left in situ by the ancients.
Everywhere you turn there is a different perspective showing columns, obelisks’ (is that a plural?) There are two obelisks of red granite 22m high to Hapsetshut, one still standing and one felled by an earthquake, these were dedicated to Amun-Ra and were left untouched by her successor Amenhotep who couldn’t touch them to destroy them, so he had them both encased in sandstone blocks instead.
There’s a large granite scarab beetle on a plinth that was found somewhere else but placed here because there are more tourists. There is a myth about this beetle that if a woman wishes to conceive she should walk around it, without talking, 7 times and if she wants to marry then only three times, we saw a couple of Chinese girls trying this but I don’t’ think anything will happen to them because the laughed and joked about it.
Our guide was really good and showed us the best bits, you know the places that the tourists barely even glance at before moving on.
Karnac Temple today, just a lazy start as the temple is only a few minutes from the hotel and we have an afternoon flight home.
Karnac Temple is the single largest religious site on the entire planet earth and it is huge. It is surprisingly unfinished, I don’t mean because it’s a ruin. No if you look at it from the front, the stonework is still rough, there are no reliefs carved on the pylons and the mud brick ramp has been left in situ by the ancients.
Everywhere you turn there is a different perspective showing columns, obelisks’ (is that a plural?) There are two obelisks of red granite 22m high to Hapsetshut, one still standing and one felled by an earthquake, these were dedicated to Amun-Ra and were left untouched by her successor Amenhotep who couldn’t touch them to destroy them, so he had them both encased in sandstone blocks instead.
There’s a large granite scarab beetle on a plinth that was found somewhere else but placed here because there are more tourists. There is a myth about this beetle that if a woman wishes to conceive she should walk around it, without talking, 7 times and if she wants to marry then only three times, we saw a couple of Chinese girls trying this but I don’t’ think anything will happen to them because the laughed and joked about it.
Our guide was really good and showed us the best bits, you know the places that the tourists barely even glance at before moving on.
driving in Egypt
Driving in Egypt
Can be summed up in one word, Insanity.
It would be a very brave and confident driver to hire a car and drive yourself in Egypt. I have already told you dear reader about our adventure trying to obtain petrol. Having now spent a week in the country I think I have learnt the many rules of the road to help you and they are:
1 Wherever possible drive on the shady side of the street.
2 wherever possible do not use your headlights at night - only taxi drivers, minibus drivers and motorcyclist can ignore this rule and use multi coloured flashing LED lights on the front of the vehicle instead. It is always permissible to drive the wrong way along a four lane carriageway at night without lights.
3. Ignore all road signs, the only person to take note of is the man in the black uniform casually toting an AK47
4 A family with up to four kids can travel on a motorbike provided the mother rides side saddle
5. Boys of 12 may drive a motorcycle provided they don’t wear a crash helmet in fact no motorcyclist should wear a crash helmet.
6. Up to 7 live camels will fit onto the back of a pickup truck, provided they are kneeling down and securely roped in only allowing their heads to bob up and down.
7. Always take the shortest possible route especially at roundabouts and ignore the meridian at all times.
8. Your driver will have the knowledge of where all the sleeping policemen in the entire countryside are situated, even if they are invisible with no signs when you approach them, how high they are and whether they will rip the exhaust from underneath your vehicle
9. A tractor tyre in the centre of the road is a traffic island and gives you permission to drive either side of it especially if you wish to overtake the car that had been in front of you
10. Pedestrians are to be hooted at, driven very close to and generally ignored unless they step in front of you in which case hoot even louder and shout.
11 It is permissible at all times to stop anywhere in the middle of the road to chat with pedestrians or shop keepers.
12 Insurance and seatbelts are for sissies.
Can be summed up in one word, Insanity.
It would be a very brave and confident driver to hire a car and drive yourself in Egypt. I have already told you dear reader about our adventure trying to obtain petrol. Having now spent a week in the country I think I have learnt the many rules of the road to help you and they are:
1 Wherever possible drive on the shady side of the street.
2 wherever possible do not use your headlights at night - only taxi drivers, minibus drivers and motorcyclist can ignore this rule and use multi coloured flashing LED lights on the front of the vehicle instead. It is always permissible to drive the wrong way along a four lane carriageway at night without lights.
3. Ignore all road signs, the only person to take note of is the man in the black uniform casually toting an AK47
4 A family with up to four kids can travel on a motorbike provided the mother rides side saddle
5. Boys of 12 may drive a motorcycle provided they don’t wear a crash helmet in fact no motorcyclist should wear a crash helmet.
6. Up to 7 live camels will fit onto the back of a pickup truck, provided they are kneeling down and securely roped in only allowing their heads to bob up and down.
7. Always take the shortest possible route especially at roundabouts and ignore the meridian at all times.
8. Your driver will have the knowledge of where all the sleeping policemen in the entire countryside are situated, even if they are invisible with no signs when you approach them, how high they are and whether they will rip the exhaust from underneath your vehicle
9. A tractor tyre in the centre of the road is a traffic island and gives you permission to drive either side of it especially if you wish to overtake the car that had been in front of you
10. Pedestrians are to be hooted at, driven very close to and generally ignored unless they step in front of you in which case hoot even louder and shout.
11 It is permissible at all times to stop anywhere in the middle of the road to chat with pedestrians or shop keepers.
12 Insurance and seatbelts are for sissies.
Wednesday 20 February 2013
day 6 South of Luxor.
Feb 17 day 6 South from Luxor
We were going to have a day by the pool but the lure of seeing other sites outside of the Luxor region became too great for us. So 7.00am saw us starting the long drive south of Luxor. The road follows the Nile all the way on one side and sandstone mountains on the other. We travelled through villages, past sugar cane fields, banana and mango plantations, teeming city markets, phosphate plants, bauxite and sugar cane factories belching black fumes and petrol queues, school children, gossiping men drinking coffee or just hanging around, blacksmiths, stall holders and the rest of the community that makes up Egypt. Except their women, every few were seen along the road, presumably all at home cooking and cleaning.. It struck us how young the population is. It was rare to see an elder and we could only think that the revolution is still going through a dangerous phase where, unless tourism picks up and work returns a generation of angry, young, frustrated young men could turn against each other.
Qom Ombo temple to the crocodile god, SUBEK, this temple was an island infested with crocs hence the devotion. It was destroyed by a flood in 426 AD and has been left very much as of that moment ever since.
It has a deep cistern that is in fact a Nile ometer, the level of the Nile is seen in the well shaft and if the Nile was high, the taxes were high conversely if the Nile is low, low taxes follow the harvest for that year. Quite simple and ingenious.
Alongside the Temple is a new museum only opened last year, dedicated to SUBEK and the crocs. There are 30 mummified crocs of all sizes from even an egg. They were found in a crocs graveyard close to the temple.
This is where we had scam No 2, all temples have a man that sells you a nice ticket from a book of tickets with a hologram and a picture of the place you are visiting, it has a counterfoil that also has a serial number. Another man takes tears off the counterfoil to show you have entered. When the Temple is not busy the man will give you am used ticket without a counterfoil and the other man will just wave you through. The both of them collude to pocket your money.
Edfu Temple to god Horus the falcon and he is everywhere to be seen. The temple is large like all them, but we were practically the only visitors. Some of the paintings have survived intact but they up high and you have a pain in the neck afterwards.
Esna Temple to Khnum, the ram headed god and guardian of the source of the Nile. The remains of this temple are in the centre of town half buried well below street level and at the end of a souk alley. We only needed half an hour to see this Temple.
Dinner last tonight was at a local restaurant the El Hussien. Very good food and very brisk service too, a three course dinner set us back a princely sum of £E181 including a non-alcoholic malt beer. We were in and out within an hour
We were going to have a day by the pool but the lure of seeing other sites outside of the Luxor region became too great for us. So 7.00am saw us starting the long drive south of Luxor. The road follows the Nile all the way on one side and sandstone mountains on the other. We travelled through villages, past sugar cane fields, banana and mango plantations, teeming city markets, phosphate plants, bauxite and sugar cane factories belching black fumes and petrol queues, school children, gossiping men drinking coffee or just hanging around, blacksmiths, stall holders and the rest of the community that makes up Egypt. Except their women, every few were seen along the road, presumably all at home cooking and cleaning.. It struck us how young the population is. It was rare to see an elder and we could only think that the revolution is still going through a dangerous phase where, unless tourism picks up and work returns a generation of angry, young, frustrated young men could turn against each other.
Qom Ombo temple to the crocodile god, SUBEK, this temple was an island infested with crocs hence the devotion. It was destroyed by a flood in 426 AD and has been left very much as of that moment ever since.
It has a deep cistern that is in fact a Nile ometer, the level of the Nile is seen in the well shaft and if the Nile was high, the taxes were high conversely if the Nile is low, low taxes follow the harvest for that year. Quite simple and ingenious.
Alongside the Temple is a new museum only opened last year, dedicated to SUBEK and the crocs. There are 30 mummified crocs of all sizes from even an egg. They were found in a crocs graveyard close to the temple.
This is where we had scam No 2, all temples have a man that sells you a nice ticket from a book of tickets with a hologram and a picture of the place you are visiting, it has a counterfoil that also has a serial number. Another man takes tears off the counterfoil to show you have entered. When the Temple is not busy the man will give you am used ticket without a counterfoil and the other man will just wave you through. The both of them collude to pocket your money.
Edfu Temple to god Horus the falcon and he is everywhere to be seen. The temple is large like all them, but we were practically the only visitors. Some of the paintings have survived intact but they up high and you have a pain in the neck afterwards.
Esna Temple to Khnum, the ram headed god and guardian of the source of the Nile. The remains of this temple are in the centre of town half buried well below street level and at the end of a souk alley. We only needed half an hour to see this Temple.
Dinner last tonight was at a local restaurant the El Hussien. Very good food and very brisk service too, a three course dinner set us back a princely sum of £E181 including a non-alcoholic malt beer. We were in and out within an hour
Saturday 16 February 2013
day 5 The West Bank
Day6 Feb 16 The West Bank
Today we crossed the mighty Nile River, I’d like to say I wanted to feel like an intrepid adventurer but the river is quite narrow and it only took a few minutes. Anyway we had transport arranged to meet us at the other side to take us to the valley of the Queens, the valley of the Nobles, the valley of the Artisans and the Temple of Medinat Habu.
THE VALLEY of the NOBLES has tombs of the great and the good during the middle kingdom they look and feel like they should be tombs. By that I mean the ones we went into were narrow steep and they had presence. The tomb of RAMOSE’ paintings and carvings were incredibly detailed and tell the story of the body approaching the afterlife with offerings to the gods who are there to help protect him in the afterlife. He was a vizier during the period of transition from Amun to Aten worship.
THE VALLEY of the QUEENS- smaller than the Kings valley but has more tombs. It should also be called the valley of the Princes. We went in a few of the tombs of the princes, and there is a startling difference between the valley of the kings, these tombs are plastered then painted whereas the kings are carved out of the rock then painted. The paintings here are fresh as the day they were painted, the dry air helps to keep these tombs preserved for the likes of you and me to wonder at.
THE VALLEY of the ARTISANS, all these tombs for kings, queens, princes and nobles need an army of workers to get on with the work and close by is the valley of the Artisans, you can walk around these village ruins so see how big the houses were or not! The workers had to toil for 9 days on the tombs of the kings or queens and had the tenth day off.. to work on their own family tombs, only 5 days off a year!! Only they knew where the entrances to the tombs were and they were kept apart from normal civilisation, they did have their own temple. The tomb of the foreman of the village was very narrow and very steep but the burial chamber paintings were beautifully preserved.
THE TEMPLE of MEDINAT HABU a huge temple to worship Rameses III, somewhat deliberately destroyed in 1862 and the stone used to build a sugar refinery. This temple is very different to all the others we have visited, the carvings were very much deeper almost 6inches and enough for pigeons to nest in. The Pharaohs had a habit of obliterating the reliefs of their predecessors so mindful of this Rameses had his carvings made deeper so he would be left alone in his afterlife. He succeeded too.
GREASING. This is a term I would use for the experience you feel when somebody whose paid job it is to be around the tombs holds their palm out for a tip for even the slightest thing. Some are quite brazen when they say just wait a moment for the others to go then you can take photos. And some are quite aggressive about it too. You just have to be firm and say no and mean it hold your fingers to your lips and shh they get the message.
We drove back over the across the bridge on the Nile negotiating yet another traffic jam as people jostled for spaces in the queue for petrol and followed a convoy of tractors with the harvested sugar cane balancing precariously on their trailers. Children and teenagers were filching cane as they slowed to go around bends and then sat on walls stripping and chewing the cane.
We had to stop for a money change visit to the bank, just as the teller had counted out the money I had to change the power failed again, “I’m sorry sir I can’t give you any money” you have to laugh really, walking off to get in the car the teller came running out and said it’s OK the power is on. Another experience to remember.
Today we crossed the mighty Nile River, I’d like to say I wanted to feel like an intrepid adventurer but the river is quite narrow and it only took a few minutes. Anyway we had transport arranged to meet us at the other side to take us to the valley of the Queens, the valley of the Nobles, the valley of the Artisans and the Temple of Medinat Habu.
THE VALLEY of the NOBLES has tombs of the great and the good during the middle kingdom they look and feel like they should be tombs. By that I mean the ones we went into were narrow steep and they had presence. The tomb of RAMOSE’ paintings and carvings were incredibly detailed and tell the story of the body approaching the afterlife with offerings to the gods who are there to help protect him in the afterlife. He was a vizier during the period of transition from Amun to Aten worship.
THE VALLEY of the QUEENS- smaller than the Kings valley but has more tombs. It should also be called the valley of the Princes. We went in a few of the tombs of the princes, and there is a startling difference between the valley of the kings, these tombs are plastered then painted whereas the kings are carved out of the rock then painted. The paintings here are fresh as the day they were painted, the dry air helps to keep these tombs preserved for the likes of you and me to wonder at.
THE VALLEY of the ARTISANS, all these tombs for kings, queens, princes and nobles need an army of workers to get on with the work and close by is the valley of the Artisans, you can walk around these village ruins so see how big the houses were or not! The workers had to toil for 9 days on the tombs of the kings or queens and had the tenth day off.. to work on their own family tombs, only 5 days off a year!! Only they knew where the entrances to the tombs were and they were kept apart from normal civilisation, they did have their own temple. The tomb of the foreman of the village was very narrow and very steep but the burial chamber paintings were beautifully preserved.
THE TEMPLE of MEDINAT HABU a huge temple to worship Rameses III, somewhat deliberately destroyed in 1862 and the stone used to build a sugar refinery. This temple is very different to all the others we have visited, the carvings were very much deeper almost 6inches and enough for pigeons to nest in. The Pharaohs had a habit of obliterating the reliefs of their predecessors so mindful of this Rameses had his carvings made deeper so he would be left alone in his afterlife. He succeeded too.
GREASING. This is a term I would use for the experience you feel when somebody whose paid job it is to be around the tombs holds their palm out for a tip for even the slightest thing. Some are quite brazen when they say just wait a moment for the others to go then you can take photos. And some are quite aggressive about it too. You just have to be firm and say no and mean it hold your fingers to your lips and shh they get the message.
We drove back over the across the bridge on the Nile negotiating yet another traffic jam as people jostled for spaces in the queue for petrol and followed a convoy of tractors with the harvested sugar cane balancing precariously on their trailers. Children and teenagers were filching cane as they slowed to go around bends and then sat on walls stripping and chewing the cane.
We had to stop for a money change visit to the bank, just as the teller had counted out the money I had to change the power failed again, “I’m sorry sir I can’t give you any money” you have to laugh really, walking off to get in the car the teller came running out and said it’s OK the power is on. Another experience to remember.
Friday 15 February 2013
day 4 Luxor
15 February day 4 LUXOR CITY Today it was a walk around the city and temple of Luxor. First was the museum of Luxor that drew our attention, sited on the banks of the Nile the museum holds many, many treasures from ancient Egypt including items taken from the tomb of Tutenkamen the golden head of Hathor is displayed in splendid isolation and looks stunning.
There are many statues of different types and sizes, different Kings and Queens all displayed very well indeed and we spent an hour and a half easily inside just spellbound. I should have expected some grease but not in the manner of a guard saying “psst, look at this statue very beautiful no? …. You want to take a photo? Photography is not allowed but…. I resisted the temptation.
MOSQUE of LUXOR we were privileged to be able to enter the Luxor temple Mosque, a mosque built right on top of the temple 800 years ago, the huge columns of the temple form part of the structure of the mosque. It is the only mosque in the whole of Egypt built onto an ancient temple.
PAPYRUS GALLERY – we spent a little time at a papyrus gallery saw a demonstration of making the stuff and yes we did buy some original art work, genuine and Egyptian.
DINNER- we had dinner on a roof top restaurant overlooking the temple and watched the sunset over the east bank of the Nile eating some delicious food watching the boats along the river.
LUXOR TEMPLE- after the sunset we walked around the magnificent floodlit temple. It was breath taking in scale and drama. The uplighting brought the reliefs all along the walls to life, the Pharoahs on their chariots doing battle with the enemies on the front of the temple was dramatic enough but walking down the avenue of the columns of the old temple was simply jaw dropping. The place was built to impress and it still holds that power 3500 years later.
There are many statues of different types and sizes, different Kings and Queens all displayed very well indeed and we spent an hour and a half easily inside just spellbound. I should have expected some grease but not in the manner of a guard saying “psst, look at this statue very beautiful no? …. You want to take a photo? Photography is not allowed but…. I resisted the temptation.
MOSQUE of LUXOR we were privileged to be able to enter the Luxor temple Mosque, a mosque built right on top of the temple 800 years ago, the huge columns of the temple form part of the structure of the mosque. It is the only mosque in the whole of Egypt built onto an ancient temple.
PAPYRUS GALLERY – we spent a little time at a papyrus gallery saw a demonstration of making the stuff and yes we did buy some original art work, genuine and Egyptian.
DINNER- we had dinner on a roof top restaurant overlooking the temple and watched the sunset over the east bank of the Nile eating some delicious food watching the boats along the river.
LUXOR TEMPLE- after the sunset we walked around the magnificent floodlit temple. It was breath taking in scale and drama. The uplighting brought the reliefs all along the walls to life, the Pharoahs on their chariots doing battle with the enemies on the front of the temple was dramatic enough but walking down the avenue of the columns of the old temple was simply jaw dropping. The place was built to impress and it still holds that power 3500 years later.
Thursday 14 February 2013
day 3 Abydos & Dendara
Day 3 Abydos & Dendara It was up for a really early 7am start to travel about 120kms north out of Luxor to visit temples at Abydos and Dendara. That far to travel needs a lot of petrol(gas) and finding some was an adventure before we even set out for our Temples.
Now Egypt is self sufficient in oil but little of it is reaching the petrol stations and then only sporadically. There’s either huge queues outside the few stations who have petrol or the forecourt is closed. Our driver, the resourceful chap, got out by one such station and had a cup of tea with some other local chappies. Making allowances and not getting a little tetchy we waited whilst he chatted. He got back into the car, drove down a narrow alley barely wider than the car and stopped by a doorway. The door opened and a woman stepped out with a 50 litre container a hose and a stick! The stick was to push the safety cap in so that the hose could be inserted and the petrol poured into the tank. With the fuel on board we set off north.
ABYDOS-TEMPLE of SETI I Set I is the father of Rameses II and he is seen here in carved reliefs all around the walls with Horus the falcon headed god and Osiris the Corn god the fertile plain. Speaking of fertile plain we travelled north along the edge of the Nile plain with desert on one side and green fields of clover wheat, tomatoes and sugar cane on the other. One thing I did not expect to see was fields of rape seed, it grows in fields less than a mile from our house in Sussex England. I digress.
The Temple was huge and the quality of the detail of the carvings was extraordinary. It has seven separate procession routes doorways and inner colonnades to seven sanctuaries, each one dedicated to a different god. The internal columns each represented an hour of darkness 12 in all and it is the journey of the sun god at night before he pops up again in the east. A lot of the faces, hands and feet had been deliberately damaged or destroyed by the Romans or early Christians which is a shame but there is more than enough detail and the sheer size of the carvings to leave you slack jawed. Each region of Egypt had their own local god that they worshiped and today each have their own Governance, which explains why we had to go through the local rubbish tip to get to this temple, whereas at Dendara the temple is surrounded by greenery and has a well kept atmosphere.
DENDARA- TEMPLE OF HATHOR The temple to Hathor the goddess of joy, she is usually depicted as having the face of a beautiful woman but with the eyes and ears of a cow, she is everywhere here but again mostly faces are destroyed. The temple was built in Roman era just before AD60 and has many Roman Emperors making offerings to the gods. Cleopatra VII is here (Elizabeth Taylor version) one of the only two reliefs of her in the whole of Egypt. This temple has two unique features in that it has stairs to go up to the top of the temple and a crypt, down very steep narrow steps with a guard who allows you entrance with the usual bit of grease!
ROMANTIC CANDLELIT DINNER. This being Valentine’s day we went into town to find a nice restaurant and had a candle lit dinner. I mean really candle lit! The power on the whole city block blacked out for about 40 minutes! An enjoyable experience all told and I’m being kind when I say that it typifies the nature of the people who just shrug and get on deal with things as best they can with a smile.
Now Egypt is self sufficient in oil but little of it is reaching the petrol stations and then only sporadically. There’s either huge queues outside the few stations who have petrol or the forecourt is closed. Our driver, the resourceful chap, got out by one such station and had a cup of tea with some other local chappies. Making allowances and not getting a little tetchy we waited whilst he chatted. He got back into the car, drove down a narrow alley barely wider than the car and stopped by a doorway. The door opened and a woman stepped out with a 50 litre container a hose and a stick! The stick was to push the safety cap in so that the hose could be inserted and the petrol poured into the tank. With the fuel on board we set off north.
ABYDOS-TEMPLE of SETI I Set I is the father of Rameses II and he is seen here in carved reliefs all around the walls with Horus the falcon headed god and Osiris the Corn god the fertile plain. Speaking of fertile plain we travelled north along the edge of the Nile plain with desert on one side and green fields of clover wheat, tomatoes and sugar cane on the other. One thing I did not expect to see was fields of rape seed, it grows in fields less than a mile from our house in Sussex England. I digress.
The Temple was huge and the quality of the detail of the carvings was extraordinary. It has seven separate procession routes doorways and inner colonnades to seven sanctuaries, each one dedicated to a different god. The internal columns each represented an hour of darkness 12 in all and it is the journey of the sun god at night before he pops up again in the east. A lot of the faces, hands and feet had been deliberately damaged or destroyed by the Romans or early Christians which is a shame but there is more than enough detail and the sheer size of the carvings to leave you slack jawed. Each region of Egypt had their own local god that they worshiped and today each have their own Governance, which explains why we had to go through the local rubbish tip to get to this temple, whereas at Dendara the temple is surrounded by greenery and has a well kept atmosphere.
DENDARA- TEMPLE OF HATHOR The temple to Hathor the goddess of joy, she is usually depicted as having the face of a beautiful woman but with the eyes and ears of a cow, she is everywhere here but again mostly faces are destroyed. The temple was built in Roman era just before AD60 and has many Roman Emperors making offerings to the gods. Cleopatra VII is here (Elizabeth Taylor version) one of the only two reliefs of her in the whole of Egypt. This temple has two unique features in that it has stairs to go up to the top of the temple and a crypt, down very steep narrow steps with a guard who allows you entrance with the usual bit of grease!
ROMANTIC CANDLELIT DINNER. This being Valentine’s day we went into town to find a nice restaurant and had a candle lit dinner. I mean really candle lit! The power on the whole city block blacked out for about 40 minutes! An enjoyable experience all told and I’m being kind when I say that it typifies the nature of the people who just shrug and get on deal with things as best they can with a smile.
Wednesday 13 February 2013
day 2 Valley of The Kings & the West Bank
Feb 13 2013 West Bank Valley of the Kings Day 2 A trip to the west bank of the Nile with our own guide called Gabriel he and his wife are Christians, a minority in Egypt but 12million of them. So it was quite an early start leaving the hotel at 8am even so when we got to the Valley of the Kings there were a lot of coaches parked up from the cruise boats.
The valley of the Kings is quite small but 64 tombs in total, not all of which are open to the general public. Before you get to the ticket office there is the bazaar to get through, treat as the gift shop and ignore all the men pushing stuff in your face that is over priced and made in China.
You pay your entry fees to get into the valley and that gains entry to three tombs, you can chose which you go to and in what order except that Tutenkahamun is an extra cost. We gave him a swerve and saw Rameses II , IV and IX, these were the biggest we could get into on the day. In the entrance hall of the visitor centre there is a glass and resin relief of the valley with the tombs underneath. Some of the tombs go really deep into the mountain.
I didn’t expect to get greased in the tombs themselves but there are men there with torches and if you stop and look at anything in any detail they are right there and of course that comes with a tip! Some of the detail of the paintings and carvings in the tombs is fantastic and as our guide had explained things before we went in we were much more in tune with all the stories, characters and gods.
Knowing what the stories are behind the paintings etc puts you into the heads of the people who put them there 3500 years ago. You had to pinch yourself sometimes to remember that they were that old. Next stop was the local alabaster factory, a good demonstration of local craftsmen working away a bit of a show really before being shown into a warehouse full of copies of Egyptian characters for you to take home. It’s not what we’re looking for. We go for local art, something that has been painted that we can look at when we get home.
Last stop was the Necropolis of Hapsetshut Queen of Egypt. The place is huge and partly hacked out of the mountain that faces the Nile, we can see the place floodlit from out hotel garden. Our guide explained how this now hot, rocky temple complex was once full of greenery with trees from every area that was ruled by the Queen and smells of precious spices to help the gods bring good fortune. Alas the Pharoah who followed her decided she’d got a bit above herself by declaring herself Queen and so destroyed a lot of the frescos and columns depicting her features.
Centuries later archaeologists are painstakingly restoring it. Today they were continuing to work and we spoke to one who was excavating what they’d hoped was one of the plinths of a row of sphinx but had only come across an ancient pit which had scraps of broken statuary from the period of destruction. It was still enthralling for us though to see these ancient “scraps” as they were being uncovered.
The West bank of the Nile is the place for death and only Temples to the dead were built here, the east bank of the Nile was the place for life and where the people lived. The sun rises in east and sets in the west, quite simple really, life rises and death sets.
I must say a little more about the hotel last night, there were some local Egyptians but they had brought with them their own drinks, McDonalds beakers !! from the centre of Luxor town The entertainment in the bar was a single singer with some good kit and quite a wide repertoire. There were a couple of lasses about 25 years old and the look of utter amazement and not a little shock as all the around the bar baby boomers were jiving and twisting to songs from the sixties!
The valley of the Kings is quite small but 64 tombs in total, not all of which are open to the general public. Before you get to the ticket office there is the bazaar to get through, treat as the gift shop and ignore all the men pushing stuff in your face that is over priced and made in China.
You pay your entry fees to get into the valley and that gains entry to three tombs, you can chose which you go to and in what order except that Tutenkahamun is an extra cost. We gave him a swerve and saw Rameses II , IV and IX, these were the biggest we could get into on the day. In the entrance hall of the visitor centre there is a glass and resin relief of the valley with the tombs underneath. Some of the tombs go really deep into the mountain.
I didn’t expect to get greased in the tombs themselves but there are men there with torches and if you stop and look at anything in any detail they are right there and of course that comes with a tip! Some of the detail of the paintings and carvings in the tombs is fantastic and as our guide had explained things before we went in we were much more in tune with all the stories, characters and gods.
Knowing what the stories are behind the paintings etc puts you into the heads of the people who put them there 3500 years ago. You had to pinch yourself sometimes to remember that they were that old. Next stop was the local alabaster factory, a good demonstration of local craftsmen working away a bit of a show really before being shown into a warehouse full of copies of Egyptian characters for you to take home. It’s not what we’re looking for. We go for local art, something that has been painted that we can look at when we get home.
Last stop was the Necropolis of Hapsetshut Queen of Egypt. The place is huge and partly hacked out of the mountain that faces the Nile, we can see the place floodlit from out hotel garden. Our guide explained how this now hot, rocky temple complex was once full of greenery with trees from every area that was ruled by the Queen and smells of precious spices to help the gods bring good fortune. Alas the Pharoah who followed her decided she’d got a bit above herself by declaring herself Queen and so destroyed a lot of the frescos and columns depicting her features.
Centuries later archaeologists are painstakingly restoring it. Today they were continuing to work and we spoke to one who was excavating what they’d hoped was one of the plinths of a row of sphinx but had only come across an ancient pit which had scraps of broken statuary from the period of destruction. It was still enthralling for us though to see these ancient “scraps” as they were being uncovered.
The West bank of the Nile is the place for death and only Temples to the dead were built here, the east bank of the Nile was the place for life and where the people lived. The sun rises in east and sets in the west, quite simple really, life rises and death sets.
I must say a little more about the hotel last night, there were some local Egyptians but they had brought with them their own drinks, McDonalds beakers !! from the centre of Luxor town The entertainment in the bar was a single singer with some good kit and quite a wide repertoire. There were a couple of lasses about 25 years old and the look of utter amazement and not a little shock as all the around the bar baby boomers were jiving and twisting to songs from the sixties!
Tuesday 12 February 2013
Egypt day 1
Egypt travel blog Feb 12 Ok not Tudor but ancient history instead. Luxor Our first full day in Egypt, well Luxor to be exact was relaxing and frustrating in equal measure. But first the flight from Gatwick yesterday was an hour and a half late taking off partly due to the snao and the fact that the de-icing machine broke down! which meant that we landed in the dark at Luxor so perhaps we didn’t get the full experience of flying in over the jebels. A jebel is an Arabic word meaning a rocky mountain looming out of the desert, Learnt that when we lived in Oman many years ago).
Rip off number one occurred at the airport, as soon as we entered the building there were reps holding up your name boards and ushered you to the right queue for your visa. Sitting under a big green sign stating that Visa’s are a £10 note or $15 handed over with your passport before you get to immigration, “ please take your note away and pay me on the bus outside “ Ok fair enough, outside the airport with our luggage we were directed to our transfer bus, where the driver put it on board and promptly asked for a tip, No this wasn’t rip off No one! that came on the bus when the tour rep who gave us the visa inside the airport asked for £12!!
The Hotel Soffitel Karnac is a nice enough tourist hotel catering mainly for French Italian German and British tourists. It sits on the East bank of the River Nile about 5kms north of Luxor town, it has a heated outdoor pool, pool bar, outdoor theatre, restaurant overlooking the Nile, Gym. Sauna, and some tennis courts. Like I said a nice enough place but I can’t see the local business elite holding their monthly meetings here. Our orientation meeting was set for 2pm, so with the hotel offering a shuttle bus and boat service to its sister hotel in town we decided to get the bus downtown and boat ride back. The Rough Guide tells you to beware of touts but nothing really prepares you for the constant hasseling every thirty seconds or so. You cannot stop and look at street signs without someone on a motorbike stopping and trying to sell you an English newspaper or a barouche driver with a scrawny horse trying to get you to hop on board for a cheap price. Taxi drivers, felucca boats rides etc. etc. It was unrelenting, even kids offering small packets of tissues and clinging onto your wrists and pretending to cry.
We escaped into the mummification museum just to get some peace. This is a nice little museum with some genuine artefacts on display with a mummy, and some grave goods of the nobles found hereabouts. It was somewhat a relief to get on board the boat back to the hotel, even there getting off the boatman held his palm out when we disembarked. The river Nile here is about 400m across not much wider than the Thames at Dartford and quite a slow current, a bit of a disappointment really even compared to the Rhine at Dusseldorf. The temperature of 23C made up for that though.
It was a gentle trip back to the hotel for Iunch and the reps meeting and passing the Temple of Karnac which we will visit later in the week. Narrow as the Nile is there are a huge number of Nile cruise ships tied up along the whole of the corniche, 6 or 7 deep all moored up and no tourists to go on them. And some were right in front of the Karnac Temple so no photo op there then. Lets hope we have more photo ops during the week.
The relaxing part of the day was sitting poolside and just letting life go by for a couple of hours. So we now have a plan for the week of where we want to go and who we want to go with. More tomorrow!
Rip off number one occurred at the airport, as soon as we entered the building there were reps holding up your name boards and ushered you to the right queue for your visa. Sitting under a big green sign stating that Visa’s are a £10 note or $15 handed over with your passport before you get to immigration, “ please take your note away and pay me on the bus outside “ Ok fair enough, outside the airport with our luggage we were directed to our transfer bus, where the driver put it on board and promptly asked for a tip, No this wasn’t rip off No one! that came on the bus when the tour rep who gave us the visa inside the airport asked for £12!!
The Hotel Soffitel Karnac is a nice enough tourist hotel catering mainly for French Italian German and British tourists. It sits on the East bank of the River Nile about 5kms north of Luxor town, it has a heated outdoor pool, pool bar, outdoor theatre, restaurant overlooking the Nile, Gym. Sauna, and some tennis courts. Like I said a nice enough place but I can’t see the local business elite holding their monthly meetings here. Our orientation meeting was set for 2pm, so with the hotel offering a shuttle bus and boat service to its sister hotel in town we decided to get the bus downtown and boat ride back. The Rough Guide tells you to beware of touts but nothing really prepares you for the constant hasseling every thirty seconds or so. You cannot stop and look at street signs without someone on a motorbike stopping and trying to sell you an English newspaper or a barouche driver with a scrawny horse trying to get you to hop on board for a cheap price. Taxi drivers, felucca boats rides etc. etc. It was unrelenting, even kids offering small packets of tissues and clinging onto your wrists and pretending to cry.
We escaped into the mummification museum just to get some peace. This is a nice little museum with some genuine artefacts on display with a mummy, and some grave goods of the nobles found hereabouts. It was somewhat a relief to get on board the boat back to the hotel, even there getting off the boatman held his palm out when we disembarked. The river Nile here is about 400m across not much wider than the Thames at Dartford and quite a slow current, a bit of a disappointment really even compared to the Rhine at Dusseldorf. The temperature of 23C made up for that though.
It was a gentle trip back to the hotel for Iunch and the reps meeting and passing the Temple of Karnac which we will visit later in the week. Narrow as the Nile is there are a huge number of Nile cruise ships tied up along the whole of the corniche, 6 or 7 deep all moored up and no tourists to go on them. And some were right in front of the Karnac Temple so no photo op there then. Lets hope we have more photo ops during the week.
The relaxing part of the day was sitting poolside and just letting life go by for a couple of hours. So we now have a plan for the week of where we want to go and who we want to go with. More tomorrow!
Tuesday 29 January 2013
London weekend
London weekend
We had quite a full weekend in London last week, first off we went to the national Portrait Gallery to see the portrait newly identified as Catherine of Aragon. There she sits right next to a portrait of Henry painted at the same time and she couldn’t be anyone else. I don’t know why she wasn’t identified years ago.
The NPG was a bit crowded so we didn’t linger too long but went off to see the Old Operating Theatre at St Thomas’ hospital near London Bridge. Really fascinating, was used up to about 1860 then got left bricked up and forgotten about for 100 years until someone climbed in through a window 15 feet above an adjacent roof in 1956. It in the top of a church tower and has a large glass roof and is set out just like a theatre with tiered standing rows in a horseshoe. There’s also a herb garret (attic) with old remedies & cures and lots of old operating instruments to see. Worth while going to see for an hour if you are passing by
.For dinner we went to Bel Canto a splendid restaurant in Lancaster gate. Fine French cooking and every 15 minutes or so the waiting staff sing opera. NO really! they are trained opera singers and we had two females and three males singing some great opera. With some drinking songs for audience participation too.
Sunday it was nice and sunny so a slow stroll along the Thames brought us to the Tate modern. Now try as I might, OK I’m a philistine! I did look with open mind and heart but I just don’t get nearly all of it. Take an example -- Square tube exhibit-- no its just some old ventilation duct rescued from a skip and leant against a wall, and as for the room full of dinosaur poo ….where’s the art I ask. There was one room of photos with an industry and architecture theme and yes some if the photos were brilliant, shadows and angles etc but for the most part it was just dull scribbling on the walls.
All too soon we had to travel back to Sussex and home but a great weekend in London
Wednesday 23 January 2013
Hampton Court palace in the snow
An out of the usual season visit to Hampton Court Palace for the day and snow lay all about crisp and even but not too deep.
The snow had the advantage that most of the tourists stayed away so we had a great time wandering around with not too many people getting in the way. The gardens were closed off due to the ice and snow but the warm inside of the palace made up for that.
The day at court series of play-lets was about King Henry VIII trying to woo Jane Seymour. With her brothers help, he set about trying to convince her of his love whilst plotting to get rid of Anne Boleyn. He gave her some money (taken from the brother of course. Which she refused playing the long game. The characters are really great and in the setting that the events actually took place makes the whole palace come alive and for the kids it's a brilliant way to learn and observe history. One youngster was given the task of presenting the gift on behalf of the King to Jane Seymour.
We didn't see the end of the series as we had a thoroughly entertaining, informative and interesting two hours at the Royal school of Needlework.
The school has it's base at the Palace and it is the 140th year anniversary of it's founding this year. We saw some excellent craft from bygone years and there were some students sewing in the studio so we were able to chat about their work. It was quite incredible to see a person working with gold thread, yes actual gold thread! triple wound for strength and sewn without the aid of a magnifying glass. Under great secrecy in 2011, The ladies there were the people who sewed the wedding dress for Kate Middleton yes that dress! but shhhh! I can't tell you any more about it.
We finished the day off with a splendid three course dinner and an excellent bottle of wine at the Mitre Hotel just opposite the Palace finishing off with coffee and tea in the minstrels library before donning our overcoats for the journey back to central London.
Areallt great day all round and thanks to the ladies at The RSN
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