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Published: November 15th 2009
Going to VoK
Brown, green and mountains ... sorta like Tucson.We have such a full day ahead of us. Plan A was to be done with the Valley of the Kings and be on our way to El Quseir, a hotel on the Red Sea where we have reservations for two nights before heading back to London. Due to some river boat snafoos, we are now in Plan B. Plan B is a whirlwind tour of: Colossi of Memnon, Valley of the Kings, Temple of Hatshepsut and Temple of Karnak. Then a drive of five hours to El Quseir.
Off we go. Early in the morning. Really early.
Our van is waiting, as it always is. We hop in and Ahmed begins to detail our itinerary. We have learned to just go with what he says. He hasn’t failed us yet!
Off to the West Bank. Probably ya’ll know this, but I didn’t, but I got it, understood why it was so … see, back in those ancient of ancient times, before the “sciences,” imagine what you would think about the sun. It comes up every day on one side of the flat earth and goes down on the opposite side. Seasons come and go, and over time
Shopping?
No time. We're on a schedule! the importance of the sun is realized. Now that Sun is a special thing, it needs to be recognized, because what will happen if it doesn’t come up one day? Other things come up too. Plants come up as they grow. Children grow taller, so they go up too, just like the sun. At the end of the day? Sun goes down. Disappears. Gone. So up is good, down is not so good. More things get attributed to up and down. West is designated as end of day, end of life. So all but two of the tombs (as in death) of ancient Egypt were built in the west. There you go.
Our first stop is the Colossi of Memnon, two 60 foot statues of Amenhotep III. They originally guarded Amenhotep’s mortuary temple (which is no longer -- most likely plundered for building material by later pharaohs and then finished off by Nile floods). Mystery history surrounds the northernmost statue (that would be the one of the right, right?). Apparently it was heard to “sing” at sunrise. People flocked to hear it (still way back in time, in the Roman period). Now before this, the Greeks were sure that
Donkey?
You can ride anything here ... and there never is a shortage of tourists that will try anything!! the legendary figure of Memnon was greeting his mother, Eos, goddess of the dawn, with a sigh each morning. So what if the statue had been damaged by an earthquake in 27 BC.I like the sigh story, not the wind through the cracks in the statue story. Then, in 199 AD, Roman emperor Septimius Severus repaired the statue and the singing stopped. Could this have been the first urban legend???
We’re driving to the Valley of the Kings. Over to the right is the house that Howard Carter lived in while he was messing around King Tut’s tomb. There are thoughts about turning his house into a museum. Hasn’t happened. On to the Valley of the Kings. Ahmed informs us that we are not allowed to take cameras inside the VoK. That is not fair!! Obviously, we don’t have pics. We had to buy the book. There were hordes, I mean hordes of people meandering, some big groups, some small groups, some just three or four people like us, but most with a guide. The guides weren’t even allowed to go into the tombs. They had to lecture us outside the tomb. Ticket included three tombs of our choice.
Our choice? What do we know??? Ahmed! Help!!!
Ahmed gives us his opinion on the best ones, and we have opted to pay extra to go to King Tut’s tomb in addition to our three other tombs. Since we saw most of the artifacts on display at the museum in Cairo, we were curious to see the tomb. The tomb was really small. Everything had to be stacked and crammed into a small space. It’s not a “magnificent” tomb … King Tut died very young and there wasn’t enough time to build the “big one” and nothing much to talk about … too young and not enough time for him to achieve monumental accomplishments.
I have to say that the Valley of the Kings wasn’t quite up to par with my fantasy … “An eerie quietness spreading like a shroud over the valley, etc. etc.”. Nope. Way too many people. My mind is right now erasing all those people out of my memories of the time spent in the VoK. There are 62 tombs that have been discovered , and “they” don’t open all the tombs at one time. (I’ve always wanted to know who “they” are every
In the Desert
We're still traveling to the VoK. time “they” are mentioned. I used to ask: “Who’s ‘they’?“ I gave that up. Too many raised eyebrows. Actually, I think those eyebrows only went up because they didn’t know really who “they” were.) In that regard, one of the tombs we wanted to see … really one of the tombs Ahmed suggested … was Tomb of Tuthmosis III, but it was closed. With Ahmed’s help, we picked the Tombs of Ramses III, IV, and ah, gee, I don’t remember. I’ll have to ask Rich. Remember, he was the one who studied at night. Rich???? Rich says we saw: Ramses III, Ramses IV and Ramses VI. Sorry no pics.
We’re getting hot. Seems like this is the hottest day we’ve encountered. Long lines, no shade, stuffy tombs (all those people fighting for oxygen) and no water. We ran out. What we scoffed at when we first arrived … the little trolley-looking shuttles that carried people up to the second entrance to the VoK … we embraced upon departure. We appreciated the breeze offered by the moving vehicle. We were tired. So tired.
Back in the wonderful air conditioned van, we move to our next destination, the mortuary Temple
No Photos
This is the last pic we could take before going into the Valley of the Kings. of Hatshpsut. She, yes, SHE was an interesting person. There are different versions to the story of how a woman became Pharaoh, but this is the one we heard from our Cairo guide, Suhair:
Born in the 15th Century B.C. to royal parents: Tuthmose I, and Ahmes, Hatshepsut was destined to become the family’s fortunate daughter, carrying their royal blood; a common thing solely enjoyed by females in ancient Egypt. Soon after her father’s death, Hatshepsut’s younger, half brother Tuthmose II ascended to the throne. However, to claim his position as “Pharaoh”, he had to keep the royal blood intact, and so, as was sorta the norm back then, married his half-sister; Hatshepsut. Shortly after Tuthmose II ruled Egypt for a bit, he caught a deadly skin disease, which not only left Hatshepsut a widow with two children … a daughter of their own “Neferura”, and a son “Tuthmosis III” from another wife … but also left her with the responsibility of ruling Egypt, along with her young, nephew. However, the situation didn’t last long, as Hatshepsut couldn’t tolerate the fact of co-ruling,. So like any strong woman would do, she proclaimed herself “Egypt’s first female Pharaoh” of the
Temple of Hatshepsut
Trust me, it's a long walk to the Temple. 18th Dynasty.
Now you may ask, “How she do that?” Woman back then just didn’t numpty ploomp (did I make up those words?) become a female Pharaoh. No way, Jose.
Here’s what she did. She knew that she had to control both the religious side and the military side to legitimize her position. She invented a co-regency with her royal father Tuthmose I. And to gain support from both the people and the priests she claimed that Amun-Ra, creator of the universe, who wears the sun on his brow, had a little tete-a-tete with her mother and she, Hatshepsut, was the product of that union, and that Amun-Ra had announced that she was the new King of both Upper and Lower Egypt and that he granted her the title of Maat-Ka-Ra (Goddess of Truth and Universal Balance). Whew.
There was still a little bit of a sticky wicket to deal with. Hatshepsut knew that neither the people nor the priests would take her seriously unless she adopted male adornments. What she do? Wore the false beard of the Pharaohs and wore male clothing and adornments.
The Temple sits outside the VoK, we had to ride in
Hatshepsut
She's everywhere!! the van to get there, and there it was on the right, sitting at the foot of a sheer limestone cliff face. Construction took 15 years (is that all) and underwent a number of substantial modifications in that time. The Temple was later damaged by Ramses II and his successors, and Christians turned it into a monastery. There has been a lot of reconstruction since the discovery of the Temple. It is HUGE!
And it was a HOT HOT day. We were running full out to get everything in, and Rich, Kim and I became more interested in the cafeteria at the entrance of the temple property and the promise of something COLD to drink than we were the “reconstructed” Temple. Definitely a different feeling than the “real” thing. We met up with Ahmed, who smart man, had left us on our own for our “free time” and scurried off to the cafeteria for shade and drink. We bought three sodas and one bottle of water to the tune of $16.00 Steep.
But we are not done yet. Back across the Nile, we still have to explore Karnak, one of Egypt’s most important Pharaonic sites. The original temple
Hathor
Love this falcon. complex was built over a 1300-year period. It covers 100 acres and comprises temples, chapels, pylons and obelisks. We took lots of pictures, but it’s hard to capture the vastness of this temple complex. The heat is becoming overbearing, and we’re hungry. This is our last ancient site, and even though we want to soak every little bit of it, our bodies are starting to control our minds, and we soon meet up with Ahmed and head back to the boat. After lunch we will say goodbye to Ahmed, which is making us sad because we really like him and consider him a friend.
Again we have to walk through a couple of boats moored to the dock before we get to ours. Ahmed has reminded us time and time again to “Mind the Gap” (well known in the London tube, the gap between the platform and the car), but I forgot to mind, which sometimes is really hard for me, you know, to mind anything!!! When we got to our boat, I stepped over the gap, but had to make a right turn to get to the doorway, and WHAP. There she goes! Right leg drops straight down
Me and Falcon
You even had to stand in line to get a pic with the falcon. the gap! It’s a little gap, the gap between our boat and the one next to it, and I must have hit it perfectly. Seven (I think, but you know, by next month the number could be 11) Egyptian men come a-running. I’m not sure what Kim and Rich were doing; they were behind me and all I could see was this blur of men. And then came the hauling back up of me and my leg now dangling between the boats in the gap. Not as easy as the drop. I’m now totally embarrassed. And to make matters worse, my big ole Nike gets stuck. I’m tugging on it because I just want to get out of there and hide somewhere. Everyone was so worried about me. I’m trying to assure them I am fine, just fine … see I can even do the soft shoe (I get a little “soft” in the head when I get embarrassed). But truthfully my leg is starting to hurt and it feels like blood is gushing out all over, and I just want to get out of there before someone sees the blood. We troop down to lunch after everyone is assured
Related?
Don't they look like they could be from the same gene pool? I am okay. I slip into the ladies restroom. I gingerly look at my leg. No blood. No gashing wound. Nothing. But we all recognized the fact that it could have been much, much worse. If the boats had moved, or rocked, or something, my leg could have been seriously injured. I am lucky and grateful.
After lunch we said our sad goodbyes to Ahmed and our new “tour leader” led us to the van that would haul us to our hotel, some four hours away. While waiting for the luggage, I took another look at my leg. Uh, oh. It was swollen so much! It looked awful. A bag of ice was ordered from the boat, and me and my bag o’ ice made the trip together.
Kim slept most of the trip in the back of the van. I was in the next row of seats, me and my ice. Rich was in the seats right behind the driver and tour director. They had long conversations on the way. What did they talk about? Well, we can talk about it now that we are back in London, safe and sound. Apparently there’s two ways to get
Desert
Yep, just like Arizona. Lots of desert! to El Quseir: the short way and the tourist way. Tourists are not allowed on the short way. Do you remember the incident in Cairo years ago when lots of tourists were killed/injured? I didn’t remember until it was brought up. Egypt depends on its tourist dollars so they (there’s that “they” again) take tourist protection very seriously, very seriously. Men with scary machine guns are everywhere. Even on the tourist road there are checkpoints. And tourists are not supposed to be being driven around after 6:00 p.m. Glad we didn’t know any of that during the trip. Although I must say I never felt UNsafe.
We were safely delivered to the hotel, checked in and went to dinner. Plans for tomorrow? Nothing. Not a durn thing but sit by the pool. Only one day of rest and then we are back to London. My leg was still swollen but not as much. The ice really helped and I am trying to be good and rest.
It’s been a long day. I need to take some Excedrin.
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