September 05, 2004
Valley of the Kings and Temple of Hatshepsut
Today we made our way to the West Bank of Luxor to visit the oft-written about Valley of the Kings. Nesteled a few KM from Luxor in Africa HOT cliffs, the valley is home to the tombs of over 60 of ancient Egypt's monarchs.
Nefretiti in front of Ramses II's tomb
The tombs themselves were a bit anticlimactic -- cool heirogliphs and carvings in deep recesses -- but ultimately just holes in the ground as all but King Tut's was raided long before excavators found them.
From the Valley we headed to the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut -- the only woman to control the throne in over 20 ancient dynasties. It's in amazing shape - its age of over 3,000 years truly difficult to fathom. Carved into sheer limestone cliffs it rises over three levels, the only temple to reach such a height:
After templing we headed back the cruise ship, setting "sail" southbound, against the flow of the Nile for the town of Edfu, making time for a dip in the roofdeck pool to offset the 100+ degree F temps that afternoon.
Today we made our way to the West Bank of Luxor to visit the oft-written about Valley of the Kings. Nesteled a few KM from Luxor in Africa HOT cliffs, the valley is home to the tombs of over 60 of ancient Egypt's monarchs.
Nefretiti in front of Ramses II's tomb
The tombs themselves were a bit anticlimactic -- cool heirogliphs and carvings in deep recesses -- but ultimately just holes in the ground as all but King Tut's was raided long before excavators found them.
From the Valley we headed to the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut -- the only woman to control the throne in over 20 ancient dynasties. It's in amazing shape - its age of over 3,000 years truly difficult to fathom. Carved into sheer limestone cliffs it rises over three levels, the only temple to reach such a height:
After templing we headed back the cruise ship, setting "sail" southbound, against the flow of the Nile for the town of Edfu, making time for a dip in the roofdeck pool to offset the 100+ degree F temps that afternoon.
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