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.
Monday 25 February 2013
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!
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