Egypt 2009 - Day 6
Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009 – Thebes
Today, we are going to explore the West Bank of the Nile River also known as Thebes. Here lies the Theban Necropolis arguably the richest archaeological site in the world. What is the significance of the East Bank vs. the West Bank? Well, the sun rises in the east so east means life. The sun sets in the west so west means death. The structures on the east side of the Nile are for the living. The structures on the west side of the Nile are for the dead. A necropolis is basically a cemetery and here are some of the most magnificent tombs ever discovered on the planet.
Our first stop was a brief one to see the Colossi of Memnon. These two giant seated figures are each 60 feet high. They originally guarded the long ago gone mortuary temple of Amenhotep III. They were interesting in their size and, to me, the fact that birds perched on only one of them. There were lots of birds on the right one and none on the left. No reason for this that I could tell, except birds are strange.
Egypt 2009 - Day 6
Next stop: Hatshepsut Temple. Hatshepsut was a queen, but due to backlash against having a female ruler, she took on the look of a man even to the point of wearing a fake beard. (How much have we really changed since then?) The temple is described as a mortuary temple. However, she is not buried here. Mortuary temples were built during the reign of the king or queen as a memorial monument to them. They were not buried in them for the very good reason that the graves would have been robbed. So they built elaborate but unmarked tombs for them in the Valley of the Kings, buried them and sometimes killed all the workers so no one would know where the grave was. This worked only in one case – King Tutankhamun (AKA King Tut). All other tombs that have been discovered in the Valley of the Kings were robbed. This temple is majestic and sets against a cliff making it a breathtaking sight. From a distance, it looks like a really exclusive resort. The carvings and painted areas are beautiful. There is one very sobering event associated with this site. In 1997, terrorists attacked tourists at this site. A total of 59 foreign tourists were massacred here.
Read more about it in Wiki at this link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxor_massacre
Now it is time for a commercial break. Don’t you just love alabaster stuff? Well, have we got a deal for you. We have a special for you, handmade alabaster vases for a special price. Buy two and we will double the discount. Don’t settle for machine made vases. Our handmade ones are much better.
Now, onward to the Valley of the Kings. Ahh, this is the real thing. This is the place that you have read about in National Geographic and seen on the History Channel. Some 63 tombs have been found here. The tombs are numbered in the order that they were discovered. On this day, I visited four of them. Unfortunately, we had to leave our cameras on the bus so there are no pictures of anything at this site.
- Tomb #6 – Ramses IX. Entering this tomb, one descended into the ground on a wooden ramp with cross boards to keep you from slipping. The walls of the corridor were totally covered with hieroglyphics and drawings. One came to the end of corridor, peeked into the dark room that was the burial chamber and then walked back up. The attraction in this tomb was definitely the walls.
- Tomb #16 – Ramses I. Entering this tomb required descending down a long steep stairway to the small room that was his burial chamber. The sarcophagus is still there and room is covered in rich brilliant colors. The temperature inside was quite hot and getting back out into the fresh air was a relief.
- Tomb #62 – Tutankhamun. Now I had to pay an extra 100 Egyptian Pounds (about $20) to enter here and it was well worth it. This is the only tomb found with all the treasures intact and what treasures they were! There are only a few steps to descend (16 I think) to the burial chamber. The beautiful sarcophagus is still there. The inner gilded case is there with a Plexiglas covering so you can see it. His mummy is in the antechamber. The head and feet are uncovered and you can see them. After reading so much about King Tut, this was a special experience for me to actually be in his tomb. Now do I have the King Tut curse? Only time will tell.
- Tomb #2 – Ramses IV. This tomb went deep into the earth but was almost level. Once inside there was only 1 step and it could easily be avoided. The wall decorations were beautiful but the heat was absolutely stifling.
From the Valley of the Kings, we next headed to the Valley of the Queens. Queen Nefertari’s tomb is here, but it was closed for more excavation so we could not go in it. We did go in one tomb for a queen named Titi. One noticeable difference about the queen’s tombs was that they were more pastel than the kings.
We headed back to the boat and ate lunch as we sailed. Finally we were on a moving boat. Our Nile Cruise has officially begun. Now, if you vision a Nile Cruise as being a solitary luxury ship steaming upstream alone, think again. It far more resembles a flotilla. To begin with, the boats were tied up four deep against the dock. Our boat happened to the one next to the dock. All passengers and supplies for the three boats tied up on the river side of ours had to pass over our sturdy gangplank, walk through our reception area and cross to the next boat. I watched men carrying everything from huge packages containing probably 50 rolls of toilet paper to huge bags of potatoes to crates of beer not to mention luggage. This method does make one pause a bit on the subject of the security on the boat. What is there to keep some of these folks from walking down to my room and breaking in? Furthermore, there was no kind of safety drill or instructions whatsoever. I guess if the boat sinks, we are all just supposed to swim to the nearest shore. Once we were sailing, it was basically a 2 X 2 parade of one boat after another down the river. We were headed toward a lock. Once all the boats get to the lock, they tied the boats together again while we wait our turn to go through the lock. Our boat finally went through at 10:30 PM. I watched some the process from my room.
This evening was Egyptian Night in the boat's restaurant and everyone was encouraged to dress like an Egyptian. I bought a blouse in the gift store and made my feeble attempt to comply with the concept. The food was OK and most people looked pretty goofy. There were some young men that had used the bed coverings as their costumes and it was quite funny.
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