February 28, 2022

February 28, 2022

For breakfast I finally had Falafel, a deep-fried ball of ground chickpeas. It is the one food I remember having on my first visit because I knew it was safe for a westerner to eat. I guess it is more of an Egyptian street food versus a restaurant serving.

We walked out the back door of the hotel past the pool to the Nile Riverfront. There we boarded one of many ferries for a ride across to the west bank. In ancient times, the river was probably also busy with fishing boats, ferries, and cargo vessels.

On the opposite side we boarded a bus to begin our tour of the royal tombs. On the way we made a brief stop to photograph the Colossi of Memnon. These are two enormous seated figures (60 ft high) that once graced the entrance to the Mortuary Temple of Amenhotep III (Tut's grandfather). A mortuary temple was built to memorialize the king and provide a place for his devotees to worship him. Little of the temple remains. The Colossi garnered this Greek name because they were tourist attractions even in ancient times.

We also pass many other mortuary temples, including the Ramesseum of Ramses II. They were sited just on the edge of the desert with the Nile flood plain. All are in ruins because over time the annual inundation of Nile waters undermined the foundations of the stone structures.

Our first major stop is the Valley of Queens. This was the burial ground of royal relatives of the king. This small area is peppered with dozens of tombs; so many they have to be numbered. The cliffs and mountains resemble those of Tucson minus the cacti and all other vegetation.

We enter number QV52, tomb of Titi, wife of Ramses III. The tomb is a shaft and hallway cut into the earth ending with a burial chamber. The walls are all gaily decorated with colorful drawings and hieroglyphic inscriptions. Unfortunately it is all behind glass to protect it from the grubby hands of the public. Nonetheless it is simply amazing that so much of the decoration is intact with vibrant colors after 3500 years!

We next visit QV55, the tomb of Prince Amun Khopshef. He was the eldest son of Ramses III who died in his teens. It is just as impressive. One niche contains the mummified fetus of another son.

Remarkably, these tombs are not the best. We have to pay a queen’s ransom to visit QV66. This is the tomb of Nefertari, wife of Ramses II. Her name means ‘beautiful companion’. The tomb is spectacular. It is also a more complicated design with a pillared room.

The walls of Nefertari's tomb look freshly painted. What is more amazing is that the walls are not behind glass. I hope my fellow tourists respect this sacred heritage of humanity. It would be a tragedy to lose it after so many years.

There are so many wonderful sites, we have to keep moving. Our next stop is the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut. She is probably the most famous female Pharaoh. Her temple is one of the few to survive because it was built spectacularly terraced into the cliff side. The carved relief decorations are not in great shape. Most proclaim her descent from the gods. One story panel relates her naval expedition to some Red Sea nation to get incense trees. Her son felt she had usurped his rightful rule, so when he finally gained the throne he systematically had her image removed from almost every relief. Hatshepsut’s story seems so similar to palace intrigue that plagues royal families today. I guess some things never change.

Our next stop was another of the seemingly required local shopping trips disguised as craft demonstrations. I get tired of these even as many in our group always buy something. This stop was an Alabaster workshop selling hand-made stone vessels.

Our next stop was around the corner in the Valley of the Kings. Despite millennia of peaceful rule, on a few occasions, the Egyptians were racked with anarchy for decades, either because of dynastic problems or the rare foreign invasion. At these times, the valuable grave goods of the royals became targets. This even occurred in the short Arab Spring revolution in 2011. The Egyptian Museum lost major pieces. No wonder the Pharaohs decided to hide their tombs here. As a bonus the mountain they are buried beneath is pyramid shaped.

In the Kings Visitor Center is a model of the King’s Valley. It is very cool because underneath the table are models of tomb shafts extending into the earth. Very cool.

Our first stop is at KV62, the most famous tomb, Tutankhamun. First we get a description of what was found when the tomb was discovered one hundred years ago in 1922. When we enter, though, we have to laugh. It is shockingly small. Only a short hallway and a couple rooms, each of which had been packed with grave goods. Tut only ruled nine years dying when he was nineteen. Workers had little time to carve his final resting place. Long reigning kings had bigger tombs. Surprisingly, Tut's sarcophagus and mummy remain in the tomb.

We then went next-door to KV9. It was the construction of this tomb of Ramses VI (19th dynasty) that concealed Tut's tomb entrance. We had to pay a small premium to enter. It is one of the longest and better decorated. There is a columned room in the middle and it ends in a large chamber with a broken sarcophagus and astronomical ceiling.

We paid another big premium to see KV17, the tomb of Seti I, father of Ramses the Great. It was very nicely decorated and it is Aimee’s favorite. She noticed the raised relief carvings on the wall. This differs from simple painting on flat surfaces and sunken relief where the outlines of figures are carved and then painted. Raised relief involves removing all the stone EXCEPT for the figure. After painting, this causes the figure to pop out like a sculpture. This takes much more time and effort.

The level of detail and decoration in Raised Relief hieroglyphs also helped Egyptologists realize what some of the obscure hieroglyph characters represented. While I love raised relief also, I really think Aimee liked Seti’s tomb because it had a room with a lot of Pharaohs and Gods touching each other's elbows. In Egyptian art that implies X-rated activity!

The general entrance ticket for the Valley of the Kings allows entry to three of the non-premium tombs, so we had to pick which ones we went to.

We first chose KV16, tomb of Ramses I, grandfather of Ramses the Great. It is small but brightly painted. The sarcophagus is dark red quartzite. The next was KV8 tomb of Merenptah, son of Ramses the Great. This one was deeper with lots of stairs. Its hallway was in poor condition but ended well. Aimee noticed lots of figures with their arms tied behind their back. This represented some kind of battle and these were captured prisoners. Our last visit was KV6, tomb of Ramses IX.

Having got our fill of tomb visits, we loaded on the bus and drove to the river. Along the way we passed lots of fertile agricultural fields. It looks like a wide variety of crops are being raised. We see a plot of tomatoes being dried in the field. Another one I can identify is sugarcane. We even see a sugar cane train crossing a canal in front of us.

At the riverfront we boarded a cruise ship that is going to be our home for the next few days. After checking in we had a late lunch. We spent the rest of the day lounging on the upper deck enjoying the warm weather.