Luxor at Last

The hotel was located in the centre of town, and fortunately the room Erik and I had been given was front facing - meaning we had beautiful views over the Nile, the Luxor Temple, and the Avenue of the Sphinxes.

We had a few hours to chill before we headed out to the first major site we'd visit in Luxor - the Karnak Temple.

Karnak is a vast open air temple complex - the largest religious building ever made. It contains multiple entrances and inner temples, as well as a huge Hypostyle Hall of 134 columns.

We had a look round, saw many more hieroglyphics, some obelisks, a pond, as well as a scarab statue! Good luck is supposedly upon anyone who does 7 loops of the beetle, so I thought I'd try my luck!

Considering the size of the place, we didn't have that long, as by now the complex was getting ready to close for the night. Just as sunset came over Luxor we headed back to the hotel and for the first time all week had the evening to ourselves.

I joined several of my travelling companions as we were given a quick orientation by our group leader, Saad. We stopped for some falafel, before Erik and I took a short walk past the Luxor Temple to the Winter Palace

This hotel was built in 1905 and was the place that most foreign visitors (including the Egyptologists of the time) stayed during the early 20th century. We took a quick look inside this famous luxury hotel, before we continued back towards the centre of town.

After grabbing food, we walked around the outside of the Luxor Temple, and then made our way back to the hotel.

That evening I got a knock on the door. When I answered it, it was Claire, our travelling companion from Ireland. I asked if she was ok, and she said not really, and showed me her ankle where she had been bitten a few day ago - the whole thing had swollen up and did not look good at all! She was after Erik, who had just popped into the shower, and once he was done we went over to her room and he gave her some meds.

She was leaving earlier than everyone else, and therefore only had another 36 hours before heading home - hoping to be able to plod through until then. Turns out she'd gone and got cellulitis!

The next morning was another early one, as we wanted to beat the crowds and the heat. After getting up, I went to take my tablet, where for some reason I gagged... then what followed was a 15 minute episode of first feeling, and then actually being sick - it well and truly put me off my breakfast that I didn't even have time for.

We then got on the coach and made our way to the Valley of the Kings. These tombs are the locations of some of the later Egyptian Pharaohs (relative to the ones at the Giza Pyramids anyway), and dating back 3,000 years. The tombs are located in the valley immediately behind the Nile on the Western Bank, and contain almost a hundred tombs, literally carved into the hills.

We got given a ticket which enabled us to visit three of the open tombs. In addition, we were also able to buy tickets for any of the three tombs that aren't included within the main entrance fee. Having done a bit of research online before, I decided to visit two of them (the third being particularly expensive, at an additional £33!).

Saad recommended which of the free ones to visit, in order to give us an overview of the different variety between them. The first was that of Merenptah, which was one of the longest tombs here, but was somewhat plain.

Whilst the next was the double tomb of Tausert and Setnakht. This was also large as it featured two halls and more interesting artwork.

The tombs were actually quite slippy to walk around. With the corridors being at downward angles, there were wooden planks to walk on with grippers to help prevent slips. But only if you walked carefully!

As she was trying to leave, the sister of the Canadian who lost her bumbag in the Nile missed the step and fell flat on her face. No major injuries but with the tombs being so echoey, of course everyone came running to check she was ok. The Canadians needed watching on this trip!

The final free tomb we visited one was that of Rameses III, which was very pretty with more of the paintwork intact, but was only open halfway.

I then took a look inside the Tomb of Rameses VI (which had originally been planned to be used by his nephew Rameses V, before he took it over). This was very grand, with beautiful hieroglyphic decorations.

The final tomb I visited was that of Tutankhamun. This was located below that of Rameses VI, and is noticeably different.

Access was via a small but steep shaft, as opposed to the others' gentle sloping long corridors, and the tomb was much smaller. This is the only tomb here that still contains the mummy - with Tut being fully on show, despite the rest of the belongings having been moved to Cairo, as I had seen earlier in the week.

Photos are not permitted in this tomb, but the guards are more than happy to ignore this for some money, and I fell into the trap of having a photoshoot here...

After having spent a little while at the Valley of the Kings, we then headed to the other side of the hill, to the Temple of Hatshepsut - the mortuary temple of one of Egypt's few female Pharaohs.

It is a huge complex, and unlike any other temples we'd seen so far... a far more modern type design with huge terraces, despite being around 3,500 years old.

After this we then paid a visit to a local alabaster factory, and it was here that I was once asked the same old question I get asked every time I go travelling:
Them - "Where are you from?"
Me - "England"
Them - "Which [football] team? Manchester?"
Me - "I don't like football"
Them - "What?!?"
🙄

Having seen some very odd ornaments, we then made our way around the corner to the Colossi of Memnon. The site contains two large statues of the Pharaoh Amenhotep III, that guarded his mortuary temple.

The temple was built in 1350BC, but was destroyed around 150 years later by an earthquake. Then in around 27BC, another earthquake destroyed the statues, after which they were rebuilt (pretty badly) by the Romans.

After a long busy morning, it was now time for lunch. We visited a local family who live close to the Nile, and after eating we then took a brief tour of the house, including seeing the traditional stove that the food had been cooked on.

We were now done with the western bank, and instead of heading back on the coach, to take the long trip to cross the bridge on the southern outskirts of the city - we instead took a boat across the Nile to right outside the Luxor Temple.

By now I'd seen enough temples and hieroglyphics, so whilst we had a few hours to ourselves I had a rest and used the WiFi

We then went for a last group meal together at a restaurant around the corner from the hotel. Here we had reserved a large table on the rooftop balcony, overlooking the centre of the city.

The final day had a horrifically early start, as we were booked on the day's first flight back to Cairo. After waking up at 3am, we headed to the airport half an hour later for our flight departing at 5:30am!

Ridiculous security checks endured - including three bag searches, where we had to physically write down our passport document numbers in a book... Eventually we boarded the small plane and flew over the Sahara and parts of Cairo before landing before 7am.

We had been advised not to book our onward flights before 2pm, as the flight back to Cairo is prone to delays. My flight wasn't now until 6pm - but there was in fact an earlier flight heading back to London in jut two hours time!

I tried my luck, and went to see if I could have my flight brought forward. Things looked good - until they told me I'd have to pay £400 for the privilege. No thanks - I'll stick out the 10 hours...

There was a final, additional excursion taking place for the group today - a visit to Saqqara and Memphis. However as I wasn't sure how I'd get back to the Airport, and wasn't that bothered about seeing more Egyptian ruins, I decided to stick it out at the airport instead.

Most of the group were headed off to continue their trip in Jordan, and so had all been booked on the same flight which was leaving at lunchtime. However annoyingly it was departing from the other terminal, so I wouldn't be able to sit with them!

But Erik was more than happy to give me company for a few hours, so we sat in the Arrivals Hall chatting the time away, before eventually saying goodbye. I then moved around the Arrivals Hall to try and waste more time, before eventually it was just a few hours to go.

Sadly, after all the waiting, the departure lounge was pretty poor - having only a few shops and little to buy with my remaining Egyptian Pounds, and no Currency Exchange.

I eventually bought some overpriced sweets and chocolates and then continued waiting for the flight, when I realised the details had gone missing from the board!

Eventually it came back on and confirmed I was in the right place. Not long later it was finally time to board. At the gate there was a final document and security check. Everyone seemed to take ages, being asked many questions about why they were travelling to London. Then it got to me - I showed them my British Passport and went straight through! Western Privilege....

The return plane was certainly nicer than the outgoing one, but after such a long day, I spent half of it napping. Before long we were coming in to land and after a relatively quick journey through immigration and baggage collection, I was on my final leg home. It was good to be back, but I wasn't enjoying the cold at Heathrow!

Egypt was a great trip. It had been 32 months later than planned, but finally I had got to see the Pyramids!