Round the World 2015: Upper Nile

After leaving Edfu, we passed through a lock that lowered the boat 6 meters and we continued downstream to Luxor (formerly Thebes) arriving in the afternoon. From Luxor, we traveled by van across the Nile to the west side and into the hills to the Valley of the Kings, home of the underground tombs of the pharaohs dating from the 16th to 11th century BC. There are 63 known tombs including Tutankhamun’s. We were able to visit three tombs. In the first tomb we descended 7 or 8 stories at a steep grade. The others were relatively flat. Unfortunately, cameras were banned from the Valley of the Kings a few years ago to prevent deterioration of the colors painted on the carved stone walls. Typically, the tomb interiors (walls and ceilings) were covered in carved and painted hieroglyphs. The tombs we visited were in remarkable shape given they were thousands of years old, but having been buried in such a dry climate must have helped.

We also visited the Temple of Hatshetsup, one of the most powerful and long-reigning queens to have ruled Egypt. The temple was badly damaged by her step son when he usurped her. Polish archeologists reconstructed the temple, maybe going a bit too far.

We went south to the Valley of the Queens where wives of Pharaohs and other nobles were buried in underground tombs. There are more than 70 tombs. The two we visited were similar to the king’s tombs.

Luxor Temple In the afternoon, we visited the Karnak Temple Complex, located in Luxor. Construction of the complex began 4,000 years ago and continued up until the time the Romans took control of Egypt, about 2,000 years ago. The complex is a vast open-air museum covering 250 acres. It is the second largest ancient religious site in the world, after the Angkor Wat.

The last place we visited right in Luxor was the Luxor Temple built 1500 to 1200 BC. Ramesses II had much of the later work completed and many of the statues and hieroglyphs depict him.

Temple of Hatshetsup