Egypt, a journey through History

Egypt, a journey through History
A travel report

Luxor and more
Day 5 - "The state of conservation of the painting on the walls, some even facing the sun, is truly amazing."
Another early breakfast, at 5 am. This time buffet was already being served, probably because other guests were up early too - some of them, we found out later, were taking the same cruise ship as we. Safaa, as usual, picked us up and we crossed the city to get to the airport for another Egypt Air flight, this time to the famous city of Luxor.
Rey, another rep from Kimidar, was waiting for us and took us to one of Sheraton's cruise ships. Ours, named Aton, was actually upriver, in Esna, and we were going to be transfered to it by the end of the day, but we were given a cabin in this one to leave our hand luggage, use the toilet or even rest. But resting wasn't in our plans, we wanted to start visiting the city. It was about 10 am when we left the ship for a walk - our first tour would be only after lunch.
Luxor has been a tourist town for over two thousand years and the impact of the massacre of tourists two weeks before was visible. Few tourists on the empty streets. Lots of chariot riders and felluca sailors offering their services, seldom accepted. Closed shops in the market. And this was supposed to be the beginning of the high season.
During our walk, we could see Luxor Temple, which we would be visiting later with the tour. An interesting attraction was to watch people gathering for the ferry to cross the river. Women in black caftans with most of their faces hidden, coming from the market carrying baskets on their heads. After a little language struggle, I was able to buy some stamps at the Post Office.
Our tour started at 1:30 pm, with our guide Hassan. Besides Beth and I, our group, nicknamed Ramses, had a couple from China, one from Australia with their son and one from Lebanon. There was a group with a Spanish-speaking guide in which there were people from Peru, Argentina, Spain and Italy. We were only about twenty people in a ship that can carry one hundred - and that was the only of Sheraton's four ships in operation at that time!
The tour started with a highlight: Karnak. Very impressive. The main temple on this site, which had been partially covered by sand until the middle of last century, is the Precint of Amun, dedicated to Amun, the god with a two-feathered crown. Built and rebuilt during the reign of many pharaos throughout over 1000 years, each of them wanted to leave their mark. Ramses II, for instance, had his cartouche carved very deep on columns and walls, to avoid others to carve over them, as he had done to the cartouches of previous pharaohs.
On the entrance, an avenue of ram-headed sphinxes and statues of Ramses II. After crossing the first gate, we found an ample court surrounded with columns, some unfinished. But farther ahead is the temple's great Hypostele Hall, with over a hundred huge columns spread on 6000 sq m. There were more columns than needed to support the ceiling, but the intention was to make the hall resemble a garden, the columns being topped by flower-shaped capitals. The effect is great. Other gates and halls follow, their walls decorated with carvings depicting religious and war scenes. One of the obelisks of Tuthmosis II, 23 m high, and one of Hatshepsut, 26 m, still stand on the site. The later is estimated to weigh 320 ton and was built from a single block of Aswan granite. In one of the rooms near the sanctuary, Hatshepsut's figure was destroyed by her stepson Tuthmosis III, but other reliefs and paintings remain.
We visited Luxor Temple next. Though very interesting, it could not pair to Karnak's grandeur. This temple was dedicated to Mut, Amun's wife, and Khonsu, their son. There is another avenue of sphinxes, which used to link it to Karnak Temple - a large portion of the avenue is under the city nowadays. Most of the temple was built by Amenophis III and Ramses II, the latter again adding statues with his own figure in front of the main gate. Of the two obelisks, 23 m high, one remains and the other is nowadays in Paris. During the annual fertility festival, a small gold statue of Amun was brought to rejoin his family. Courts surrounded by papyrus-bud columns follow, then comes the sanctuary and adjacent rooms, everything carved as usual.
On our way to Esna, we were taken to a jewelry shop. Though they had beautiful silver and gold cartouches and we could have our names engraved in hieroglyphs, I think nobody bought anything. I would have rather stopped at the Luxor Museum.
When we finally arrived in our ship in Esna, we still had to wait to be taken to our room. We were served iced karkaday. Our room was small as we had expected. I think we were the last to get a room and we almost did not have time to get ready for dinner - bath had to be postponed. We had soup, a steak, salad (served after the main course, something nobody else seemed to understand!) and an apfelstrudel. Meals were never great on board, though they weren't bad. As soon as we could, we were back in our cabin for shower and a good night of sleep.
Day 6 - "According to Hassan, the three levels of Hattie's temple mean life, death and eternity."
An early breakfast so we could start our tour at 7 am, leaving in our bus to visit the necropolis on the west bank, right across the Nile from Luxor. During the journey, which lasted almost one hour, we read about the places we would be visiting, while admiring the landscape of the river's fertile margins so close to the desert's rocks.
After a short stop to see the Colossi of Memnon - two huge statues that are the only remains of the temple of Amenophis III - we first visited the Workmen's Village, where the artists who created the royal tombs lived and were buried. There are remains of the houses and tombs of some of these artists and their family. Though tiny, they were nicely decorated.
Next we visited the marvellous temple of Hatshepsut, now ill-fated to the world as the site of a terrorist massacre that killed about 60 people, mainly tourists, in November 1997 - thus a few weeks before we arrived. It is said that Hatshepsut referred to her temple as "the splendour of the splendours" and it probably deserved it. Built in three levels, decorated with columns and reached by ramps, it is believed that an avenue with trees and fountains linked it to the Nile. On the middle terrace, we visited the chapel of Hathor, the godess with cow ears. In one of the walls, she is shown suckling maybe Hatshepsut. Near the columns, painted carvings show the expedition she sent by the Red Sea to a land that it is believed to be today's Somalia. The chapel of Anubis has carvings with impressively well preserved colors. Hatshepsut's image was also defaced here by Tuthmosis III, but we can still see her outline in the usual scenes with gods and offerings. The highest terrace, not open to the public due to restoration works, has rooms carved inside the rock.
The Valley of the Kings, our next stop, amidst pyramid-like mountains, was the burial place for the pharaos of the New Kingdom, whose capital, Weset (Thebes for the greeks), was where now is Luxor. Sixty-two tombs have been found, the latest being Tutankhamun's in 1922, but not all have been identified. With our guide to provide all the interesting explanation, we visited the tomb of Ramses IV: a long corridor covered with plaster, where painted carvings still remain. The hieroglyphs represent chants and prayers, plus the pharaoh's confessions (not necessarilly true), while the images show many aspects of their passage to the afterlife.
The ticket to the valley allows us to choose three of the tombs, except for Tut's, which requires a special ticket. It is funny to notice that some people don't visit it because they are afraid of the "Curse of Tutankhamun"... Beth and I visited it, of course, a few chambers so small that it is difficult to imagine it housing all the treasures we saw in the Egyptian Museum. Since we did not have that much time, the other two tombs we chose were nearby, Ramses VI's and Merneptah's, both very long and similarly (for our untrained eyes, at least) decorated. We went under the lid of Merneptah's sarcophagus - what a thrill! - with a relief of Osiris, the king of the underworld, inside it.
Only four of us in the Ramses group went to the recently reopened Nefertari's tomb in the Valley of the Queens, on the other side of the mountain. Only 150 people are allowed into it each day and only for 10 minutes, to avoid damage caused by human breathing, but due to the lack of tourists we were allowed a little bit more. Nefertari was the main wife of Ramses II and was a very beautiful woman. Her tomb is not as big as the pharaohs', but the chamber walls are beautifully decorated. The restored paintings show the vivid colors that were hinted on the tombs we had seen: plaster painted in white with the carved hieroglyphs painted in bright red, yellow, blue, green and black, while a huge range of colors were used on the figures. Nefertari is shown using a white dress with a transparent mantle in domestic and religious scenes.
There was so much more to see on this amazing area, but our time was unfortunately over. I think we did the best we could from it, though, so I was happy. It was about 1 pm when we headed back to Esna.
this day continues on the next page, From Luxor to Aswan.

Egypt, a journey through History

The report
In and around Cairo
Hurghada and the Red Sea
Luxor and more
From Luxor to Aswan
Aswan and Abu Simbel
The info
Geography and History
Related sites
Photos

text and photos © Maria Adelaide Silva
no reproduction is allowed without the author's agreement
If you have any comments or suggestions, send me an e-mail!
Rio de Janeiro, February 5, 1998
Updated on September 13, 1998

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Luxor and more Day 5 - "The state of conservation of the painting on the walls, some even facing the sun, is truly amazing." Another early breakfast, at 5 am. This time buffet was already being served, probably because other guests were up early too - some of them, we found out later, were taking the same cruise ship as we. Safaa, as usual, picked us up and we crossed the city to get to the airport for another Egypt Air flight, this time to the famous city of Luxor. Rey, another rep from Kimidar, was waiting for us and took us to one of Sheraton's cruise ships. Ours, named Aton, was actually upriver, in Esna, and we were going to be transfered to it by the end of the day, but we were given a cabin in this one to leave our hand luggage, use the toilet or even rest. But resting wasn't in our plans, we wanted to start visiting the city. It was about 10 am when we left the ship for a walk - our first tour would be only after lunch. Luxor has been a tourist town for over two thousand years and the impact of the massacre of tourists two weeks before was visible. Few tourists on the empty streets. Lots of chariot riders and felluca sailors offering their services, seldom accepted. Closed shops in the market. And this was supposed to be the beginning of the high season. During our walk, we could see Luxor Temple, which we would be visiting later with the tour. An interesting attraction was to watch people gathering for the ferry to cross the river. Women in black caftans with most of their faces hidden, coming from the market carrying baskets on their heads. After a little language struggle, I was able to buy some stamps at the Post Office. Our tour started at 1:30 pm, with our guide Hassan. Besides Beth and I, our group, nicknamed Ramses, had a couple from China, one from Australia with their son and one from Lebanon. There was a group with a Spanish-speaking guide in which there were people from Peru, Argentina, Spain and Italy. We were only about twenty people in a ship that can carry one hundred - and that was the only of Sheraton's four ships in operation at that time! The tour started with a highlight: Karnak. Very impressive. The main temple on this site, which had been partially covered by sand until the middle of last century, is the Precint of Amun, dedicated to Amun, the god with a two-feathered crown. Built and rebuilt during the reign of many pharaos throughout over 1000 years, each of them wanted to leave their mark. Ramses II, for instance, had his cartouche carved very deep on columns and walls, to avoid others to carve over them, as he had done to the cartouches of previous pharaohs. On the entrance, an avenue of ram-headed sphinxes and statues of Ramses II. After crossing the first gate, we found an ample court surrounded with columns, some unfinished. But farther ahead is the temple's great Hypostele Hall, with over a hundred huge columns spread on 6000 sq m. There were more columns than needed to support the ceiling, but the intention was to make the hall resemble a garden, the columns being topped by flower-shaped capitals. The effect is great. Other gates and halls follow, their walls decorated with carvings depicting religious and war scenes. One of the obelisks of Tuthmosis II, 23 m high, and one of Hatshepsut, 26 m, still stand on the site. The later is estimated to weigh 320 ton and was built from a single block of Aswan granite. In one of the rooms near the sanctuary, Hatshepsut's figure was destroyed by her stepson Tuthmosis III, but other reliefs and paintings remain. We visited Luxor Temple next. Though very interesting, it could not pair to Karnak's grandeur. This temple was dedicated to Mut, Amun's wife, and Khonsu, their son. There is another avenue of sphinxes, which used to link it to Karnak Temple - a large portion of the avenue is under the city nowadays. Most of the temple was built by Amenophis III and Ramses II, the latter again adding statues with his own figure in front of the main gate. Of the two obelisks, 23 m high, one remains and the other is nowadays in Paris. During the annual fertility festival, a small gold statue of Amun was brought to rejoin his family. Courts surrounded by papyrus-bud columns follow, then comes the sanctuary and adjacent rooms, everything carved as usual. On our way to Esna, we were taken to a jewelry shop. Though they had beautiful silver and gold cartouches and we could have our names engraved in hieroglyphs, I think nobody bought anything. I would have rather stopped at the Luxor Museum. When we finally arrived in our ship in Esna, we still had to wait to be taken to our room. We were served iced karkaday. Our room was small as we had expected. I think we were the last to get a room and we almost did not have time to get ready for dinner - bath had to be postponed. We had soup, a steak, salad (served after the main course, something nobody else seemed to understand!) and an apfelstrudel. Meals were never great on board, though they weren't bad. As soon as we could, we were back in our cabin for shower and a good night of sleep. Day 6 - "According to Hassan, the three levels of Hattie's temple mean life, death and eternity." An early breakfast so we could start our tour at 7 am, leaving in our bus to visit the necropolis on the west bank, right across the Nile from Luxor. During the journey, which lasted almost one hour, we read about the places we would be visiting, while admiring the landscape of the river's fertile margins so close to the desert's rocks. After a short stop to see the Colossi of Memnon - two huge statues that are the only remains of the temple of Amenophis III - we first visited the Workmen's Village, where the artists who created the royal tombs lived and were buried. There are remains of the houses and tombs of some of these artists and their family. Though tiny, they were nicely decorated. Next we visited the marvellous temple of Hatshepsut, now ill-fated to the world as the site of a terrorist massacre that killed about 60 people, mainly tourists, in November 1997 - thus a few weeks before we arrived. It is said that Hatshepsut referred to her temple as "the splendour of the splendours" and it probably deserved it. Built in three levels, decorated with columns and reached by ramps, it is believed that an avenue with trees and fountains linked it to the Nile. On the middle terrace, we visited the chapel of Hathor, the godess with cow ears. In one of the walls, she is shown suckling maybe Hatshepsut. Near the columns, painted carvings show the expedition she sent by the Red Sea to a land that it is believed to be today's Somalia. The chapel of Anubis has carvings with impressively well preserved colors. Hatshepsut's image was also defaced here by Tuthmosis III, but we can still see her outline in the usual scenes with gods and offerings. The highest terrace, not open to the public due to restoration works, has rooms carved inside the rock. The Valley of the Kings, our next stop, amidst pyramid-like mountains, was the burial place for the pharaos of the New Kingdom, whose capital, Weset (Thebes for the greeks), was where now is Luxor. Sixty-two tombs have been found, the latest being Tutankhamun's in 1922, but not all have been identified. With our guide to provide all the interesting explanation, we visited the tomb of Ramses IV: a long corridor covered with plaster, where painted carvings still remain. The hieroglyphs represent chants and prayers, plus the pharaoh's confessions (not necessarilly true), while the images show many aspects of their passage to the afterlife. The ticket to the valley allows us to choose three of the tombs, except for Tut's, which requires a special ticket. It is funny to notice that some people don't visit it because they are afraid of the "Curse of Tutankhamun"... Beth and I visited it, of course, a few chambers so small that it is difficult to imagine it housing all the treasures we saw in the Egyptian Museum. Since we did not have that much time, the other two tombs we chose were nearby, Ramses VI's and Merneptah's, both very long and similarly (for our untrained eyes, at least) decorated. We went under the lid of Merneptah's sarcophagus - what a thrill! - with a relief of Osiris, the king of the underworld, inside it. Only four of us in the Ramses group went to the recently reopened Nefertari's tomb in the Valley of the Queens, on the other side of the mountain. Only 150 people are allowed into it each day and only for 10 minutes, to avoid damage caused by human breathing, but due to the lack of tourists we were allowed a little bit more. Nefertari was the main wife of Ramses II and was a very beautiful woman. Her tomb is not as big as the pharaohs', but the chamber walls are beautifully decorated. The restored paintings show the vivid colors that were hinted on the tombs we had seen: plaster painted in white with the carved hieroglyphs painted in bright red, yellow, blue, green and black, while a huge range of colors were used on the figures. Nefertari is shown using a white dress with a transparent mantle in domestic and religious scenes. There was so much more to see on this amazing area, but our time was unfortunately over. I think we did the best we could from it, though, so I was happy. It was about 1 pm when we headed back to Esna. this day continues on the next page, From Luxor to Aswan.
Egypt, a journey through History
The report In and around Cairo Hurghada and the Red Sea Luxor and more From Luxor to Aswan Aswan and Abu Simbel	The info Geography and History Related sites Photos
text and photos © Maria Adelaide Silva no reproduction is allowed without the author's agreement If you have any comments or suggestions, send me an e-mail! Rio de Janeiro, February 5, 1998 Updated on September 13, 1998