It was hard to get up this morning, but we made it to an early breakfast.
Cuz: Seeing as how one of our fellow passengers had the starting of a cold, I went upstairs to get some medication that I am never without.... never know when that West Nile Virus will hit... There was a room steward (or houseboy) collecting laundry. He spoke very nicely and slowly, saying "Helllloooo,
hooooow arrrrre yooooou?" Being a good American, I nicely said, "Fine, thank you, and how are you this morning?" Well, I guess he blew his entire English lesson on that one sentence because he suddenly looked like the guy at the Sphinx.. I bolted into the room so as not to laugh out loud.... then downstairs to share my experience with anyone who would listen. Oh, travel is so great!
We are on our bus at 7 am and on our our way to Luxor's West Bank. This is the necropolis of the old city of Thebes, and contains the Valleys of the Kings and Queens. I thought it was just a quick hop across the river... as the Valley of the Kings is right across from our hotel... we see it from our room... but no, it is a longish drive down the highway to cross a bridge.
When we arrived, we left our bus in the parking lot and took a tram to the start of the walk to the tombs. My goodness, it is hot.
Along the way we saw the continuing excavation of KV5, the tomb of the children of Ramses II. Recently discovered is an extensive continuation of his tomb intended for the burial of his sons. Incidentally, Ramses II had 196 children. I knew that would get your attention. It was interesting to see the excavation process in action.. with the gritty, sandy, turbaned workers bringing out sand and other debris in leather buckets.
I wish we could have seen the inside of this tomb, as I wondered how the children would be buried if their father predeceased them.. I wonder if there was another passage to use if the Pharaoh's chamber was full of Pharoah and his stuff. I am sure I can learn more about this on the internet.
NOTE: I learned on the internet that this tomb, KV5, is for children (sons) only, that Ramses II's tomb is just feet away at KV7. I think it wasn't clearly explained.. Gypsy is not stupid, you know.
Here is an interesting link to a site regarding KV5,and within it you will also find a link to the official KV5 site, The Theban Mapping Project. should you want to know more about them. It is expected that 150 or more rooms will eventually be excavated.
One of the tombs we saw was unfinished at the death of the Pharoah, and so all work ceased at that time. Most of the work was complete... but near the far end, it was still in progress, and the tomb was still being enlarged. On the walls you can see the decorative sketches and corrections in all stages of completion... just stopped... as if the artisans had just walked away that very morning... but it was 2,000 years ago that they walked away to give Pharoah his eternal privacy.
The decoration of the tombs was fantastic. The colors are brilliant and the pictures in unending variety. All phases of life and afterlife depicted on the walls.
It is interesting to know that originally the tombs and temple walls were all painted white, even the outsides of the temples. The decorative painting was done in the most vivid hues imaginable. We can see some of this color on white within these tombs. Imagine how striking the temples must have been in the blazing sun... shimmering white with brilliant colored paintings.
Before we visited the Valley of the Queens, we saw Hatshepsut's Funerary Temple, Deir el Bahari. It fell down some long ago time, and was reconstructed by archaeologists from Poland. Sorry, I don't have a Polish joke ready at the moment. Well, actually I do, but I think I will omit it for the time being.... It was here in this parking lot that the tourists were attacked and killed several years ago. I notice there are lots of TP on camels high on the surrounding ridges.
The vendors in Egypt are very aggressive. They are always sticking their wares in your face, literally, and the word, "no" seems not to be in the Egyptian vocabulary. There are hordes of vendors at at every site and there is no way to avoid them. Even if you stay in the bus they stick their wares up to the window and bargain through the glass. When you refuse to buy.. the price starts going down. Here, at Deir al Bahari, a seller pushed a large, rather unattractive alabaster scarab in my face and started the barter process at $10. I ignored him and kept on walking. It was not something I wanted anyway. By the time we got to the bus, the price was SO low that I bought the damn thing... it ended up being $2. I have it now... and I STILL don't like it. This retailing system does get into your blood if you are not careful.
Cuz: Gypsy should be more like me, when these vendors come after you, look like you are VERY interested in whatever rock, doorway, bus, car, camel, is in the vicinity.
In the Valley of the Queens, one of the tombs we visited was that of a young prince. Being still a child.. he was entombed near his mother. Little is known about this boy, but the tomb paintings show his father, the Pharaoh, escorting him to the underworld and introducing him to the gods there.
We stopped along the road to see the Colossi of Memnon. Really two seated statues of Amenophis III, that sat at the entrance of a long-vanished temple. During an earthquake, the statues cracked. And the warming of the air at sunrise would cause the statues to moan or sing. People related then to the Greek god, Memnos. After his tragic death, he "sang" when caressed by the rays of his mother, the dawn. The singing statues were so popular that they were repaired... and they never sang again.
After our hot and dusty morning we had a lovely lunch at a hotel in Luxor and we walked back to our room at the Winter Palace for a shower and to cool off and rest. Because of the heat on the West Bank.. this turned out to be a rugged morning.
Another long afternoon... free time has turned into down time. There are only so many times you can look in the same shops.
Around sunset, we board a felucca for a cocktail cruise. It is a beautiful evening and we have a wonderful time. These little boats really scoot when the wind picks up and our ride was over all too soon.
The following morning is one of big excitement. It is the the morning that Gypsy will take a balloon ride. Cuz isn't going to go.. for reasons that are unclear. So Gypsy has to get up early by herself and manage as best she can on her own.
Our intrepid group met for our short jaunt across the river. The launch crew had hot coffee ready for us when we arrived at our boat. There is no life before coffee, so this really saved the day for the groggy Gypsy.
Once across the Nile, we transferred to vans and then began the balloon chase. It was coming down from it's first trip of the morning (Gads! You mean people had to get up even earlier than I did?) and we were to change places with the early passengers. We chased the balloon via little dirt roads in the fields...and eventually got close enough that we could walk to it, as it sat on the edge of a cane field.
We found our places in the basket and got ready for lift-off. This was my very first balloon ride and it was every bit as wonderful as I imagined it would be. We lazily rose...to the whooosh of the gas flames... and there was the West Bank and the Nile valley spread out below us. The balloon rose quite high and we could see all the landmarks of the Valleys of the Kings and Queens, the temple excavations, the Colossi of Memnon, the village and necropolis of the artisans... the villages and fields, and the Nile. It was a wondrous experience.
As the balloon descended again... the villages and the people became the focus.. it was such fun to get a bird's eye view of all this.. the villages seen from above, people working in the fields. As we descended more and passed over a rather large town.. the children waved and began to follow the balloon.
The captain said he was going to put the balloon down on the road... and he did.. a little road through the fields. Then the children gathered around happily, and the ground crew began to collapse the balloon. When it was safe for us to get out of the basket we were treated to some singing by the children, and then the crews played drums and sang and we all danced to celebrate our great trip. We were given certificates and t-shirts and a ride back to the hotel. All in all, one of life's most memorable moments.
