Egypt: Luxor (Day 2 – Valley of the Kings)

We had a 5am wake-up call and a brief river crossing by boat before meeting our sprightly donkeys for the hour ride to the Valley of the Kings the next morning. The donkeys were a hell of a lot more comfortable than the camels were (although a sports bra would have been nice) and had sudden spurts of energy that seemed to come from nowhere, causing all the donkeys in the group to lurch forward, as though they couldn’t bear the thought of arriving last.

Our guide, Adlle, bought us our entry tickets and, upon looking at the queue of hundreds trying to enter the site past the armed guards, winked and told us we would ‘find a way to get around this’. He then walked straight to the front of the queue and started asking tourists for tickets, to which a new queue formed and he collacted a few tickets before collecting ours, hence we were all at the tomb of Ramses IV in under 2 minutes. Only in Egypt.

We saw the tombs of Ramses IV, IX and XVI that morning, the most vivid of all the tombs in the valley, all piled near each other, sometimes actually on top of each other as was the case of King Tutankhamon, which is why it was left untouched for so many centuries (Ramses IX tomb was built on top).

King Tutankhamon (who died at 19 of a gangrenous leg, discovered only recently. Random fact for your next dinner party conversation!) is probably the most famous Pharoah in modern times, but was actually a bit of a nobody in his time, so we spared the money to see the tiny tomb and instead spent the time in awe of the other tombs. As I said to one in my group, ‘just when i think I can’t possibly be more amazed, I am. Amazing.’

The vivid paintings (not carvings) on the stone stood out after more than 3000 years in clear whites, blues, reds, yellows and browns, every inch of the walls and roof covered, from the tall narrow entrance, down the long corridor to the coffin room at the end. Amazing.

We travelled by bus several hours later to Dier al-Madina (tombs of the workers) where the workers who built the Pharoahs tombs were buried. On their days off they spent their time carving and painting their own tombs, smaller and brighter than the King’s tombs with unusual details in the paintings such as hair and muscle tone we hadn’t seen previously. ‘Perhaps they borrowed the paints and tools from the Pharoahs tombs to create their own?’ Adlle suggested, the first office stationery thieving maybe? The tombs were grouped in lots of 60, the teams of workers used to build the Pharoahs tombs scattered across the sandy hillside. The valley was stunning and although only 63 tombs have been fully excavated, experts predict there are hundreds more to be discovered.

We walked to dinner that evening and ate traditional Egyptian food overlooking Luxor temple beautifully lit up, the Nile, and in the distance, the tombs of anicent idols. I didn’t think I could be any more amazed, but I was. Amazing.

-Sarah