Day 4 - Tombs & Temples of Luxor

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Sorry everyone, I've been journaling during my travels but due to some issues logging into this site, I have not kept up here... 

But if you're still interested, Day 4 unfolded somewhat like this:

Morning view

So my sister and brother-in-law DVR-ed a few history channel movies for me before I left that got me even more excited about my trip. One of those had been about the Valley of the Kings and the other about Queen Hatshepsut and her reign and her temple and tomb. To be here and to be able to get a much better feeling for what this was like had me really excited. I was giving hotel-related tours one more try to help me get the most out of my day here. I knew it would be easier, and the hotel had promised no more than 10 people maximum, so there was hope. 

Darth

Colossi of Memnon

We started close enough to on time departure at 8 AM for me not to complain. Our guide was excellent. He gave us a history lesson on our way to the Colossi of Memnon. I'm not sure if anyone else thinks so, but the one to the right looks a LOT like Darth Vader to me. Hmmm... anyway, the story here is that in ancient times the statues sang, due to a crack in the stone and the wind hitting it just right. Of course, there was a temple to go along with the statues, but now all that remains are the ruins. The group was really small, with only six people and our guide so really manageable.

Given our start time of 8 AM, we hit Hatshepsut's temple along with the masses at a little after 9:30-ish. I now understand why the government is cycling through tombs and monuments, giving them resting periods. I guess it was to be expected, but even in a site that large, the amount of people who were in the same space was incredible. But Hatshepsut and her Architect knew how to pick their site. The mountain rising behind it dwarfs the temple in scale; but when you stand in front of the colonnade, the size of it, and the statues of the queen, rise in front of you and appear colossal in comparison. With a picture-perfect blue sky, it's hard to imagine all of the politicking that went on behind the scenes in Hatshepsut's time. Her stepson, whom she kept from ascending the throne for a number of years, took out his anger at this by trying to erase her form from all of the statues and carvings. Once again, I'm struck by the brilliant colors that have survived for over 2,000 years while exposed to the elements. We still struggle to do that with all of our techonology today, and the service life of our buildings is 60-80 years, and in a lot of cases a lot less, whereas this civilization built for eternity.

Next: Valley of the Kings. I hope I have the chance to return to this area in the future. I can see having a great time doing the trail from Hatshepsut's temple over to VoK, along with a number of the other things I couldn't get to in one day. What I've seen only whets my appetite for more. We saw the requisite three tombs at VoK. Our guide did an excellent job of explaining the things we should be looking out for, as he couldn't come with us inside the tombs. Since I was there, I shelled out the extra to visit King Tut's final resting place. All of the treasures form his tomb have been removed, and a lot of them are back home in NYC's King Tut exhibit, but his mummy is inside and I saw his shriveled up head and feet - the rest are covered by a white cloth. His sarcophagus and the outermost wood gilded with gold coffin also still remain. The tomb is pretty unadorned, as he died so young and his reign was not very long. The king started work on his tomb as he assumed his crown. The other tombs we saw were really colorful. All of them came with this odor that actually made me a little nauseous.

Oh yes, and the no photos in VoK ban is still in affect. It really is too bad, but I understand the reasoning. It's usually people who pay no attention to signage that bans photographs or flash photography. I do wish they would allow photographs within the valley itself, though. The location is stunning, with hills surrounding the area and lots of stones. Since I can't bring back photographs, I pick up a little stone for my "souvenir".

We enter into two more tombs that are part of our ticket, and are both intricately decorated with hieroglyphics and colors that are still so brilliant, even after hundreds of years. Then it's on to Valley of Queens. OUr ticket gets us into three tombs, and only three are open. Unfortunately, Queen Nefertari's tomb is resting, so not open for viewing. This is one of the nicest-looking tombs. There is a lot of similarity between what I saw in Valley of the Kings, and similar concepts in what the Knig and Queen and their travels through demons and good and bad snakes and then the resurrection with the sun. The same dieties appear over again in both King and Queen tombs, and with repetition i begin to understand and pick out the major Egyptian pantheon of Gods and Godesses. It's interesting to note that the types of Gods that are a part of Egyptian mythology are so similar to Greek and Roman mythologies as well.

After Valley of the Queens, the tour is at an end, and the guide suggests a felucca / ferry trip across the Nile as a shortcut back to our hotel vs. the long 40-minute ride back. This works for everyone, and for 2EGP per person we are away and back at the hotel. Our next tour to Karnak is not supposed to be until 3:30, but we find out that in fact it begins at 3:00. Hmmm... it's a quick run out for koshary, recommended by our hotel staff. Unfortunately, directions are not their strong suit, but a few questions from locals and we have our containers and are back at the hotel to chow down.

For the next tour, we are in luck as the group is even smaller: it's just Andrea and I and our guide Mohammad, and the driver. This afternoon we will be taking in Karnak temple, the largest temple complex of the ancient Egyptians. Nearly every pharaoh supposedly added to the construction, so there are hundreds of years of history, and we have only two hours to appreciate it. Our guide is excellent, and he packs in nearly 4,000 years of history in our two hours. Unfortunately by now I'm a little glazed over by tombs and temples - what I get for packing in millenia of history in one day - but I am awed again by the construction of the columns in the temple that have survived for this length of time. The columns themselves are massive and the forest of them tower above us, carved in a language that only a few understand in this day.

With dusk, and the evening call to prayer, our tour is at an end, and as we leave, we go around the scarab beetle sculpture three times for luck upon our guide's insistence, feeling a little dumb doing so, but when in Egypt... Back at the hotel, I have a few hours before my departure for Cairo on the 10:15 pm night train, so it's a quick dinner by the river Nile and cab ride. The scarab beetle walk around results in good luck for me: I have no roommate in my room. The train arrives on time, and I'm off to spend my last three days in Egypt in Cairo.