Luxor: Valley of the Kings and more
Our Trip Song: Africa by Toto
Yesterday was a HUGELY packed day in Luxor. We went to the Valley of the Kings, Colossi of Memnon, Hatshepsut’s temple, Medinat Habu and an alabaster shop (where Jim got ripped off). I also found the most amazing shop ever, the Fair Trade Egypt shop – there is one in Luxor and Cairo. I bought some beautiful things, and they don’t hassle you there, it’s cheap, and the money goes to local artisans (and also where we found how much we SHOULD have paid for alabaster).
So…We paid our driver, Hussein, 100 Egyptian pounds (about $18) to drive us from site to site in Luxor for about 5 hours. What a deal! I almost felt bad, him sitting in his car waiting hours for us while we browsed. He was great though.
At the Valley we went to the tombs of Ramses IV, Thutmosis III and Menerptah. Tickets to see 3 tombs cost 70 pounds. It was a hot sunny day – bareable – but when you went down into the tombs it was stifling and I felt kind of lightheaded. It was strange – maybe the air was thin? When you were entering the tomb, you could see the people LEAVING the tomb, and they all looked sweaty and were breathing hard. Anyway, it was crazy to be in those tombs… it’s so hard to actually wrap your head around what you are seeing.
After we left, Hussein offered to take us to an alabaster shop. We’d usually say No to something like this, but we said Yes this time. The guy in the shop was a TOTAL salesman… he offered us drinks, helped us set down our bag, and was so patient and helpful. Jim pretended to be from Peru the whole time.. we didn’t want him thinking we were rich Americans. Finally, after a long time and much bargaining from Jim we settled on some vases.
Next….Hatshepsut’s temple was actually kind of lame. The best part was looking at the entrance from outside.
Medinat Habu, which is often overlooked by tourists (according to LP), was much cooler. A little old man with brown teeth pointed things out to us (for baksheesh of course) including inscriptions where the Egyptians cut off the hands of their prisoners (Nubians or Assyrians) and you could see a pile of hands. Same thing with their private parts.
Tags: Egypt, Petra, Jerusalem 2007, Travel
Kelly
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