Valley of the Kings
There is a downside to being here during the low season. There are more scam artists per tourist! And believe me, we are meeting all of them. Today was Peggy’s birthday and our big plans were to go to Valley of the Kings where Seti I, Ramesses II, all the other big names and the biggest one of them all, King Tut, were buried. We decided to take a ferry over to the west side of the river and then hire a taxi to drive us to the different sites for the day. Right outside of the hotel door, a tout latched on to us. We asked him to leave us alone and that we already had plans, but he would not do so. He quoted us 450 Egyptian pounds to drive us and we knew that the going price was 120! He accompanied us to the other side. He said he would pay our ferry, but I told him we wanted nothing to do with him. He then said something to the ferry operator (a kid) in Arabic and next thing I knew we were being charged 10 pounds each rather than the real price of 5. I was already pissed off and I insulted him as best I could. When he continued, I told him that he must not have understood how much I disliked him and that he should be offended by what I said. He continued on. We found a taxi driver that said 75 pounds. I told him that I would give him 120 and that he would do exactly what I told him to do with no deviation and that he would not be taking us to any shopping adventures. He liked that I was that straight with him and he liked the price and we were happy. But then the tout was yelling in Arabic at our driver and I knew he was trying to extort money from him (finder fee!!!). I told the driver that he was not to pay that jerk any money and then I yelled that at the tout. He was furious and once again I was cursed, hexed and evil eyed. I am now approaching pure disgust for these supposed humans.
To start a day this poorly, how can it possibly turn out well? Well we soon learned that our driver, Farook, was a straight shooter and he had a good sense of humor. Soon we went back in time to visit an amazing culture once again and the current culture faded from our minds. Our first stop was a minor temple of Merrenptah. We did not go for the ruins as much as the museum which explained the layout of the temples. We were followed by a guy who spoke no English although he could say “not a guide” which really means you owe me money for my poor guide services. We tried to ignore him. On our way to the museum, I almost walked across a mat. He stopped me and I realized it was a prayer rug. You see, a public pathway leading to the museum is the right place to put the prayer rug! After the visit to the museum, he of course wanted money. But he was talking to a hardened tourist and there was no baksheesh paid for his useless “service”. The woman in the museum and the guards at the front were nice and we wished them a good day.
Onwards to Al-Deir Al-Bahari Temple better known as the temple that the phemale pharaoh, Hatshepsut, made into what it is known for today. There is a lot of controversy about her and that controversy started while she was still alive. Her temple is built into the side of the cliff and can be readily seen from Luxor across the river. It is a beautiful site with a row of giant columns running along the cliff. As with many of the temples, falcons are well-featured. I really liked when I saw a falcon flying along the cliff directly over the monument. I also liked that the large amount of herds followed the normal pattern of going to the obvious places in large blobs and staying just long enough to hear a guide speak and take some photos. I liked it because 90% of the visitors did not go to the best places – the lower right and left sides where the hieroglyphic paintings were still in great condition paint-wise and some beautiful and interesting columns stood. Just a few armed guards bothering folks for information or photos and baksheesh, of course.
This was the site of the 1997 tourist massacre by the fundamentalists where 62 people died. I tried not to think about it, but I also figured I was less of a target than a flock of bus tourists. That massacre was a huge blow to the Egyptian economy and was followed by even less tourism after 9/11. Part of me wonders why they would treat tourists so poorly in such an orchestrated way, but then I remember how many times I have seen Egyptians treat Egyptians poorly – nothing personal tourists! I do wonder about where Egypt is headed. They grew from 22 million people in the 1950s to 75 million today. There is a strong fundamentalist movement here from what I have read, but much of it is outlawed by Mubarek. I certainly see a lot of people doing the five prayers per day routine and a lot of women in the burqas as well as men in their traditional robes. If this country was to fall into fundamentalists’ hands like Afghanistan, I wonder if the ancient Egyptian art and wonders would survive. Most of it is so pagan, I fear it will be destroyed as the Taliban did. After being here for a week, this does not sound so far-fetched to me. Would the world go to war to stop the destruction of our most important ancient ruins and artifacts?
We now headed off for a different adventure. We were going to the Valley of the Kings or the greatest cemetery in the world! This valley is carved into the barren cliff that runs along the Nile. It is incredibly steep limestone with nothing growing. It made a perfect place to bury most of the pharaohs since it could be protected fairly easily and they were all kept close together. Unfortunately, it did not work out as planned and the civilization did not last forever to protect the tombs. Instead, most of them were robbed. Even King Tut’s tomb was robbed twice. We went to Merrenptah’s tomb first and we knew we were seeing something totally different. The walls were painted in intricate designs and images in vivid colors. The Egyptians were fantastic artists! The tomb was huge, but we soon learned that not all of the pharaohs got such big digs.
The next stop was King Tut’s tomb. We were coming full circle now that we had seen the touring pieces in Los Angeles, the bulk of the pieces in Cairo, some other pieces in various locations and now the tomb with the sarcophagus, one of the inner coffins and supposedly the mummy of Tut. The tomb is very small. It contains the four rooms that seem to be needed for any real pharaoh’s trip to the afterlife, but they were small compared to most of the other’s. The walls were once again painted beautifully. The highlight, though, was just standing beside the sarcophagus that must have pleased Howard Carter so much 75 years ago. It was absolutely fantastic and will be a highlight of Egypt.
We also visited two more tombs for Rameses I and Rameses III. They were very large underground complexes with spectacular wall decorations. I really never understood how much the ancient Egyptians invested into their pharaoh’s tombs, but it became very clear seeing these four. I hope to get back to this valley (limited to three per ticket plus Tut is a separate ticket), but we have a number of other sites in the area. The valley basically forms a giant oven with the already very hot temperatures magnified by the barren cliffs on three sides. I really cannot understand how people can tour here in August when temperatures are in the upper 40s celsius. Also, the tombs themselves are stifling hot and there is none of the normal cool cave feel that you would expect underground. There were lots of employees and vendors at this site to bother us, but they all seemed secondary to the site itself and especially after the major jerk we dealt with early in the morning. We’re tired… an afternoon break is needed. Valley of the Kings – amazing!
We celebrated Peggy’s birthday at a Japanese restaurant. Neither of us was daring enough to go with the sushi… in the desert… in Egypt. But the dinner was fantastic and it capped off a truly great day.
Tags: Africa, egypt, Travel
vagabondrick
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