After our 6 a.m. wakeup call we grabbed some breakfast and then met our guide for our 7 a.m. tour of the West Bank, Valley of the Kings and Queens. The West Bank is for the dead- here is where the pharaohs were buried, some in tombs some in funerary temples like the spectacular Temple at Hetsheput.. It was really spectacular built up against the mountain and the architecture and engineering of it still is a marvel to me since it is is over 3500 years old. It is the best surviving example of classical style Egyptian architecture in Luxor. There were other funerary temples but most all destroyed. Although recently they have begun excavation on one of the temples which all that has really been excavated now are the Colossi of Memnon- which look like transformers ;) In the valley of the Kings we weren’t allowed to take photos since the colorful artwork in the tombs is being destroyed by flashes. We visited the 4 tombs that were open and had to pay extra to visit the tomb of King Tutankhamun aka King Tut- that was totally worth it. There weren't any colorful paintings left inside his tomb but since I was there 30+ years ago they have placed the restored sarcophagus and gold coffin in the tomb as well as his mummified body. That was super interesting to see his mummy and how well preserved he still was after 3500 years. There were pictures of when they first uncovered the tomb and all the things that were still in the tomb. What a find by Howard Carter, the British Archaeologist that is responsible for finding Tut’s and many other’s pharaohs tombs- what an exciting time! The other tombs were long and elaborate with small rooms for all the things and food and oils and weapons and jewelry that they thought they needed for the next life. The walls were brightly painted with beautiful hieroglyphics and depictions describing their travel trom this life to the next and all those gods that would protect them from the three headed snakes to the winged snakes and the protective god Horace and his sons depicted as the baboon, the falcon, the black jackal,…
Luckily we went early and there are literally no tourists around. The largest number of people we saw was maybe 30 people. At the Temple at Hetsheput we were the only ones for a time. So cool to explore around and be able to get the pictures we wanted.
The girls were harassed as we went through the marketplaces and even were given gifts of the sacred beetle which is for good luck and picked up some necklaces at the last spot as gifts for their beauty… Grateful we are here to watch after them, feel like a mama bear wanting to watch over and protect my girls.
After our morning of touring we enjoyed lunch and went up onto the deck where I got caught up on my blog and we enjoyed the sun and views of the lush river banks as we cruised south on the Nile. At one point it looked like we were going to literally run over two guys in a fishing boat. I stood up to see what was going to unfold and right when I thought we are going to run over them the guy throws his rope around a cleat on the front of the boat and literally lassos it and then his boat slides around to the side of the boat, catching a ride. I hollered to Syd and Nate to check this out. As soon as I did, the guys were in the boat and then waving a Cleopatra looking dress for Sydney. It was cracking us up, he was towing along side the boat trying to sell items. we are moving pretty fast honestly and there was a wake behind his boat and he was trying to make a sale from 4 stories below from his boat.I have to give him credit. Even after we sat down they towed along for another 5 minutes trying to get Syd to stand up again… I told Syd, be sure and lock your balcony door tonight!! …but seriously!
The weather is great and temperature is perfect as we are cursing and the breeze feels great. All sides there are palms, fisherman, gardens, palms, and minarets where prayers are called out from 5 times a day, although I swear it feels like more since they start around 4:30 a.m. and end later in the evening. It is a great way to see Egypt,…so glad we did this.
In the afternoon as we were cruising we kept having these “hitchhikers” in small fishing boats lasso themselves onto our cruise ship. I decided I had better try and buy something since I was mind boggled how the whole thing would work. So the guy sees us lean over and he is waving a table cloth. He says Hello! Are you English? Deutchland? Spanish- Hola! I was dying to know if he knew how to speak all these languages. But he turned out to be very fluent in English. I said I was interested in maybe one of his tablecloths. He said, come to your room and we will talk. I went down a flight to my room and called Kendall who had been in her room studying and she came over for what I knew would be a good show. I asked him how much he wanted for a table cloth, he said 1500 Egyptian Pounds, that is $200!!! Hahaha.. I said I am not paying more than 150 for the cloth, 150 Egyptian Pounds,… “My darling, please. Hang on,…he throws the table cloth onto my balcony from the water- just chucks it up there in a plastic bag and Kendall barely catches it, then another,..oh my gosh it was so so funny. Then he comes back like “please, no less than 900.” “Ok then,” I said “I don’t want them.” I dropped them back in the boat, well….one missed the boat! Yikes… it goes floating away, I said “you had better go after that.” He was all about closing the deal in front of him. Then he was really willing to bargain and I got 2 for 320 Egyptian pounds- around $22 a piece,… oh and for the other 30 lbs he wanted I threw him an apple and orange from the boat. They were still complaining so Sam dropped them a banana as well ;) The whole thing was so comical. I was wondering how I was going to get them the money when they threw up a scarf in a bag and I was supposed to put the money in the bag, tie the bag and then throw it back down. That worked and I didn’t miss the boat that time. Entertaining exchange;)
Later in the evening we went through the Lock. The lock lifts the boat up to the level of the Nile in Upper Egypt. 2 of these large cruising boats fit into one lock and they let water in and the boat sent up like 20 feet in just a few minutes. It was really amazing. We were at ground level on the Northern side of the river and then we raised up to way above the banks. They have two locks one for moving south and one for moving north. But business has been so slow and there are 1/10th of the amount of boats cruising so just one lock was open tonight. It was really interesting to watch.
In the afternoon as we were cruising we kept having these “hitchhikers” in small fishing boats lasso themselves onto our cruise ship. I decided I had better try and buy something since I was mind boggled how the whole thing would work. So the guy sees us lean over and he is waving a table cloth. He says Hello! Are you English? Deutchland? Spanish- Hola! I was dying to know if he knew how to speak all these languages. But he turned out to be very fluent in English. I said I was interested in maybe one of his tablecloths. He said, come to your room and we will talk. I went down a flight to my room and called Kendall who had been in her room studying and she came over for what I knew would be a good show. I asked him how much he wanted for a table cloth, he said 1500 Egyptian Pounds, that is $200!!! Hahaha.. I said I am not paying more than 150 for the cloth, 150 Egyptian Pounds,… “My darling, please. Hang on,…he throws the table cloth onto my balcony from the water- just chucks it up there in a plastic bag and Kendall barely catches it, then another,..oh my gosh it was so so funny. Then he comes back like “please, no less than 900.” “Ok then,” I said “I don’t want them.” I dropped them back in the boat, well….one missed the boat! Yikes… it goes floating away, I said “you had better go after that.” He was all about closing the deal in front of him. Then he was really willing to bargain and I got 2 for 320 Egyptian pounds- around $22 a piece,… oh and for the other 30 lbs he wanted I threw him an apple and orange from the boat. They were still complaining so Sam dropped them a banana as well ;) The whole thing was so comical. I was wondering how I was going to get them the money when they threw up a scarf in a bag and I was supposed to put the money in the bag, tie the bag and then throw it back down. That worked and I didn’t miss the boat that time. Entertaining exchange;)
Later in the evening we went through the Lock. The lock lifts the boat up to the level of the Nile in Upper Egypt. 2 of these large cruising boats fit into one lock and they let water in and the boat sent up like 20 feet in just a few minutes. It was really amazing. We were at ground level on the Northern side of the river and then we raised up to way above the banks. They have two locks one for moving south and one for moving north. But business has been so slow and there are 1/10th of the amount of boats cruising so just one lock was open tonight. It was really interesting to watch.
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