Adventure Days · Egypt

Adventure Day 3: Luxor, Egypt

We woke up early today to meet our guide at 8:30. Breakfast at the hotel is everyone’s favorite. Today was a lot better since we were earlier and beat the crowds. Our guide had a full day planned for us.

He took us to the Nile, so we could save the drive over to the West Bank.

We went to Medinet Habu for our first temple. It was incredible the detail, and how there was very few other people there.

The deep carvings are Ramesses III name, so no one could remove them.
The colors on the ceiling are still so vibrant after 4,000 years.
We’re classy!

From here we went to Ramesseum. It’s known for the giant statue of Ramesses II, that is now fallen and in three pieces.

We had the place to ourselves.
You can see the feet of the giant statue to the left of the tree.
The remains of the giant statue on the right.
R was tired and went back to the van with the guide, while Ty, L and I wandered around the storage rooms behind the temple.
All these were storage rooms.
L was actively trying to block Ty, and the helpful local was trying to insinuate I was the queen in this photo, since I’m right below her.

After Ramesses we went to the Valley of the Nobles. Like the name hints at this is where the tomb of the noble and rich people were buried. This place was incredible because we again had it to ourselves! You had a security guy come and unlock the tombs you paid to enter. We saw two tombs with our original tickets and decided we would come back and see more if they were worth while.

Everyone just ignores the no photos signs.
The vultures overhead for protection.
The dead noble with his mother and father.
There were just as impressive as the royal tombs. They couldn’t have the stars on the ceiling like royalty, so flowers were usually above.
How are these images 4,000 years old?!

From the Valley of the Nobles we went to the Valley of the Queens and specifically Nefertari’s tomb. Her tomb is believed to be the most well preserved for the colors. It’s also $100 each person to enter! So we decided that Ty and I would appreciate it the most, and the kids enjoyed listening to some audiobook on a bench in the shade with our guide.

First tomb in Valley of the Queens was for Nefertiti
We were there too!
The local in the tomb was mime’ing that the guy on the right was a genie. When I asked our guide he said that was baloney.
This was the second tomb of the queens we entered.
Does it get any more Egyptian than this?

Then it was time for Nefertari’s tomb!

Always someone so helpful to move the ropes out of the way and take your picture, for a fee.
The colors were so vibrant in here!
High Priest in a leopard skin
THE COLORS!
THE DETAILS!

We have so many more photos from this tomb and an entire video as well, but I don’t want to overload. Needless to say Ty and I were so thankful we chose to spend the money on this tomb. We didn’t want any regrets that we missed out. It was just one of a kind!

After leaving the Valley of the Queens we went to lunch. A new place overlooking where they were drying tomato’s.

Lunch was so good. It was a spread of vegetables prepared several different ways. Stewed tomatoes and potatoes. Cream of chicken or lentil soup. Fresh pita with tahini sauce. The kids and I ordered roasted chicken which came with rice, while Ty got beef in a tomato sauce.

Beneath the restaurant was a papyrus shop. Since they were off the beaten path, their prices were much cheaper and Ty went a little crazy.

After lunch and shopping, we had an open schedule so we decided to go back to the Valley of the Nobles to see the two remaining tombs that were available.

The first tomb has no colors left but the detail in the carving was beautiful.
The pillars were all rebuilt out of concrete, which apparently holds the heat in the summertime and makes this tomb sweltering.
Our guide Amr, was extremely knowledgeable. You can see the noble was being blessed with water over him.
The detail on the hair was beautiful.
Our 4th and last tomb at the Valley of the Nobles
This one had all the color. It was interesting how unique they were.

From the Valley of the Nobles we went to see the Deir el Medina. These are the tombs of the workers. The first tomb we entered was some sort of head boss worker, so I’m not sure how typical these tombs really were. If this is representative of the average Egyptian 4,000 years ago or if this was still quite an elevated status. These descended in a steep and narrow manner. They were still quite beautiful, with lots of colors. But they were painted on instead of the designs being carved.

Into the second tomb.
High Priest with the leopard skin robe.

Outside of the workers tombs was a temple. When we asked our guide if we could see more he just offhand mentioned this temple so we walked the grounds to get to it. A guard came with us just to unlock the gate for us. It seemed again like something not worth seeing since no one had mentioned it and it was all locked up. But again, it was beautiful! I wonder since they have so many of the ancient sites if they get a bit jaded or forget how special these all are? We kept saying it was probably like us from Alaska, how glaciers, moose, and bears are no big deal.

Just in the off to the side, never mentioned temple!
All the gods lined up behind the king.
L was just dying to run around and explore. He was like a cage puppy today for some reason!

After our experience today, we can’t recommend enough asking to see the lesser sites, things off the main tourist track. Today was the most incredible day, and it felt so special because we were either the only tourists or one of just a handful at each site. This was what we were hoping for when we were planning this trip!

After leaving Deir el Medina it was still early afternoon so we decided to check out a local bazar for some shopping. We got there about 3:45 and our driver said he would pick us up at 4:30. So we dragged the kids with us. As soon as we started down the shopping street we knew we had made a mistake. We were the only tourists and this street was lined elbow to elbow with desperate shop keepers. It was a constant bombardment from the shop keepers, and then you had to jump out of the way of the occasional motorcycle that was racing through the street. We walked to the end, and turned right around. The shop keepers at the end were extremely aggressive and were telling us we needed to buy our ‘daughter’ L winter clothes. Since of course he was wearing only a t-shirt and shorts. We just held onto the kids hands, and walked with eyes forward. We did venture into a shop or two looking for an Egyptian mask but it was all the same junk.

Waiting for the van to pick us up, and not happy!

We were happy to get picked up right on time, and get out of there. The guide and driver didn’t seem surprised at how we described it.

Back to the hotel, we all relaxed for a bit. L found a pingpong table so he’s begging anyone to play him. More blogging for me. Then we had dinner out by the pool again, with our friend the cat, Boots. After dinner we snuggled everyone into bed by 8pm since we’re getting up super early for our hot air balloon ride!

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