Egypt Tour in January 2023

PART V

LUXOR - HURGHADA - CAIRO

On 28th early morning at 4.15 am, the representative of the Hot Air Balloon co., was waiting to take me from the cruise boat.  He had to take some more people and all these were on the eastern bank of the Nile.  Then from the boat jetty, after a morning coffee provided in the boat, with a 20 min sail, we were taken to the western bank and from there by a van.    There was a wait of around 20 min where all the vans from different parts of Luxor assembled and then taken to the ground from where Hot air balloon had to start and reached this spot around 5.50 am.  No. of balloons were inflated and they were ready in a matter of 10 minutes and thus we were asked to get into the basket attached to the balloon approximately 15 persons.  We started to fly and the balloon was directed towards the earlier ruins now being excavated and also on the greener wheat sugarcane fields.  Sun rise was at 6.32 am and we had a good view from the basket and photographs were clicked.   

Approximately, we flew around an area of 1 km and at a highest was at an altitude of 400 metres.  Then we touched the ground and were taken back to the cruise at about 8.10 am.  I had to take a quick breakfast in the cruise boat and also vacate the same and took the luggage too in the vehicle for the tour of Luxor City and its attractions.   Mr. Abdul, the tour guide for Luxor, was waiting at the reception of the cruise.  

The name of Luxor City earlier was Thebes.

The first place to see was the Valley of the Kings.   The valley of the Kings at Luxor is a vast site with tombs of Kings, Queens and Nobles.     Ancient Egyptian civilization believed in an afterlife, and if all procedures were followed then the ones who deserved would enjoy eternal life. They believed that their belongings were necessary to enjoy the afterlife, so pharaohs and queens were buried with their treasures, clothing and basic necessities such as food and drinks.

The west bank of Luxor had been the site of royal burials since around 2100 BC, but it was the pharaohs of the New Kingdom period (1550–1069 BC) who chose this isolated valley dominated by the pyramid-shaped mountain peak of Al Qurn (The Horn).  It contains at least 63 tombs, beginning with Thutmose I (or possibly earlier, during the reign of Amenhotep I) and ending with Ramesses X or XI, although non-royal burials continued in usurped tombs.  Ramses XI was the last ruler of the 20th dynasty, was the last one in the valley.   The tombs have suffered greatly from treasure hunters.  

A tuf-tuf, battery truck ferries visitors between the visitors centre and the tombs.   The entry ticket gains access to three tombs, with extra tickets to see the tombs of Ay, Tutankhamun, Seti I and Ramses VI.  Some of the pictures from the valley of the Kings shown below.

While general photography by tourists is banned within the tombs, Czech journalist and photographer, Jakub Kyncl, was granted special permission to capture the interior of the tombs, and his picture of Ramses VI tomb is worth noting to see how it would in various tombs in valley of the Kings.   Pic shown below.

The Valley of the Queens is at a distance of 1.7 kms from the Valley of the Kings.

The strategy applied at the Valley of the Queens was similar to the one they applied in the construction of the Valley of the Kings; the intent here was to hide the entrances of the tombs, therefore, making them a non-target. However, the builders in the Valley of the Queens failed to succeed in protecting the treasures and the queen’s belongings. None of the tombs were found intact, even though some of the decorations remained impressively preserved, the treasures and belongings were all gone once the tombs were discovered by Schiaparelli in 1904.

The most impressive of all tombs in the Valley of the Queens is the Tomb of Queen Nefertari, the favorite wife of Ramesses II.  

In total, there are roughly 90 tombs in the greater vicinity of the Valley of the Queens.

Hatshepsut's Mortuary temple
The temple is located not too far from the Valley of the Kings, under the cliffs of Deir el-Bahari. She is the only woman Pharoah and in fact, she had to take reigns because there was no male member as heir to take the throne. Her father King Thutmose I had no male child. Hatshepsut was the fifth pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty of ancient Egypt. 

She has been depicted always with false beard in the various paintings and also statues.  She was a very successful ruler and remained in power for a long time along with her son.  

Thutmose II was married to Hatshepsut and they had a son, who was Thutmose III.   When

Thutmose II died,  Thutmose III was still a child and so Hatshepsut became regent, controlling the affairs of state until he came of age. In the seventh year of her regency, though, she broke with tradition and had herself crowned pharaoh of Egypt.

Her reign was one of the most prosperous and peaceful in Egypt's history. There is evidence that she commissioned military expeditions early on and she certainly kept the army at peak efficiency but, for the most part, her time as pharaoh is characterized by successful trade, a booming economy, and her many public works projects which employed labourers from across the nation.

Hatshepsut, an admirer of Mentuhotep II's (6th Ruler of the 11th Dynasty) temple, had her own designed to mirror it but on a much grander scale and just in case anyone should miss the comparison, ordered it built right next to the older temple. Hatshepsut was always keenly aware of ways in which to elevate her public image and immortalize her name; the mortuary temple achieved both ends.

At the second level of the temple, there are temples for Hathor and Anubis.   Amun-Ra, the composite creator/sun god, is featured prominently in the Solar Cult Chapel with Hatshepsut and her immediate family kneeling before him in honor - which is in the third level.

After Hatshepsut's death, her successor, Thutmose III, destroyed her statues to obliterate her memory.

 

After the visit to the Hatshepsut Mortuary temple, we headed to the Karnak temple.  Though most of the structures were built in honour of Amon-Ra, his consort Mut and son Khonsu, there were numerous shrines within the complex dedicated to Ptah of Memphis, Osiris of Abydos etc.     As successive pharaohs re-planned entrance pylons, erected colonnades and constructed temples, they often reused valuable blocks from earlier periods. In the core of the Third Pylon built by Amenhotep III, for example, there were blocks of no less than ten temples and shrines from earlier periods.

   
                                                              Entrance to Karnak temple

Passing through the first pylon, we enter the Great Court which spreads over an enormous area of 8,919 square metres and contains monuments spanning many Dynasties.  The following sketch gives the various locations within this complex.

                                                         Temple of Ramses III

The Great Hypostyle Hall, with its 134 columns arranged in sixteen rows, covers an area of 4,983 square metres.

Hypostyle Hall and Obelisk 

The Third Pylon was built by Amenhotep III and the fourth and fifth pylon by Thutmose I and his daughter Hatshepsut built two obelisks here.   

The sanctuary at Kanark temple with the pedastal in which God Amun Ra once rested, can be seen in the following picture.

Luxor Museum

The front portion of the Kanark temple entry point has a museum and the model of the Konark temple is kept here.   Also, the boat, Gold gilted, to carry the Gods in the Nile for various festivals is also an exhibit.

The Colossi of Memnon

Twin statues of Amenhotep III stand at the entrance to whatsas once his temple.  Amenhotep III (1386 – 1353 BC) is known to be the 9^th king of the 18^th dynasty and is known to be the son of Tuthmosis IV from his minor wife Mutemwiya, the husband of queen Tiye, the father of king Akhenaten, and the grandfather of Tutankhamun.

The Colossi of Memnon still rise 60 feet high, and even with nothing to guard they are impressive in their enormity.    A legend that has lost some popularity says one of the Memnon would “sing” around dawn each day, making a sound described as the string of a lyre breaking or a whistle. The sound has not been reliably heard in centuries, but it was said that those who heard it would be given good luck.  

The three figures on the statues of Amenhotep III, his wife Tiye, and his mother Mutemwiya are all symbols of rebirth.

LUXOR TEMPLE

One of the main functions of the temple focused on the annual Opet festival, an event in which statues of Mut, Khonsu, and Amun would travel from Karnak to the temple. Unlike many other ancient constructions in Thebes, Luxor Temple still stands and is visited to this day. It is also still used as a place of worship.   Part of the Luxor Temple was converted to a church by the Romans in 395 AD, and then to a mosque in 640, which is more than 3,400 years of continuous religious worship.

Arched Cavity from which ancient egyptian gods removed by later Romans/Christians

As the programme was very tight, as I had planned to move to Hurghada after visiting the sites in Luxor and wanted to leave atleast at 4pm.   We completed all programmes in Luxor and biding Goodbye to the guide, I proceeded to Hurghada by road in the van at 04.30 pm.   I reached Hurghada at 8.45 pm and one of the representatives of Travco met me and put me in the Hotel there for stay on 28th night, 29th and upto 30th Morning.  A few photographs of Red Sea in Hurghada.

Though the organisers wanted me to proceed to Cairo from Hurghada in the blue bus, it did not serve me well, as the bus started at 4 pm and nothing could be seen in the darkness during the travel and not only that, the time it reached October 6 bus station of Egypt was around 0.30 hours, midnight.  By the time, I reached the Hotel and settled in bed it was 01.30 hours.

The next day, I did some shopping in Egypt and vacated the hotel and proceeded to airport and flight was at 9 pm.  Reached Bangalore next day morning.