Another 3-1/2 hour bus ride today, this time from the port of Safaga on the Gulf of Suez to the city of Luxor on the Nile River.
In the first 90 minutes of our trip, we crossed the Eastern Desert. Large barren outcrops of granite gave form to a lifeless countryside. The only vegetation I saw was the occasional clump of grass on the desert floor. There was no plant or animal life on the hillsides. If it weren’t for the occasional security checkpoint, you’d think the place was completely uninhabited. As before, traveling on our bus was an armed policeman from the Ministry of Tourism.
Then we approached the city of Qena, and suddenly we were in the fertile valley of the Nile. We turned south along a road that paralleled the east bank of a 19th century irrigation canal, through a distinctly rural area that looked as if it hadn’t changed too much in the last 200 years. Date palms lined the road, and corn and alfalfa grew in fields behind the houses east of the road. Men wore one-piece gray robes called gallibayas. A man in each settlement along the way stood or sat with a long rifle. Each town appointed one such man to act as its protector. Donkeys pulling carts or ridden by old men trotted up and down both sides of the road.
Luxor
We crossed the Nile on a bridge and saw the Avenue of the Sphinxes, a recently-uncovered way linking the Karnak temple complex and the temple at Luxor, both part of the ancient city of Thebes. The enormous Karnak complex was not far away. Our guide Abraham told us that the full temple covered an area equal in size to about 30 cathedrals.
Passing through the main gate, we entered the courtyard lined by dozens of statues of rams and lions, and then into the Hypostyle Hall, a virtual forest of amazing columns, all engraved with hieroglyphics. Our guide pointed out one bearing cartouches with the names of Ramses II. We were surprised at the colors that could still be discerned on these columns despite 35 centuries of exposure to the elements.
In the Holy of Holies nearby, where the pharaoh would have made his annual offering to the gods, I noticed a pattern of hieroglyphics high on one wall that looked like many rockets launching toward the stars on the ceiling. I know it was just the play of light and shadow that prevented me from seeing the full symbols, but it was a strange sight at first!
We looked at the obelisks erected for Queen Hatshetsup. We marveled at the engineering needed to extract an immense piece of granite from a mountain several hundred miles away, take it down the Nile, erect it vertically, and then carve the text into the rock face.
It was 104°, but fortunately it was dry and windy, which helped keep us from overheating. Nonetheless, a few people from the ship succumbed to the heat and came close to fainting. It’ll be interesting to see how people do as our journey takes us farther south in the coming days and weeks.
The Valley of the Kings
We ate a delicious buffet lunch at the Hotel Maritim Jolie Ville, entertained by musicians playing traditional instruments – a double reed, drum, tambourine, and a rababah- a bowed stringed drone. (“They’ll play for $5. It costs $50 to get them to stop playing.”)
From there, it was a 45-minute ride to the Valley of the Kings. The magnificence of the mountainside setting can’t be conveyed in words or pictures. I could understand why the kings of ancient Egypt chose it as the place where they would wait for their crossing over to the afterlife.
The visitor center had a large Fiberglas model of the slope of the mountainside. On one side of the model, you could see the tomb locations and entrances marked. But crossing around to the other side of the model, the size and orientation of the excavated tombs showed how they had been tunneled into the hills.
A short tram ride took us up to the entrance of the tomb complex. Even though it wasn’t more than a couple hundred yards from the visitor center, I was grateful not to have to walk it so that I could conserve my strength in the heat and sun. Abraham explained what we’d see in the first of the three tombs he’d chosen for us, that of Rameses IV.
As soon as we entered the tomb, we were astounded at the variety of vibrant colors along the walls and ceilings. Large pictures illustrated important aspects of the pharaoh’s life and the Egyptian theology. But what really amazed me was the detail that went into every single hieroglyph carved into the walls. Each was brightly painted, a work of art on its own.
We learned from our guides here and in Cairo that the two most important things a pharaoh needed to take with him at death were his name and his face. Both were necessary so that his soul could find him and be reunited with him in the afterlife. So even though these tombs had been sealed after the burial, hopefully never to be opened again by a mortal human, the texts and illustrations were important to ensure that the pharaoh’s soul knew what to do so that it could be reunited with the pharaoh after the last judgment.
The tomb passageways were wider, and certainly much taller, than I expected, but it was crowded in there. It also wasn’t any cooler than the outside, but it was nice to be out of the brutal sun.
Visitors are limited to only 15-20 minutes in each tomb, and you are only allowed to visit three of them in a day. Both measures are designed to limit the damage caused to the tomb illustrations by the humidity of visitors’ breath. A recent policy change allows you to take photos inside the tombs, but you must first purchase a permit for 300 Egyptian Pounds (about $18 US). No flashes are allowed. These policies are strictly enforced inside the tombs.
We next visited the tomb of Rameses IX. The ceiling colors were not quite as striking as those at the tomb of Rameses IV, but the illustrations on the walls were more elaborate.
Our third and final tomb, at our guide’s special suggestion because Jane and I appeared to be in better shape than other people in our group, was a visit to the tomb of Ramses III. Here, the people digging the tomb initially ran into the hall from another tomb. So, they had to make a dogleg to the right and then run parallel to the other tomb.
It was an amazing sight. I’m so glad I had the opportunity to see it for myself.
We stopped by the Colossi of Memnon in Luxor on our way back. After having seen the vastness of Karnak and the sweeping panorama of the Valley of the Kings, we were not as impressed as we should have been by the Colossi.
They stood in a low area off to the side of the road. Jane said it reminded her of the Alamo and how small it seemed compared to the urban blight around it.
Our drive home took us back through the eastern desert as the sun set and the full moon rose. I wished we could have stopped for a while to have a cup of tea in the moonlight somewhere out in the desert. Actually, since we were do far from any cities, I wished that the moon hadn’t been out at all, and I could enjoy the splendor of the stars in a dark sky!
What an amazing day. The heat and long bus ride were well worth it. Abraham was the best guide we’ve had on any of our tours, and the sights were beyond compare.
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