The Tombs Across the Nile

[A VERY slow connection prevents Lee from uploading the full complement of photographs tied to this and the previous posts; he will add them later once we locate a faster means of doing so. Until then, words alone will have to do for the most part!]

We were up for an early breakfast and on the road by 6:15 a.m. in a worthwhile effort to beat both the heat and the crowds visiting the various sites on the West Bank of the Nile across from Luxor.

The sixty-two royal burials so far unearthed in the Valley of the Kings (the last in 1922) reflect a decision made thousands of years ago when it finally became apparent to a Pharaoh named Tuthmosis I that all those huge pyramids perhaps didn't really protect their dead inhabitants all that well, serving largely instead as advertisements for tomb robbers: "Here I am. Rob me! Rob me!"

Not that even these hidden tombs served any better to maintain their secrets -- in the end, only Tutankhamun's tomb of all those unearthed so far appears to have managed to escape the thieves.

Instead today thousands upon thousands of visitors dutifully troop through the tombs (three visits per ticket among those sites currently open to the public), admiring (if they're paying attention at all) the brilliantly painted bas reliefs adorning the walls and the huge stone sarcophagi found therein.

The wonder of just being in this amazing place somewhat mitigates all the standing in line required and the early morning heat and the bright glare of the sun. And, indeed, the tomb decorations are incredibly fascinating (Ibrahim gave us his usual insightful view of what to look for and what meaning to ferret out of all the symbolism involved). But, in the end, one is left a bit frustrated, if only because one doesn't leave the experience with anything but more and more questions in need of explication and explanation!

Heidi and Lee chose to stick with three Ramesses tombs (I, IV and IX), each of which proved well worth detailed exploration. Now all we have to do is wade through the dozens of pages in West's The Traveler's Key to Ancient Egypt to figure out what it was we saw! Thank goodness we have three days of river cruising ahead of us to provide the chance to do just that...

By 9:00 a.m., just as crowds of others were arriving, we were on our way to the nearby mortuary temple of Hatshepsut, the most famous female pharaoh, a beautiful architectural structure perched on the hillside overlooking the lush Nile Valley countryside beyond. Although thoroughly desecrated by her husband (Tuthmoise III) and other successor pharaohs, the structure is still quite stunning with lots to explore for curious visitors (which we were).


Our last stop of the morning brought us to a rural family farming along the Nile just across the river from Luxor. The older of the two brothers who spoke with us and showed us around seemed especially proud of his extended family's ability to be self-sustaining in almost every possible way: raising theor own food; building their entire mud brick home from scratch; even fashioning their furnature from palm fronds growing in their front yard!

Following an early lunch (at the Thebes Urban Garden Restaurant), we were back in the hotel by 1:00 p.m., exhausted from a "full day" of fascinating touring. This evening we're off to see the new Luxor Museum and for a horse carriage ride through town followed by a light meal in a local cafe.

Tomorrow we visit a local papyrus factory, then board ship to begin our Nile cruise to Aswan...