| Submitted by: Evelyn C. Leeper, United States |
| Submission Date: 04 February 2005 |
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When this excitement was over, we went to bed while the boat continued on to Luxor, arriving about 4 AM. A series of problems and poor planning meant that we did most of our sailing when we didn't have a chance to see anything.
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This was it. The big one. The high point of the trip (or at least of the Egypt part). The Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the Queens (or Queans, as Tom said), the Temple of Karnak, the Temple of Luxor. So we were all out promptly at 7 AM to get on the buses. There were no buses. In fact, we weren't even in Luxor, but a few miles upstream. So we spent an hour getting increasingly angry at Jane, Travcoa, the ship, and anyone else who contributed to this mess. Rather than give you all the gory details I will just say that at 8 AM a ferry came to take us to the buses across the river. Jane immediately told us that we would get back for lunch an hour later so no sightseeing would be dropped or shortened. This placated us enough that we didn't lynch her on the spot.
We drove west toward the Valley of the Kings. Our first stop was at the Colossi of Memnon, two giant stone statues which at one time probably flanked the road to the Valley of the Queens and other areas at the edge of the Western Desert. Now they sit partially ruined, in the middle of a cane field.
We then proceeded to the Valley of the Queens and in particular the tomb of Queen Hatshepsut. On the way we passed many houses with brightly decorated fronts. These are the homes of those who have made the pilgrimage to Mecca and often have a picture of a plane or a ship to show how they got there.
ueen Hatshepsut ruled in her own right around 1475 B.C.; until Ptolemaic times, there were few female rulers. Her mortuary temple (as opposed to a cult temple, which were most of what we had seen to date) is three-tiered and surrounded on three sides by high desert cliffs. With its facade of simple square columns, it looks more like a public library than a pharaonic tomb. A lot of restoration work is going on; the Polish are currently working on reconstructing the third level.
We had a group photo taken here, being a somewhat better backdrop than the ship's lounge. Then back to the bus where we had to wait for one person who was still shopping (there's always one!). But finally Mark got back and we could leave.
We stopped next at the Tomb of Khaemwese. I helped Rabia negotiate with a Spanish-speaking group as to who would go in first (we let them go first). It was very hot, partly because the white rocks of the hills and cliffs in which the tombs were cut reflected a lot of heat and light.
It was really surprising how well-preserved the tombs are, especially the colors. It is true that they have been protected from light for thousands of years, but it is still amazing to see. Khaemwese was the eldest son of Rameses III and died while he was still a child. So in the pictures he is shown with the long lock of hair that boys wore until they were circumcised (about 12 or 13). Also, Khaemwese is being presented to the gods by his father, rather than standing on his own. The tomb itself is about the size of a small house inside, though the ceilings are higher than normal ceilings. And it's even hotter inside the tomb because there is no ventilation or air flow (the mummy certainly wouldn't need it!). The attendant/guard walked around fanning us with the foil-covered cardboard he had which he also used to reflect light from the entrance at the end of the main tunnel onto the walls and into the side rooms. Again, I'm sure you don't want detailed descriptions and layouts for everything we see; read Murnane's GUIDE TO ANCIENT EGYPT published by Penguin if you do.
From the Valley of the Queens we went to the Valley of the Kings, passing the Ramesesseum (or Medinet Habu) on the way. This is Rameses II's mortuary temple and had been listed on our itinerary but we didn't stop. (It looked like it might be currently closed to the public.)
Then on to the main part of the Valley of the Kings, a cluster of several tombs around the 'Temple of Coca-Cola,' as Rabia called it. (Actually the snack bar served Sport Cola.) We went first to Tut-ankh-amen's Tomb, discovered in 1922 virtually intact. All the other tombs had been plundered, but the only grave robbers to find Tut's Tomb were discovered in the act and the tomb resealed, this shortly after the original burial. Then it remained hidden, in part because the rubble from another tomb had been piled on top of it a few hundred years later and this concealed it. Having seen all that was found in the tomb, we were expecting something much larger. The antechamber is about 12 feet by twenty feet and the main chamber the same, with two tiny rooms, one off each of the larger ones. The walls still had all (or almost all) of the gold paint and the mummy case was displayed here. They are very strict about photography here. In all the other tombs they merely tell you not to take photos; here they make you check your camera at the entrance.
After this we went into the Tomb of Rameses III, a much larger (longer) tomb than the first. This has a dogleg where the diggers ran into an earlier tomb. It probably also deterred grave robbers for a while, but not entirely, since this tomb was also empty when recently rediscovered.
We had about twenty minutes on our own after that, so Mark and I went into the Tomb of Amenhotep II. This was not a straight-line tomb like the others, but made a right-angle turn halfway in. It also had three sets of descending stairs. When we finally got to the pillared hall where the sarcophagus is kept, I understood the phrase 'quiet as a mummy's tomb.' In the other tombs and in the pyramid you could hear other tourists so it never hit you how that many tons of rock would block out all sound.
Climbing back up those three flights of stairs in the heat made me decide to visit the 'Temple of Coca-Cola.' Then back to the bus. Mark did some haggling on the way and picked up some more statues. Why does he keep buying rocks. Our suitcase will weigh a ton!
On the ferry back to the ship, Tom bought a stone head (of Akhenaten?) from an extremely persistent vendor about ten years old. When Mark said he might buy a head, Tom said he really didn't want this one and sold it to him at cost. More rocks!
After lunch we went to the Temple of Karnak, outside Luxor. This for me was the high point of our time in Egypt. It is not a single temple really, but a multi-acre, multi-temple complex. We entered through the gate at one end of the Avenue of the Sphinxes (these are ram-headed rather than human-headed) and proceeded through the hypostyle hall with its 134 columns, so big that one hundred men could have stood on the top of one, and over seventy feet tall. We saw the two remaining obelisks; the rest have been taken to such places as New York, London, Paris, and Rome. This dispersal is bad in that it is removing some of Egypt's cultural heritage (frequently with absolutely no compensation), yet the argument can be made that it is humanity's cultural heritage and if it all stayed in Egypt only a few people would be able to see it. And certainly there are things that cannot be moved--the Pyramids, the Sphinx, and the Temple of Karnak. You could wander around for hours and not see everything. That from the first construction to the final additions took 2000 years of almost continual work may give you some idea of its size. The Pyramids and Sphinx are one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (aside--I wonder who picked the list), but I have to agree that Karnak surpasses them.
One of the things that makes seeing these monuments less spiritual than it might be is that everywhere you go, guards and attendants want to point out interesting things and then want (demand, practically) baksheesh--a tip. Now, I can understand this for staff in hotels and restaurants, but when civil servants have to do this to earn a decent living--and I suspect they do--that tells me that the economy is not all it should be. I would be happier if the government raised the admission price for all the monuments, or at least raised it for non-Egyptians. $1.50 or so to get into the Cairo Museum is dirt-cheap. But I suppose even if they doubled it and paid the guards better, baksheesh is too ingrained a concept in the culture. One could have a spectrum of tipping with Egypt near one end and Iceland at the other (they run after you with your change if you leave it). China was near Iceland but is apparently shifting away.
After Karnak we went to the Temple of Luxor at the other end of the Avenue of the Sphinxes. The middle section of the avenue is missing, having been supplanted over the years by the town spreading out. Some fragments can be seen here and there between the buildings.
Though smaller than Karnak, the Temple of Luxor is interesting for having had within it a mosque and a Coptic church. The mosque is even still in use.
After an early dinner we went back to Karnak for the Sound and Light Show. For this one you walk through the halls and courtyards as it proceeds and finish up seated by the sacred lake. Though the end part dragged a little, it was still much better than the show at Giza. Towards the end we had a lot of competition from the minarets of Luxor because of the Prophet's Birthday on Saturday or Sunday (we get conflicting information). It formed an interesting counterpoint but was at the same time distracting. We bought the audio cassette so we can try it later without distractions, but unfortunately in New Jersey instead of Karnak. When we got back to the boat we finished packing and went to bed.
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This morning we flew back to Cairo. It shouldn't surprise you that the flight was late. On the way to the hotel, I told Mark and Tom what we should have done was tell the boat's captain the first day that we didn't like the food and ask if we could eat with the crew. They liked the idea but Jane said she would have died.
We had lunch with Tom and ordered all the Egyptian food on the menu we could find. Mizzeh is a Middle Eastern version of the pu-pu platter (which is a Chinese smorgasbord) and has an assortment of appetizers: hummous, baba ganough, korbeba, and so on. Then we decided to go back to the Khan-al-Kalili Bazaar. Basically this was us tagging along with Tom--he arranged for the taxi and all. For a taxi, you tell them how many hours you want them for, end-to-end, then negotiate a price and pay them afterwards. If you pay them when you get out to do shopping or whatever, they have no incentive to wait.
We walked around for about an hour. We started in the tourist section and Tom bought a couple of things. It was fun watching him bargain though he may be something of an easy mark because he doesn't press them very hard. For one shop we ended up going up a narrow flight of stairs to a small brass shop on the second floor. There are a lot of these 'second-story jobs' that not many tourists know about or see.
Gradually we found ourselves out of the tourist section and into the real market area where there were piles of onions, stands selling food, a stand where people could burn incense, people fixing engines, etc. It was fascinating to watch and because I was a woman no one really bothered me. Everyone said hello to Tom and Mark, though, stroking their chins because of the matching beards. |
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