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We woke up this morning after a decent night's sleep, and packed up our bags so that the room could be cleaned for our departure later in the day. Our last trip in Luxor was to the Valley of the Kings, on the west side of the Nile. To get there, our bus had to drive 20 minutes to the nearest bridge in order to cross over... The weather today was the hottest it has been yet--it must have been in the upper 80s at least, and the sun really bore down on us out in the desert sands. When we reached the Kings' Valley and took a trolley up to the tombs, we were able to go into 3 of th 63 tombs in the area. We saw the tomb of King Tut, but decided not to go in since it required an extra fee (always thrifty, we are...) Anyway, the first tomb we entered was that of King Rameses III, which is one of the best ones left. I expected it to be very dark, narrow and creepy, but instead it was well lit and had glass walls up to protect the original artwork of the tomb. The paint was still very vibrant and Rameses must have been "pretty high on himself" as coach Rags would say, because the entire joint was covered in pictures and carvings of the king and his various exploits on the fields of battle. The most interesting part to me was a picture of a kangaroo painted on one of the walls. In order for them to have seen a kangaroo, they must have either had contact with the continent of Australia or had the animals at that time in the area of Egypt. Pretty crazy. When we finished looking around, we also went into the tiny tomb of Rameses IX and the very steep and narrow tomb of Merenptah. It was quite an experience to actually visit the tombs of the ancient Pharoahs, because, really, how many people do you know who have been in a Pharoah's tomb...I mean come on.
From there we drove around the mountains for a short glimpse at the elaborate 3 story palace of Queen Hatshepsut, which was constructed into the side of a canyon wall. Pretty impressive. Next, we stopped at an alabaster store, where workers hand-carved the semi-transluscient stone into all sorts of statues and pottery. We were going to head back from here, but Osmond added another stop to the visit so that we could see the temple of Rameses II and Rameses III. I am glad he did, because it was amazing! Rameses II was the greatest pharoah of ancient Egypt and he sure knew it... He made sure that the temple's carvings and hieroglyphics were carved very deep into the walls. Some of the grooves were deep enough for me to stick my entire hand into them! He did this so that no one could erase his name or legacy and he would thus live on forever...or something like that. Anway the temple's artwork was still in very good condition and much of the color was still left all over the walls and ceilings--I can only imagine how incredible it must have been back in the day!
Well, that finished up the last day of our stay in southern Egypt, so we headed back to check out of the cruise ship and get some dinner before our flight. The excitement of the day was not over yet, though...our plane from Luxor to Cairo was a 747 and it was only a 45 minute flight!!! So, now I have flown on almost every one of Boeings planes I guess...the 777 was probably the highlight so far though. Pretty stinkin sweet! Well, we got into Cairo around midnight and we are staying in the same hotel we previously were in. It is cool to see the pyramids again... I miss the Nile already, but maybe I will dream about it. Well, only one way to find out... |
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