We awoke in Luxor, and after breakfast took a minivan with our guide to explore the West Bank.
We started in the Valley of the Kings, where we toured three tombs. These were absolutely amazing! All you see, as you are approaching, are the openings of the tombs in the hillside made by the grave robbers first, then cleaned up by the Ministry of Antiquities. After the pharaoh and his stuff was securely ensconced in them originally, the entrances were covered up, in hopes that they wouldn't be found by grave robbers.
There are twenty-something tombs, some closed for restoration or preservation. The walls of the tombs were covered in hieroglyphics and cartouches (no photos allowed). The colors were amazing, especially considering they are thousands of years old. We would have like to have toured more tombs, but there was no time. King Tut's tomb was there, with his mummy in it, but tickets to that were more that the entrance fee for the whole place, so we opted out of that. We then drove to the temple of Queen Hatshepsut, an impressive temple high on a hillside with beautiful views across the Nile--again more statues and hieroglyphs--we seem to be on overload now. We stopped at an alabaster "factory". We told Bedwan we did not want to stop if it was a store, but were very interested if it was a real factory--Joe really likes factories :-). He insisted that it was a real factory, with a showroom. It had people sitting on the ground pretending to make alabaster vases. Inside was a "lesson" on alabaster then we were invited to take a look at all their wares and he would make us a good deal. We just said "no shu kran (no thanks) and left, kind of annoyed with Bedwan.
We started in the Valley of the Kings, where we toured three tombs. These were absolutely amazing! All you see, as you are approaching, are the openings of the tombs in the hillside made by the grave robbers first, then cleaned up by the Ministry of Antiquities. After the pharaoh and his stuff was securely ensconced in them originally, the entrances were covered up, in hopes that they wouldn't be found by grave robbers.
There are twenty-something tombs, some closed for restoration or preservation. The walls of the tombs were covered in hieroglyphics and cartouches (no photos allowed). The colors were amazing, especially considering they are thousands of years old. We would have like to have toured more tombs, but there was no time. King Tut's tomb was there, with his mummy in it, but tickets to that were more that the entrance fee for the whole place, so we opted out of that. We then drove to the temple of Queen Hatshepsut, an impressive temple high on a hillside with beautiful views across the Nile--again more statues and hieroglyphs--we seem to be on overload now. We stopped at an alabaster "factory". We told Bedwan we did not want to stop if it was a store, but were very interested if it was a real factory--Joe really likes factories :-). He insisted that it was a real factory, with a showroom. It had people sitting on the ground pretending to make alabaster vases. Inside was a "lesson" on alabaster then we were invited to take a look at all their wares and he would make us a good deal. We just said "no shu kran (no thanks) and left, kind of annoyed with Bedwan.
We drove back to the boat and on the way tried to get the details for our felucca ride on the Nile. Bedwan was not communicating well with us. He said we would go at 4:00pm, but had told us two days ago that it was dangerous to go on the boat after 4:00pm because of winds. We wanted to go at 2:00pm to minimize the chances of having our ride canceled again, but he kept giving us different excuses. Brie had a theory he was afraid to go on the felucca because he had told us he couldn't swim and he had overturned in one before. He kept kidding around and we finally told him that we were getting annoyed. He continued to kid around a bit until we told him again, forcefully, that it wasn't funny and that we were
mad--we needed straight talk. He finally "got it", apologized, and explained. We settled on 4:00pm for the cruise. (It was Friday and the holy day and he needed to go pray between 12-2.) We were fine with him after that, but always a little tension during the rest of our tour.
mad--we needed straight talk. He finally "got it", apologized, and explained. We settled on 4:00pm for the cruise. (It was Friday and the holy day and he needed to go pray between 12-2.) We were fine with him after that, but always a little tension during the rest of our tour. The felucca ride was wonderful. The boat was beautiful with a crew of 2, one handling the sails and the other the tiller. We cruised along the Nile with perfect temp and a great wind. The boat had a "sound system" and they played Bob Marley and made Egyptian tea on a little burner. Very relaxing. Talking to the boy manning the sails, we learned Bedwan was half owner of the boat! So much for Brie's theory of him being afraid. We can never quite figure out how things work here.
Back at the ship for our swim and beer! There was a party on board that night where everyone was supposed to dress like an Egyptian. We opted to skip that and instead went to a sound and light show at the Karnak temple-it looked beautiful with the soft lighting and they told the stories of the different kings and pharaohs as we walked through.
1 comment:
kim, Joe,this is better than a National Geographic special. carl
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