Vigilante (Luxor - The Valley of the Kings)

Ah, holidays, dear reader, so relaxing, except for the early starts. Today we were up before 5:30am to visit the Valley of the Kings. The excuse, as usual, was heat and crowds. Early starts avoid both. Allegedly. I would have been more prepared for this if Travel Marvel had stated in the literature that early mornings are required. But they don't because they want to pretend its all sunshine and lollipops.

Anyway, we were on board the bus for a 6:45am departure. I can't remember how long the drive was, just that we had a brief stop outside the valley to pick up those of our group who opted for a 4:00am start and a ride in a hot-air balloon. Brave souls.

We picked them up at the Colossi of Memnon. The colossi are two huge statues of the Pharaoh Amenhotep III. Either he was a bit rough looking or the statues have not aged well. They were built around 1350BC and are 18 metres tall weighing 720 tonnes. There was a temple behind the statues at some point.

One of the Colossi.

Where the temple once stood.

The entry to the valley is the usual crowded, logistical nightmare, after you've dodged the vendors and their call of "one dollar". Your ticket requires scanning at a turnstile and then you have a choice of walking up to the valley or going by oversized golf buggy. In our case there was no choice, the buggy had been prepaid.

The 'pyramid' above the valley.

The valley entrance.

Your ticket also provides access to three of the tombs. Beyond that you had pay to extra and some of the main attractions were not included in our ticket. We had a quick introduction from our guide who recommended which tombs to visit based on varying criteria. Some were very steep and physically difficult to access. They were out, some were easy, some more colourful and so on. The problem of course was limited time. We had one hour and the queues for some of the tombs were quite long. And made longer by the French who would call their friends to join them, or some of the locals who just pushed in.

The valley is quite the marvel and houses upwards of 65 tombs. I'm not sure if the exact number is known. Those buried here are from the New Kingdom of Egypt and they opted for underground, hidden burial because of the raids on the pyramids.

The legend goes that workers were blindfolded and transported to dig the tombs. They worked for 20 days and then had 10 days off. The whole area is another feat of engineering because some of the tombs are very deep and have several chambers. Some were booby trapped, Raiders of the Lost Ark style. 

Anyway we visited three tombs, Ramses I, Ramses III and Ramses IV. Each one was very hot, almost airless, and humid. Some lines move quickly, others not so much depending on the number of morons taking selfies. And of course that nationality that insists every group member have a shot in front of the object of interest. 🙄

The pictures are below and don't require commentary except to say the colours were incredible.

Ramses I: his tomb was very deep. See the diagram in the last photo. It was the only one we entered that had a sarcophagus.

Ramses III

Ramses IV

After our tomb visits, we reversed the trip. Golf buggy, vendors and back on the bus to visit an alabaster workshop. There is no doubting the skill involved in what they do and probably silicosis as well, but it's not my style. They had a very slick presentation and then it was off to the gift shop. In my case, for the briefest period possible, then on to the bus.

After that we returned to the Valley of the Queens, so named, the other side of the valley where Queen/Pharaoh Hatshepsut had her temple constructed. It is a magnificent structure that dominates the valley and was obviously a one finger salute to the other pharaohs. Much of it was destroyed by her stepson Thutmose III when he became pharaoh.

It was very crowded so I didn't attempt to photograph the complex without people, even though I have removed some in various shots. The queue to get into the sanctuary was enormous. I dutifully lined up and got shoved and pushed as the line crept forward. Eventually the holy of holies was in sight. It was not a sight. The ceiling had been damaged and the sanctuary itself was roped off. You couldn't get close enough for a photo. Partially because one the temple guards had stationed himself next to the entry and offered to take photos for anyone who wanted them ... provided you paid him. So, no photos for me.

So, the Hatshepsut story, in brief. She married her brother and he had a son Thutmose III to one of his mistresses. Her husband/brother died and she conned the high priest into convincing the people she was the daughter of the god, Amun-Ra and could therefore be Pharaoh. In return she would marry him. She banished her 7 year old stepson to the army, however, they looked after him and he became a great warrior. She murdered the priest and Hatshepsut became a pharaoh. Later Thutmose III returned and took revenge on her, killing her and destroying or defacing her temple and any statues erected in her honour. Nice family. Christmas would have been a blast.

Which brings us to the title for today. A classic Taylor Swift revenge song, Vigilante Shit. I abbreviated the title because I didn't want to get blocked for breaching community standards. Again.

That was pretty much it for the day. We enjoyed the lounge on the ship and processed photos, blogged and chatted with the other passengers. The Australian ones. The ones not coughing up a lung, unmasked.

Dinner that night does not warrant reflection.

Tomorrow the grand depart begins. Early of course.

إلى اللقاء في المرة القادمة

Wishing Well (Aswan - Kom Ombo - Luxor)

Saturday

Well, dear reader, despite a full agenda of activities for the day, we have declared a rest day. Two 3:30am starts and full days have taken their toll. Besides we have been travelling for almost 2 months. 

A mosque near our mooring.

While we slumbered blissfully on, the intrepid were fronting up for breakfast by 6:30am. We did not make breakfast at all and spent the morning on the sundeck. It was surprising how many other people had declared a rest day. We were not alone.

The ship remained in port and coaches were despatched to Aswan Dam. While the body of water behind the wall is impressive, I've seen a few dams in my time. The Ord River and Lake Argyle come to mind. Not to diminish the importance of the Aswan High Dam. The wall is 3.8km long and 111m high, clearly a remarkable feat of engineering. The lake itself stretches over 500km all the way to Sudan. The water is used for irrigation and the production of electricity.

A passing felucca.

Next stop was the unfinished obelisk. It was intended to be the largest obelisk in the world. Had it been completed it would have stood 42 metres high and weighed around 1,200 tonnes. It was carved from one piece of granite during the reign of Queen Hatshepsut, 1473-1458 BC. However, a crack in the rock saw the project abandoned and it sits in the quarry where it was being carved.

The obelisk looking like a coffin.

The final destination for the day was the Philae Temple, perched on Agilkia Island in the Nile River. You can read about it here. The boat ride out there is apparently classified 'death defying' and it was the only time every guide carried a first aid kit. No injuries were recorded.

There was an optional activity in the afternoon, a High Tea at the "legendary" Old Cataract Hotel. Not familiar? Me neither. It is the hotel where Agatha Christie wrote Murder on the Nile. Buzz buzz, as Hamlet would say. The reviews of earlier teas at the hotel were met with less than complimentary comments. That trend continued with our crowd.

Dinner that night was on the sundeck. The wind got up early and brought a hasty end to the evening. We were back in bed by 9:00pm.

Sunday

Overnight the ship had sailed to Kom Ombo the site of another temple. Happily breakfast was at the more reasonable time of 7:00am, for a 9:00am walk to the temple through the mandatory alley of vendors.

Horus.

Kom Ombo is an unusual temple because it is dedicated to two gods. Sobek, the crocodile god of strength and fertility and Horus the falcon-headed god of kingship and protection. Two gods meant two of everything; entrances, halls, sanctuaries to honour both deities.

Another interesting fact is that President Nasser, (remember him?) he built the dam that threatened Abu Simbel and other temples, was partly responsible for the destruction of Kom Ombo because he used the stone blocks to build a shoe factory nearby. Not so interested in Egypt's storied past I guess.

Dual entrances.

The entrance to the temple.

The carvings are particularly detailed, some with bright colours. There is a depiction of surgical instruments used at that time. Of course, the Egyptians were first to use such implements and they don't differ widely from what is used in hospitals today. Interestingly our guide was happy to claim the 'first' here even though it was a Ptolemaic temple rendering it Roman. Double standards.

The surgical instruments.

Coloured vultures on the ceiling.

There were examples of how stone blocks were locked in place by wood. The wood, once inserted, was watered, causing it to expand and secure the blocks in place. According to our guide there were also depictions of sexual dysfunction. Who am I to argue?

In the middle of the picture. Really?

Wood lock.

One of the more quirky discoveries was a well. Nothing unusual in that, although the river is literally across the street if you were after water. This well measured the height of the Nile. A high water level meant good crops and high taxes, a low water level meant a poor season and reduced taxation.

The well.

Wishing Well is a rock classic from the 1970s by Free. I'll bet all the locals were wishing for a bumper season but a low level in the well.

There was also an Egyptian calendar. The only one in existence outside of the Louvre. Best not to mention it - they are not over it yet. The calendar has three seasons of four months and each week is 10 days long. There were three weeks in a month and at the end of the year there were five days dedicated to the gods, equalling 365 days.

The calendar, centre left.

There was a school group visiting at the same time which always provides some interest. The winner of interesting sight of the day goes to the young woman who had something that was the size and shape of a green cup cake. She was a scenery hog, like a selfie taker, and proceeded to hold up the cupcake and photograph it in the foreground of every picture. Weird.

Cleopatra VII

Next door to the temple complex was the mummified crocodile museum. Yes, you read that correctly, dear reader. The Egyptians mummified everything, animals, food, people, I don't know where it ends.

Wrapped like a Christmas present.

A baby mummified crocodile.

Picture them in a night at the museum.

Then it was back through the vendors to the ship. We sailed at 10:30am and had a very chilled afternoon. We secured vouchers for our next trip and I had a massage. All very civilised, relaxing until it was time for our port talk and the Farewell Dinner. The dinner is preceded by drinks, well cocktails specifically. They were lined up on the bar well before the 6:30pm commencement time. At 6:25pm the Brits on board charged the bar, some blocking access while they stood in place and handed drinks back to their friends. I kid you not. Clearly they like anything free. We may be 'convicts' but we have manners.

Also prior to dinner, we sailed through a lock that attracted a lot of our fellow passengers up on deck. This audience prompted a visitation by a group of locals who saw an opportunity to try to engage people by continuously calling out hello in the hope of eliciting a response. They were flogging carpets but achieved no sales while we were captive inside the lock.

Here are some sunset shots.

There was a trivia quiz after dinner, but given we had another early start, breakfast at 5:30am, we opted for bed.

إلى اللقاء في المرة القادمة