Blogs from Thebes, Upper Egypt, Egypt, Africa
January 24th 2012
We started the trip south with a trip to Giza and the pyramids. It really surprised us to find that the pyramids are in a suburb of Cairo. Out of the bus and on to a camel. Lumbering over the sand dunes towards the Great Pyramid. What a sight to behold. the Sphinx was as enigmatic as anything we've come across. After the pyramids we went to the Cairo museum. A gigantic storehouse of Egyptian antiquities including Ramses I, the mummy that was found in the Niagara Falls museum in 1996. That night we took the night train from Cairo down to Aswan. From Aswan we went on a long bus ride down to Abu Simbel to see the re-constructed temple of Ramses II. It was astounding to think that they took the temple apart, stone ... read more
September 28th 2009
Up at the crack of dawn (again!!!) today for a massive sightseeing venture to the Valley of Kings (or the Vallée des Rois, as the French tourists say), et al. From the outside, the 63 tombs (including King Tut’s) look like little more than hobbit holes. However, it is truly amazing to descend, by means of a graduated ramp, into the tomb and see the innumerable hieroglyphics and drawings adorning the passageways and antechambers. Ongoing excavation, restoration, and safety issues mean that the tombs are rotated in terms of being open to visitors, with the standard admission ticket allowing entrance to three tombs (for 80 Egyptian Pounds- by way of contrast, my dinner this evening cost 9 Egyptian Pounds per dish). But, all the tourists leave something behind in addition to the ridiculously steep entrance fees. ... read more
Tombs, temples and a hot air balloon
Published: January 18th 2008Africa » Egypt » Upper Egypt » Thebes
November 24th 2007
The photo above shows the funerary procession in Ramose's tomb Thebes Thebes was the capital of ancient Egypt during the 11th Dynasty (Middle Kingdom) and most of the 18th Dynasty (New Kingdom). Today, Thebes is probably the richest archaeological site in the world and also one of the largest. It can be divided into three areas: the cultivated land between the Nile and the desert, the low-lying desert and the barren desert cliffs and mountains. Few traces of archaeological evidence can be found near the cultivated land, due to the silt deposited by the annual flooding of the Nile river. The low-lying desert is where the ancient Egyptians built mortuary temples. They also buried their nobles in the limestone hills. Both templeas and tombs have survived more or less intact until today. Finally the barren desert ... read more
Incidents of Travel in the Monumental City of Thebes
Published: October 22nd 2010Africa » Egypt » Upper Egypt » Thebes
October 20th 2007
It was turning into a beautiful day. The sun was low in the morning sky and the heat was still at a bearable level. I had eaten an early breakfast at the hotel and set off to explore Luxor. I was walking along the wide, riverside promenade beside the Nile enjoying the shade from the trees that lined the way. The river was still asleep and the felucca touts were nowhere to be found. All was peaceful… “Hey mister! Carriage?” I turned towards the road that paralleled the corniche and found a man in a black, horse-drawn carriage slowly plodding along, matching my speed exactly. I was tempted to take him up on his offer and go for a ride, because the carriage was a relic from a more romantic age. However, I was enjoying my ... read more
Luxor - Valleys of the Kings and Queens
Published: March 4th 2006Africa » Egypt » Upper Egypt » Thebes
June 27th 2005
Our trip to the Valleys of the Kings and Queens was great. We got up early to beat the heat and the other tourists! Althought it being the summer and very hot, there were not as many tourists as there are in the other seasons when it is cooler. We went first of all to the Valley of the Kings, you are allowed to go into three tombs. Our guide pointed us in the direction of the tombs of three different Ramses - Ramses I, Ramses IV and Ramses IX. The Valley of the Kings has about 63 known tombs - most of which are not open to the public. Tombs are closed for restoration and to rest them from the erosion and ruin that tourism brings, that is the sweat of visitors and the air ... read more
June 3rd 2005
write down your name on the wall of the stones in the valley of the kings and climb to its top finding the times difficulty passing by watching couple of bikes from a distance, our travel and the grain of the sands are dancing in thebes a ray od sunlight a gift from the ancient of sun god amon-re ra pushing the inert gases warmering the ground of mother earth at the gate of colossi of memnon maat-kau-re ra-setep-meri-amen memnon the legend who killed by achilles' sword in the battle of troy how far those bikes will travel passing the sugarcane fields the old catacombs the coptic cross; ankh reading every single word in their holy book bi-lingual arabic and greek saint tawdros el marsekiy among the sands i already found the ancient legends the conquers ... read more
Upper Egypt - tombs and temples galore!
Published: June 5th 2005Africa » Egypt » Upper Egypt » Thebes
May 28th 2005
When you come to Egypt, there is a very standard tourist trail that you take. This goes from Cairo (the pyramids) to Luxor (Valley of the Kings, and Karnak temples), followed by Aswan (feluccas (little boats) on the nile), followed by Abu Simbel (very impressive large temples). Then there is also the Red Sea, where you can go scuba diving. And Mt Sinai. Apparently fantastic, but not as popular. One of the problems with a 4 month round the world trip is that you don't get time to do everything. So we had decided not to go to the Red Sea. Plus we figure we get great diving in Australia already. Plus we don't dive :) So we had decided to do the standard tourist track. Our Lonely Planet had warned us not to allow our ... read more
