Our last night in Egypt

Monday 14 May 2012  - All templed out

Day 32 and 127 to go

In a bid to beat the heat our tour was to start early today so we were woken at 5 to begin our day. With our last breakfast consumed we waited in the lobby for Aswanee before being ushered onto the mini-bus. We were taken to the West Bank to begin our day.

Our first stop was the Colossi of Memno. These were two giant statues that have been put back together like a jigsaw puzzle. They were destroyed during an earthquake. The archaeologists are also attempting to locate pieces to the temple that they would have stood in front of. 

This was a quick stop before entering into the dessert mountains containing the Valley of the Kings. Unfortunately you are not allowed to take any form of camera into the Valley so I had to reluctantly leave my camera on-board the van. We took and electric car to the main entrance. The whole way we were batting off kids who were boarding in an attempt to sell their wares. They were funny little buggers. One in particular had been beating badly with the ugly stick.

There are 64 tombs to be found in the valley but the authorities only open 3 at a time to visit and you can pay more to go see Tutunkhamun that we decided not to do. The 3 tombs we entered belonged to Ramses 1, 4 and 9. The first two were small and did not go far underground. Their walls were covered with beautifully painted hieroglyphs. They were so well preserved.

The final tomb required us to walk down many flights of stairs underground. They were steep and small. The tomb again was intricately painted with the Pharoh’s story and his protections for the afterlife. Surprisingly despite being underground the tombs are very warm and after being inside the 3 we were all beginning to melt and looking for some relief but we weren’t going to find it outside either. It was hot in the shade. Thankfully there was plenty of cloud cover preventing the sun’s rays from really beating down.

We had to bat off the vendors again that were like flies. I was getting good at just looking ahead, saying no, waving my hand and continuing to walk. Paul however was more inclined to raise the voice if they didn’t go away the first time he said no. Many of them almost lost their wares over their heads. Just the fake throw had them reeling.

We boarded the van this time for a stop at an alabaster factory where we saw how they make the different pieces. After our stop we were driven to the Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut (Hat-ship-suit) or as Paul would say Hot Chicken Soup.

This temple has only opened in the last 5 years after 30 years of restoration. The temple was originally designed to have a passage connecting the temple to the Queen’s tomb in the Valley but it was not complete. The Temple also lies directly in line with the Karnak Temple of Amun Ra, her father, located on the East Bank.

The temple consists of three levels with sanctuaries to the two the sides. We wandered around aimlessly taking in the architecture and the paintings on the wall.

After visiting here we returned to the East Bank and the Karnak Temples. It was really starting to warm up and we were clambering for shade. We were given the story of the Temples as we wandered through dodging the other tourists. The complex is very large and would take many days to see everything. We basically got an abridged version.

Our last visit was to Luxor temple. This is 3km from Karnak and an avenue joining the two is in the process of being restored. We wandered through again. All the temples were beginning to become a blur. This one has the oldest mosque on the site and part was also converted to a Christian chapel with appropriate paintings to depict the Christian figures.

It was a quick visit through this temple as the heat was getting to the others and they were ready to finish up. We collected our tour manager and said goodbye to Aswanee before being taken for lunch at a local restaurant. We were given soup, salad, a tagine of meat, vege and rice. It was delicious. 

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At 1.30pm we returned to the boat. Paul and I stayed in the room just lazing around and watching TV. Trying to recover.

At 430pm we decided to brave the heat and sit out on the upper deck. No one else was out there. It was still quite hazy. You could no longer see the mountains of the West Bank through it and it was difficult to breathe in.

We chatted to Phil and Nick when they ventured upstairs and when they retreated we had our last swim. The water was a little warmer than it had been and once in it offered instant relief.

At 6pm we went back to the room to dress for the airport and pack our bags.

By 7 we were being collected in the lobby and driven to Luxor International Airport. Our tour manager ushered us through and sorted our tickets and by 730pm we were sitting at the gate. We shared a sandwich for dinner, watched the TV and then boarded our little plane for a take-off at 9pm.

It was not very full and people were able to have seats to themselves. The flight was only an hour, not long enough to have a sleep and we were both so tired when we arrived at Cairo.

Our tour manager met us at baggage claim. We said goodbye to our new Aussie friends before getting back in the mini-van and being driven 10min to the airport hotel. This one was a marked improvement on the first one we stayed at. We checked in and then went to our room.

We were no longer tired, running on adrenalin.

I had to go to the business centre to print out our Dublin e-tickets. The staff were very helpful and it was done in no time though it wasn’t cheap to do.

I returned to the room and logged in to the Internet that was free. Yay. Paul ordered a burger as we were both starving. I checked emails and Facebook along with our flights. By 11.30pm the tiredness had caught up with us again and it was time for bed.

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