Now to begin.....
We celebrated Christmas on Sunday, December 21, our departure day. Like all the Christmas mornings of my entire life, we began the day with our traditional breakfast of Grammie’s scrumptious, apricot rolls (flown in with Nicholas two days before), grapefruit, orange juice and lattes. Our tradition continued as we retired to our living room to open stockings and presents. Very small bounty this year as our Christmas gift was going to Egypt! The afternoon was spent doing last minute packing and tying up loose and year-end things. We finished our early Christmas celebration with a delicious lunch of poulet roti, tomato tart, salad of pear, Roquefort, endive, lettuce and walnuts and fresh baguettes. Not our traditional roast beef and Yorkshire pudding Christmas lunch but delicious and memorable just the same.In the early evening we went to the airport, joined some of our French tour group from the company, Marmara. We had a bit of a wait and here's how our kids passed the time until our flight left for Luxor around 9pm...
We arrived in Luxor at 2am and boy, were we sleepy! We had to wait at the deserted airport on the chartered buses for the rest of our group who were delayed from Paris. With the exception of a few military personal and our tour group representatives, not a creature was stirring...
After what seemed like an eternity, they arrived and we went to board the ship. Our ship, the 74 cabin, Beau Rivage, was docked with several other similar ones along the Nile at Luxor.
Our ship, the Beau Rivage...
Perhaps it was due to sleep deprivation and being disoriented, but we really couldn't believe we were actually on the Nile River!
All we really wanted to do when we got onto the ship was crash in our cabins but we were told our first excursion began at 6 am….that was in 2 hours! Nonetheless, at 6am, bleary-eyed but full of excitement and anticipation, we met for breakfast and then at 7 set off for day 1 of our Egyptian adventure; the sights in and around Luxor.
LUXOR
From Sarah- "Luxor is located in Upper Egypt, in the province of Qena. It was the capital of Ancient Egypt. The early Arab travelers admired Luxor for its monuments and ruins scattered around the city. “Luxor” means “the palaces.”
From Susie- “Luxor is one of the most interesting destinations in Egypt. Former named, Thebes, some of the biggest and best preserved temples of the ancient times can be visited here. The city was already a tourist destination 2000 years ago when first the Greeks and later the Romans visited the many monuments in the area. Since then, visitors have admired the ruins of the pharaohs. Currently the city has 350,000 inhabitants, most of them work in the tourist industry. Although people from Luxor are very nice and friendly, most visitors only meet the locals used to dealing with tourists. One of the most important phrases we learned to say was “no thanks” in Arabic, "la shukran" as the vendors follow you everywhere.
When we boarded the bus, our Mamara guide, Robert, introduced us to Mimi, who would be our official Egyptian, historical guide for the trip. Mimi was not only knowledgeable, she was a joy! A native of Alexandria, Egypt, she was kind, patient, full of and energy and had a contagious passion for her country and it's rich, vast heritage. You'll find her, third from left, happily squeezed into a group including Lindsey, Nicholas, Sarah and many of our new French travel mates...
The first stop we made with Mimi was to see the great seated statues, known as the Colossi of Memnon, which had guarded the entrance to the now destroyed, Temple of Amenophos III. Built 3000 years ago, the Temple is believed to have fallen in the earthquake of 27B.C. The statues themselves are 18m high(think of a modern six story building!). Looking at the statues, one can only imagine what the temple would have looked like!
From there we drove to the famous Valleys of the Kings and Queens. In stark contrast to the desert landscape , the land all around this area was fertile and verdant green thanks to the waters of the Nile...
VALLEY OF THE KINGS AND QUEENS
(From Susie and Sarah)The Valley of Kings was the royal cemetery for 62 pharaohs from the 18th to the 20th dynasty. The Valley of the Queens hosted the royal wives and their family members. Both are is located on the west bank of the Nile at Luxor. This area was very protected by sentries, which were placed at the entrance of the Valley and along the top in case of tomb robbers. Rulers rejected the traditional system of burial in a pyramid as it was too easy to find and rob. They chose instead to hide their tombs in the stony hills of this valley. The tombs here can be as simple as a pit or a tomb with over 121 chambers and corridors. Despite their best efforts at protection, nearly all these tombs were robbed, probably by the very workers who built them or guards or even family descendants. Only the Tomb of Tutankhamen, discovered by British archaeologist, Howard Carter, in 1922, was found almost intact. The incredible treasures removed from this tomb are housed in the Cairo Museum which we visited later in the week.
We stopped first at the Valley of the Queens, we learned that most of the tombs are either not open to the public or are in poor condition, except for that of the tomb of Nefertari, favorite wife of Ramses III.
Walking up into the valley with our group. We followed Mimi's umbrella everywhere it went....
The small openings to several tombs...
Nick took an interdit photo of one of the interior walls of a tomb. Note the amazing color even despite the poor quality of the photo and the fact that it was painted about 4000 years ago!
We drove to the Valley of the Kings, located 1.5km south of the Valley of the Queens, where we visited the tombs of several Pharaohs.
The magnificent treasures which were to have accompanied each Pharaoh to the Netherworld have either been carried of by robbers or placed in museums but one can still admire the beautiful reliefs which completely covered the walls and ceilings of the tombs. Most of these depict scenes of the Paraoh in the afterlife as well as texts from ancient sacred books. We were fascinated by the drawings and the brilliant colors. The size of a Pharaohs tomb and extent of detail on the walls had much more to do with how long he lived after he began his reign and not with his popularity, wealth or heritage. Construction of each tomb began when the Pharaoh commenced his reign. If he lived for a long time afterward, his tomb would have many funerary chambers and much detail on all the walls and ceilings.
Archaeologists are certain there are more undiscovered tombs and buried ruins all over Egypt in this valley in particular. Ongoing excavation here continues to discover new tombs as these next few photos show...
We felt like history was unfolding before out eyes and imagined this open pit could be some important new discovery!
Everywhere we went in Egypt, there were military personnel posted singularly like this man. Always carrying automatic weapons, they also sometimes carried a smile...
Our next visit was to the Karnak Temple located just a few miles from Luxor on the east bank of the Nile. It is interesting to note that the east and west banks separate the living and the dead. All the houses, palaces and temples devoted to local deities were built on the east bank where the sun rose and everything that had to do with the dead, from mummification workshops to necropolis with underground tombs of kings, queens and nobles were built in the stony hills of the valleys between the Nile and the desert...
KARNAK
The largest temple complex in Egypt, Karnak is considered to be one of the most representative exponents of Ancient Egypt dating back to the Gerzean period (c. 3400–c. 3100 BC). It should be called the temples of Karnak, because in the area there several temples. The three main ones are: the temple of Mut, the temple of Monthu and the temple of Amun (the three of them are enclosed by high walls). Outside the walls there is the open air museum and the sacred lake. Admire the statue of Ramses II, you can see part of the second pylon, built during Ramses II reign. Also the entrance to the hypostyle hall. The hall is the most astonishing part of the temple (and one of the most beautiful ruins in Egypt). This part of the temple, that occupies the space between the 3rd and 2nd pylons, was commissioned by Ramses I (1292–90). Twelve enormous columns, nearly 24 meters (80 feet) high, supported the 5,000 square meters (54,000 square feet) ceiling of the hall. Light entered through holes on the roof (no longer there) and illuminated the huge room. Seven lateral aisles on either side brought the number of pillars to 134. The hall was completed during the reigns of Seti I (1290–79) and Ramses II (1279–13).
Here we see Nick standing before the avenue of sphinxes. Behind the sphinxes two huge pylons(from the Greek word pylos, door).
The Egyptian man standing in the lower corner of this photo gives an idea of the size of the sphinxes...
Thousands of years ago, this avenue of sphinxes connected the temples of Luxor and was 3 km long! A mere 100 meters is all that remains today...
Nicholas, Lindsey and Sarah inside the pylons in the interior courtyard...
Through this entrance you enter the hypostyle hall....
The hall contains 134 gigantic columns, the twelve in the center 23 metres high with papyriform capitals 15 metres in diameter. These columns supported a 5,000 square meters (54,000 square feet) ceiling of the hall!!! Can you imagine!?!
We were glad to see that this place was not 'just for tourists'...
Viewing Karnak from the Temple of Mut...
After our visit to Karnak, we returned to the boat for lunch and a relaxing afternoon cruising down the Nile. After lunch, we went up on deck to enjoy the afternoon sunshine...
We saw a small felucca sailing toward a village with a towering white minaret...
Not all the banks of the Nile were fertile and green...
Two of our three were wiped out....
and the third was....studying!!
The rest of the day was spent reading, napping and relaxing. After dinner that night, there was a disco on board but all of us went to bed so we'd be ready for our 6 am wake up call the next morning. A demain!
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