Pyramids, Pharaohs and The Bishops: April 2013

Our time in Luxor is quickly coming to an end. Today we head back to Cairo to prepare for the last part of the school year. It is hard to believe that it is April already and that there is really not that much more time for teaching before exams happen in early June.

But, I must recap the rest of our time here in Luxor. After spending several days touring temples and tombs, we decided to give the kids a day off of exploration for time to relax by the pool. It was amazing to have the chance to just sit and watch the kids play.

Most people that come to Luxor, stay only a short time (2-4 days) before heading off to Aswan. By rushing through the famous sites on these short trips, many people miss some of the "less popular" sites. Since we were here longer than the average tourist, we were able to visit these sites, and are we ever glad that we did.

Medinat Habu was rated very high on Trip Advisor. While I do not always follow the top trends on Trip Advisor, there has been a couple of times that the top picks have been by far the best I have ever seen. We went to Segovia in Spain because of Trip Advisor and it is probably the best place I have ever been. Medinat Habu ranked number 2 for places to see. It is often skipped by tourists for the more famous sites like Valley of the Kings. But, Medinat Habu was the best preserved temple we had been to. I was impressed by the depth and quality of the hieroglyphs and the carvings and cartouches were very clear. There was not very much color, but, this temple did not need it. We paid one of the guards to take us into some of the back rooms of the temple often off limits to tourists and got to see some of the most interesting stories depicted on the walls. It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

Then, we headed off to the Ramsseum. This was the temple for Ramses II. It is mostly in ruins, very small, and also skipped by most tourists. During our time at the Ramsseum there were very few other people around and by the end, we were the only ones there. We got some fantastic photos and had the chance to read up on what this temple was all about. Apparently, when the Romans came to Egypt, they decided to take the good rocks out of the Ramsseum and move them to the nearby site to build Medinat Habu. Basically, they turned the Ramsseum into a quarry.

Today, we head home, but, the trip to Luxor will be one to remember for sure.

Medinat Habu

The side room we paid extra to see.

Kids at the Ramsseum

Checking out the temple/

It is 8:00 AM. I am sitting on our hotel balcony with a beautiful view of the Nile River in Luxor. This is the beginning of Day 4 here. Spring Break has been a wonderful adventure for us so far.

We arrived in Luxor in the early afternoon. After 7 hours of traveling (even though it is only a one hour flight), we thought it would be best for the kids to play in the pool. The weather here is beautiful...reaching the high 30's everyday. The pool is very crisp and refreshing after a hot day of exploring.

Here in Luxor, tourists explore the ancient sites very early in the morning until mid-day when it is too hot to be in the desert any longer. The first full day that we were here, we ventured off to one of the smaller temples. Luxor Temple was very quiet when we first arrived and as a result, we were able to get some pictures with NO people in it. This is very rare at any major tourist site. After visiting the temple, we jumped into a horse drawn carriage and toured around Luxor town and saw some very authentic markets. It was one of the first times while being in Egypt that I felt that we were back in the heart of Africa. In this market we saw animals being butchered, brightly colored cloth for sale and chickens and ducks in crates ready to be sold. The market was a very tight little road with room for only one "vehicle" to make it through, so, when our carriage encountered a small truck, there was no way for both vehicles to pass by. It took a group effort to get the truck to back up without hitting anything or anyone and for our carriage to continue past.

On our second day, we ventured a little farther out of Luxor to the Karnak Temple. We jumped into another horse drawn carriage (our preferred mode of transportation here in Luxor) and after 30 minutes arrived at our destination. After seeing Luxor Temple which is on the smaller side, Karnak Temple was huge. We hired a guide (not something that we usually do) and we were really glad that we did. We would have missed so many things had we not hired the guide. Karnak was amazing and I highly recommend that everyone stop by and see it at some point in their lifetime. In the evening, another teacher and his family arrived in Luxor and Princess was thrilled that she had some friends to swim with and to play with.

Since there were extra children around to distract Dimples and Princess, we decided to face the scorching desert with our friends. Venturing off to the West Bank of Luxor requires preparation. We hired a van and tour guide to drive us from our hotel to the renowned Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, Hatshesput Temple and the Collosi of Memnon. The trip did not really start out well as Dimples became extremely car sick fairly early in the drive. Having no change of clothes for the little guy, we pulled over and washed his clothes quickly knowing that they would dry just as quickly. When we arrived at the Valley of the Kings (most well known as the burial site for King Tut), I was not super impressed like I was with Karnak Temple. The Valley of the Kings was fairly desolate and aside from the tombs and annoying `salesman`, there was really not much to see. But, roaming through the tombs was pretty impressive. Some of them are ridiculously well preserved and fascinating to venture through. When you buy a pass to the Valley of the Kings, you are allowed to enter any three tombs. They punch your ticket when you enter one and monitor you pretty closely when you are inside as photographs are strictly prohibited. Our guide did not give us a choice as to which tombs we went into which was kind of nice because we would have struggled to choose. She gave us a list of things to look for in each of the tombs that we went into and that added a unique element to the adventure. We chose not to enter King Tut`s tomb as it is one of the smallest and requires an additional, special ticket to enter. Having seen a lot of the relics from his tomb a couple of times at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, we felt it was unnecessary to pay extra to see one of the less exciting tombs. The tombs are like nothing I had ever imagined they would be like. You have to see it to truly comprehend what they accomplished. Quite possibly the most amazing thing is that Egyptologists are still finding things buried within the soil, uncovering more tombs and immaculate coffins that are thousands of years old.

With the beauty of the tombs at the Valley of the Kings, you would be sorry to miss the even more amazing, yet much smaller tombs in the Valley of the Queens. While arguably the most beautiful tomb of Nefertiti is located in Valley of the Queens, it is regularly closed and when open, only admits a few people a day. To open the tomb for a visit it costs 20,000 LE (around $3,000), and, you require written permission well in advance of your arrival to get in. $3,000 to visit one tomb for 10 minutes was a little out of our price range, so, we did not get to see it. But, the other tombs that we saw were amazing and significantly more impressive in regards to color preservation than any tomb we saw in the Valley of the Kings.

We also visited the Temple of Hatshesput. I was really looking forward to visiting this temple as it was different than Luxor Temple and Karnak Temple as these two temples are free standing structures. The Temple of Hatshesput is build into the side of a mountain. The story of Hatshesput is also particularly interesting as she is the only female pharaoh in Egyptian history. She ruled for 18 years before her son took the throne. Her story is fascinating, if you have time, take a quick read on her. I was however, a bit disappointed by this temple. The initial view is magnificent, but, the preservation of the statues and the hieroglyphics was poor. Perhaps, with time, Egyptologists will restore this temple and it will be more appealing. Not everyone held the same opinion as I did, but, it may be because we saw Karnak first.

On day 4 we took a quick trip to the Luxor Museum which is significantly smaller than the Egyptian Museum but SO much better. This museum has only the best items on display in well spaced and well labeled areas. Also, there are two mummies on display which was fascinating to Princess and Dimples. At the Egyptian Museum, seeing the mummies is an extra cost, one that we have not taken advantage of yet, so, it was nice to see some. While they are pretty much what I expected, I found that they were much shorter than I thought they would be. People really have gotten taller over time. There were some fantastic wooden coffins that were found in 2008 on display which is an example of the treasures that still lay in the deserts of Egypt.

Other than that, we have spent a lot of time swimming. The kids are little fish and Princess in particular is really turning in to quite the swimmer. She is now swimming without any flotation devices, diving into the pool and searching for rings in the water. Dimples is still very content in the very shallow waters with as much flotation assistance as he can get!

Our time in Luxor is coming to an end, and with that, a return to Cairo for the remainder of the school year. Enjoy the photos, sorry, no pictures of the Valley of the Kings or Queens as cameras are strictly forbidden.