Valley of the Kings & Queens, Karnak & more! Day 5

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Super early wake up call this morning at 5:45am:( Had breakfast and then off the boat and onto our Spring Tours bus for our early drive out to Valley of the Kings. Got there at 7am; we were the first group to arrive, there was not another sole in sight! You can tell the normal size of the crowds by how big the bus parking lots are sitting empty. No lines.

It was very cool to go down into these tombs where the Pharoahs were originally found! Some of them were extremely deep staircases going into the ground. It was really hot here today so we can hardly imagine what it would be like here in the summer! Sherif mentioned some people faint while he does his history lessons. We got to go in King Tut's tomb which was made most famous because of all the treasure and gold that was found in there with him.

Next we drove to Valley of the Queens otherwise known as Hepshepsuts temple. A school group of tons of small kids were all running around here so it was a little chaotic.

Next, we drove to Karnak temple which was back in Luxor and connects to the Luxor temple we were at the night before. I thought Karnak was much more impressive then Luxor! The signature feature of Karnak's temple is all of the huge pillars! Apparently its the largest hallway of pillars ever! You could spend a day getting lost in there & once again I drifted off from the group and had my own moment thinking back to what it would have been like back in this time; lavish parties were held here, etc! There was also a spot where we all walked around making 7 wishes.

Next, we were onto a Papyrus museum and we still havent even had lunch yet. The Papyrus museum was not what I expected at all. I thought it was just going to be a place where we could buy the papyrus paper but not so much. It was all beautiful paintings which was exactly what i wanted to purchase for myself as a souvenir but in the markets we dont get a chance to browse without being harassed so it was nice to walk around and pick out the painting you liked. Sherif was there to tell the stories that were going on in your painting of interest so you knew if it was what you wanted or not.

Finally we stopped for lunch before leaving Luxor - but we stopped at McDonalds so that everyone could literally grab your food to go and bring it back on the bus as we have an afternoon ahead of driving across the desert to the red sea! The Mcdonalds had a McArabia which was meant to be camel meat according to Sherif but the staff told us it wasnt camel. The South African girls all really wanted to try camel meat and were all dissappointed.

The 4 hour drive across the Sahara desert was the only long drive we've had on this trip so I didnt mind it. It gave us all a chance to nap as it has been a very long day. We finally got to our hotel in Hurghada called Safir Hotel which was so lovely and a surprise for Mark & I since its not the hotel on our list. This one is right on the sea! We had an amazing suite that looked right over the water of the sea! So beautiful! Tonight, Sherif gave us the option for dinner to do what we wanted. He offered a suggestion for a candlelight dinner which was a close walk to the hotel or to a pub style place across from a nighclub where people could continue on partying into the night. I was surprised that quite a few people from our group chose to do their own thing and went to the quiet place for dinner but Mark and I chose to stay with the group at the pub. Only downfall is the food and service wasnt the best and my stomach wasnt feeling the best so I didnt enjoy it so much. A van full of us all came back with Sherif to the hotel while some of the others partied onto the disco. Went to bed by 12:30.

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