Cairo/Giza Pyramids

Hatsheput as a Sphinx The woman who became a man to be Pharoh

Day two of our Egypt land trip started before dawn as in 4:30 wake up call and 5:15 on the bus. Our day would start in Luxor, then time in Cairo/Giza, fly to Hurgado and then a bus back to the ship around 8pm - a long day!   The bus took us to the Luxor airport which was dead at that time of the morning where we went through security and then a bus to go out to our charter plane for Cairo.  There are 40 of us doing this land tour - 2 groups of 40 so we got our own plane.  The plane is from Petroleum Air Service and is a turbo prop.  We get to Cairo airport and while we walked through a quiet area when you get out of that it is a busy airport to say the least.  We hop on our buses, and we go to breakfast at the Cairo Ritz Carlton.  The food was fine, but not nearly as nice as the one in Singapore.  Now that we are fed it is time to walk to the Egyptian Museum (old one).  The new larger museum has not yet opened.

Top right shows demarcation of Sahara and Cairo
Bottom Left is a large Church in Cairo
Bottom Right is the Egyptian Museum

Egyptian Museum

The museum is very pretty /colonial from the outside - oh it is large.  We go in and Mustafa walks us around some describing key points telling us areas we should explore on our own and making sure we all go in the King Tut room.  In the King Tut room, you see the gold hammered head covering and his 2 very ornate tombs think Russian dolls these tombs often had tombs within tombs. 

We also saw a husband and wife that had been mumuified and were still in excellent shape.  We saw more Ramses statutes (living King statute always had the left foot forward and something in their hands) and lots of sarcophagus.  After an hour or so in the museum it was time to head to Giza and the pyramids.

Right Living King
Left Dead

Top right is a feather fan that has survived the centuries

Giza Pyramid Complex (Giza Necropolis) 7 Wonders of the Ancient World

The Giza Pyramid plateau is huge and borders the Safara desert.  We quickly notice that the top of one of the pyramids looks different like it has a coating or something.  Seems that originally the pyramids were built with huge stones and then covered in alabaster and the one still has some of that coating up at its top section.  There are different sizes of pyramids, and we learn that kings/pharaohs had bigger pyramids than the queens.  We discuss how they got built and Mustafa believes in the ramp and pulley theory.  He also tells us that they have found burial grounds from the workers who built it - took over 100,000 to build these pyramids.  They have also found proof that the workers were not slaves but well-paid Egyptians in that they know there were assurances like education for their kids and other benefits.  The pyramids were meticulously built so that their tips all point to a specific spot and all of them are aligned with the North Star.  

Then it was time for us to wonder around the outside of them.  Unfortunately there were no tours inside, but we could go up to them on the outside and it was even okay to touch them!  The bus took us to a couple different part of the Giza plateau so we could see different views and wander in areas.  Some of our group took camel rides in one area, but Jeff and I declined.  Oh I should point out that as I said this is called a plateau and yes there are hills here and then suddenly sand which we are told is the Sahara which isn't flat either.

Note the Alabaster at the top (King Khafre)

How did they cut and move these massive blocks

Last stop in Cairo is to see the Great Sphinx of Giza and it is big.  And I do mean BIG.  This one was partially buried for years by mud and sand, so the head is now a different color than the feet, but it is quite impressive.   It is the key part of another temple which they did not realize exited until a donkey fell in a hole and digging to get him out they found columns for a building.  Like the pyramids it is made out of stones that were tightly stacked together to give the shape.  Oh sphinx have human heads and body of a lion.

The Great Sphinx appears to be guarding the Pyramids

Then off to the airport to start our trip back to the ship.  Being a tourist in Egypt is a unique experience which someone on the ship had warned us about.  All of our buses had the front seats reserved for a military/police person which was never used but we always had a police car with its lights flashing behind us.  There are also people called "fixers' that were always with us.  A fixer got us through security and in front of lines so at first, I thought they are just a tour guide person of some sort.  Then on the second day I realized our "fixer" had a handgun on him, so I think he was there to get us quickly and safely through the sites.  At Cairo airport in the afternoon, it was a mob scene in that there were tons of people with large suitcases everywhere since this is the only international airport in the country.  Our fixer stopped the flow of people in one area to the airport terminal and we walked right in and through level one of security then we went to a terminal/gate area that opened just for us.  The two airports in Egypt were the easiest airport experiences I have had in a long time.  Fixers are nice.  It was back on Petroleum Air Services and onto Hurgada.  When we arrived in Hurgada which was a new spot for us, our bus from Luxor was there with the suitcases we had left behind and Mustafa told us a little about the city.  Jeff and I had noticed while flying that there was some very pretty water below us and assumed it was the Red Sea - think pictures of pretty islands with light colored water.  Well turns out that was Hurgada and it is well known for diving and snorkeling so there are several very nice resorts along the beach which brought back a vague memory of hearing of nice beach resorts on the Red Sea.  The pictures of a couple of them in the airport did look quite nice.  After our hour bus ride, we were back at our ship and going through Egyptian immigration for one last time.

Luxor Egypt and the Valley of the Kings

Standing by the Nile

Egypt as in Luxor and Giza because our shipped docked near Luxor and we took an overland tour up to Cairo and Giza for the pyramids.  Our ship docked in Safarga which is on the Red Sea and not the Nile River, so we had to travel by bus for 3 hours to get to Luxor where the Valley of the Kings is located.  A New 7 Wonders of the world site.

We arrived into port in the morning and started the immigration procedures for Egypt - noticing it is serious business in this part of the world.   Don't try to sneak into a country around here.  Then it was on to the buses for the long drive.   Long interesting drives, Egyptian roads are full of 2 things:  checkpoints and speed bumps.  We never learned the official reason for all the checkpoints but lots of theories abounded amongst us.  Our guide Mustafa told us the speed bumps were to slow traffic down to reduce accidents between cars and animals.  There were donkeys all over the place and an occasional camel.  Once you cross the coastal mountain range you go from Asia to Africa.  The southern part of Egypt along the Nile, we learned is the agricultural area and no it is not dry desert land.  We are driving alongside the Nile river canals much of the way and the people use the water to irrigate their small farms.  Much to my surprise they use donkeys in Egypt and they are actively used for farming.  The fields were small but seemed fruitful, but the people and the area looked poor.  I think our guide was trying to change that impression as he said several times it is a simple life led here and the people are happy.  However he also said that the current government is trying to invest some money in the area.

Coastal range is where the African and Asia plates collide 

Horse and Donkey carts were frequent

Foreground is irrigation canal with two white Donkey’s waiting to work

When we made it to Luxor, we promptly had lunch at the Hilton Hotel this would be our site for dinner and our hotel for the night.  It was a nice property right on the Nile River right across from The Mountain.  As in where all the tombs are.  After lunch we wandered out around the pool for a couple of minutes and that is when it hit me where I was, and I was suddenly excited.  We hopped in boats for a short ride down and across the Nile River.  In Luxor, it is important to know which side of the river you are on because there are different sites on each side and it can be a challenge to get across the river.  While on the boat ride, we saw several large river boats that do tours on the Nile to Aswan Dam when it's not so hot.  It is now the beginning of the low season because of the heat.

Hilton had partially submerged chase chairs, along with poolside bar and restaurant

The Mountain below which is the Valley of the Kings

Top - tour boat like ours
Bottom - right of my hat is one of the overnight boats

Once we crossed the river, our bus took us straight to the Valley of the Kings and Mustafe our guide explained some things for us.  Such as the longer a king reigned the deeper is the tomb and he pointed out a couple of tombs that are good to see inside and said why.  Additionally, this site was chosen for the new burials (these are newer than pyramids) because they could be better hidden, and the mountain did have a pointed top like a pyramid and the area is hot.  Oh yes the heat, it was over a 100 that day.  The heat aids the mummification process.  

VALLEY OF THE KINGS

The general admission ticket allowed us to enter 3 tombs and we bought a separate ticket that allowed us to enter the tomb of the brothers Rameses V and VI.  18 of the 63 tombs are open to the public.  The visitor center has a topographical map that shows the locations.  If you look underneath the table, it depicts the tombs.    One of the amazing things with these tombs is that the vibrant colors you see today is the original paint because Egypt does not allow for painting or touch ups so the color is how it has aged, and the statutes may be missing pieces. 

When you enter a tomb, there is/was a drawing on the wall of the deceased person and of the god of death Anubis.  Anubis is leading the deceased person to the underworld/afterlife.   After he told us about several of the tombs, Mustafa left us to tour on our own.  While it was quite hot, we were also lucky in that hardly anyone else was there so we could really look at the walls of the tombs without being hurried by others.  We were able to appreciate the tombs for the artwork.

Mountain resembles a Pyramid 

Anubis, God of Death above Carol
Rameses III above Jeff

Rameses III

This was the first tomb Jeff and I entered.  All tombs have several rooms.  You walk down a shaft of varying length (remember reign affected length of shaft) and then open into one room with another room behind it and one off to its side.  The ceiling of this one and at least one other is of a deep blue with yellow stars.  It is quite pretty and amazing to realize how good it looks after thousands of years.

Rameses V and VI

 Is a gorgeous tomb inside.  The ceiling is a deep blue and gold with scenes and Hieroglyphics from “The Book of Earth.”  We learned that Hieroglyphics were exclusive to religious writings and monuments.  Another written language was used for everyday life.

Right panels are the ceiling 

It must be a long story with all those Hieroglyphics

1 of 2 Sarcofagus

2 of 2 Sarcofagus

Tomb of Queen Tausret/King Sethnakht

Jeff and I chose to visit this tomb because it was further in the valley and less people were there.  Yep it was us and the ticket collector in it.  It was not as elaborate as the first two we entered, but it was longer.  We assumed the King had a long reign, but were wrong.  It seems this Tomb was built for Queen Tausret, the wife of Seti II (19th Dynasty) who’s tomb is next to it.   For some reason, they extended the tomb to use it for King Sethnakht (20th Dynasty). They also plastered over images of the Queen and inserted images of the King

Ram-headed bird as the soul of Ra and the terminal scene from the Book of Caverns showing the reappearance of the sun at dawn.

Sarcofagus of King Sethnakht

Ramses IV

Is the closest to the entrance of the Valley.  It is a popular tomb to visit.  Part of it is quite pretty but they suspect it was never finished for some reason because not all of it is as elaborate, there is also some Greek and Roman graffiti in it.  It too had a very pretty ceiling.  Then it was back to the bus to explore some more of Luxor.  We chose to skip King Tut's tomb since all the jewels found there are in the Egyptian Museum which we would visit the next day.

Note the Cobras

Top two photos are the ceiling for the room

Hatsheput's Temple

Hatsheput was a woman that became a man is how she is described.  Only men could become a king but she did.  Her tomb is not in the valley but it is an elaborate carved building into a mountain.  We only got to do a photo stop from the parking lot which bummed me because I had heard that it was supposed to be impressive inside.

Collosssi Mennon

Back in the bus we passed several huge statutes seemingly randomly in fields.  Reality at one time those fields were temples or monuments.  Then we had another photo stop this time at the Colossi Mennon.  Here we could go up to the large statutes and really see them.  At one time the statutes flanked Amenhotep II's mortuary temple.

Note the detail on the block he sits on

Each pair face the opposite direction with many smaller statues in between

Luxor Temple and Sphinx Alley

Now it was time to drive back to the east bank and explore over there a little bit.  We would really notice the heat here because all of this was above ground.  As we were approaching the area, our bus actually drove on a bridge over the Sphinx Alley.  They keep finding more of the sphinx today.  They were built to connect Luxor Temple to Karnak Temple which is a distance of 3Km - just under 2 miles.  Each sphinx is probably around 10 feet tall sitting on their pedestals.

As far as the eye can see

Found buried

Bottom left is King Tut and his half sister/Bride
A Pharaohs Queen and sometimes children are depicted below his knee

We make it back to the hotel in time to see the Sun set over the Valley of the Kings.  It’s been a fantastic day.  Dinner and early to bed as we get up early to fly to Cairo and see the Pyramids.