Cairo - Luxor Day 4

Monday 20th February

This morning we were up at 4am as we are catching an early morning flight to Luxor to begin our cruise down the Nile. How exciting! Our guide met us in the lobby at 5am with breakfast boxes to go. As we were driven to the airport we noticed there was hardly a soul on the road so naturally the traffic flowed very easily….ahhh, much better. Our guide checked us in at the airport and we'll be flying business class yeeyha! It also gives you access to wait in the business class lounge instead of waiting with mere mortals hahaha…. Cairo to Luxor is about an hours flight but in that time we were fed and rested in the big comfy business class seats with plenty of space between you and the seat in front of you….yep, just might upgrade to business class on the flight home! So, we were greeted at the airport by another guide and driven to our cruise ship, the Sun Boat where we were greeted by men in sailors uniforms, taken to the lounge area and given a drink then shown to our cabin. It's pretty small after our huge room in Cairo but hey…it's a boat. The windows are full length and a sliding glass door opens onto a narrow balcony. It will be comfortable enough for the next four days, The weather early this morning was so cold l had fog coming out of my mouth but it turned into a really beautiful day, about 23 degrees l think. The night has cooled down somewhat but that's okay.

After we checked out our cabin we met up with our guide Hani, who introduced us to 6 others who will make up our tour group. David and Carolyn (late forties), Owen and Nina (early 80's - both couples from England) and a Romanian couple of girls Christina and l think Tania (late 30's). This morning we are visiting the Temple of Karnak, built over more than a thousand years by generations of Pharaohs. The great "Hypostle Hall" is an incredible forest of giant pillars, covering an area of about 200 acres which of course we didn't see it all. The photos don't do it justice and l can't begin to describe how awesome it is. Just the sheer size of it makes me wonder how on earth they moved all this granite limestone and sandstone. Where there was flooring, was made of alabaster. On some of the pillars and ceilings you can still see the colours in the pictures. It is an unbelievable sight that's for sure. For lunch we were driven back to the ship and had a buffet. We sat with David and Carolyn who we got to know a little better. She works in an accounting firm and he's in IT.

So, after lunch we caught a boat to the West Bank of Luxor to explore the Valley of the Kings and Queens. First the Valley of the Queens, which sits behind the Valley of the Kings and is not quite as elaborate. We had the chance to visit two of the tombs and they were really great. I'm trying to remember what they were like as we were not allowed to take photos (same in the Valley of the Kings) and l can't get the king's tombs out of my head. Because they're tombs, not pyramids, you don't have to stoop to get into them. It's just like walking into a corridor made of stone with little chambers running of the sides. These were for storing food, furniture and such for the afterlife. After this we went to Hatshepsut Temple which rises out of the desert in a series of terraces. The Temple of Queen Hatshepsut (Ancient Egypt's only female Pharaoh) merges with the sheer limestone cliffs that surround it. The monument looks very modern but it is a couple of thousand years old. On the way to the valley of Kings we stopped for a photo shoot of Carter's house….he's the dude that found Tutankhamen's tomb, then it was onto the Valley. We went into five tombs in all - Tutankhamen, Ramesses V1 and l can't remember the name of the other three names. Firstly, even though it was fantastic to go into Tutankhamen's tomb (and perhaps we should have visited this one first ) it was a bit of a let down in regard to it being smaller and not as elaborate as the others. The reason for this is because as soon as someone becomes a king their tomb starts getting built and as Tutankhamen died so young they stopped building his tomb therefore not so big and elaborate. Ramse's tomb was amazing…the colours in the pictures on the walls and ceilings are so well preserved. You can see where the tomb robbers have taken stuff 'cause there are supposed to be jewels in the hieroglyphics etc and they're simply not there. Such a shame really. It's really hard to describe the whole atmosphere of being at such historical sites. Words like amazing, awesome , incredible, l don't believe it ect. seem inadequate but there are no other words to describe what we've seen. On the way back to our hotel on the Nile, we passed by the Colossi of Memmon which stand about 18 meters high. They sit in front of a fairly new (last couple years) archeological site which has only just begun it's dig in the last few years. I'm sure there are hundreds upon thousands of tombs/artifacts yet to be discovered. We arrived back on the boat around 5.30pm…time for a shower …my feet are grey from all the sand…then it's off to the lounge for a cocktail reception before dinner. We stay onboard in Luxor, setting sail at 5am tomorrow bound for Qena which is about 4 hours away.