10th, 11th, 12th Nile Felucca & Luxor

After being on the go for a week it is nice to just sit back and relax. We set off around 10am to board our Felucca. What a relaxing trip, at times just floating along and at others on full tack having to hang on to our bags.

We stopped along the shore for a swim and a lovely lunch.

In the evening we stopped at a nice spot along the shore. The guys set up the toilet and we all set off to collect fire wood. After another wonderful dinner we sang and danced around the campfire along with our Nubian captain and crew.

Day 6 of our tour (11-4-10) we had a short drift across the Nile to our landing point were we were picked up by a mini van for our 3.5hr drive to Luxor. We stopped along the way to visit an animal hospital that intrepid sponsor, before checking in at our hotel and freshening up before heading off to Karnak temple around 3pm. Today the heat was oppressive, around 38 Celsius. Ahmed explained all about the temple, that it was added to by successive Pharaohs  and is the largest temple in the world. He guided us through the complex then left us for free time. Because we were there at the end of the day, many of the other tourists had left and we were able to take many photos without people in them.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

The site was absolutely amazing. Many colours still in the carvings. We also saw a few examples of graffiti dating back the the early 19th century. The height of it showed how far the temple complex was buried , as the graffiti was 1/3 of the way up the column. After leaving the complex we set off for dinner at a lovely restaurant in Luxor then back to the hotel to bed as we had a 4.30am start as we had planned a hot air balloon ride.

12-4-10 A van came to pick us up at 5.10am and we set off for a boat to take us to the West bank. We had tea/coffee and cake while waiting to set off. After about 10 minutes we were advised it was too windy to go so they took us back to the hotel and we were able to leave with the rest of the group to visit the Colossi of Memnon

and take a donkey ride to the Valley of the Kings.

 

This picture reminds me of when Evil Roy Slade steals the midget's pony.

After the donkey ride we went into the Valley of the Kings. We were not allowed to take photos inside the complex though. We visited 3 tombs the first of which was for Thutmes III. We had to climb a staircase to get to the entrance and then had a steep decent into the tomb which was very hot inside and decorated with stick figure type paintings and hieroglyphics. The second tomb was for Rameses III which was decorated with carved reliefs which were painted with very bright colours, still amazing after all these years. The third tomb was for Ramases I and was apparently completed in a hurry as the sarcophagus was placed at the end of the second ramp and the inside was only painted and not carved. David waited outside with the others while I went to visit the Tomb of Tutankhamun for which I bought a seperate ticket. One of his gold coffins (there were 3 one inside the other) was still in the sarcophagus, and his mummy was on display.

Next stop on the itinerary was the Funerary Temple of Hatshepsut. We were given a great story of the mythology of Isis, Hathor and a few other gods before we went off to explore on our own.

This temple also had many pictures and hieroglyphics painted on the walls and carved into columns. It is amazing that the paint has lasted so long!

We went to a local family's home for a magnificent lunch of chicken, rice, stuffed zucchini, tangeen, bread, hommus and cucumber and tomato salad. We left feeling very full and headed back to the hotel to freshen up and rest before the nights train journey. A few of us went to a local "English tea shop" for coffee and cake while we were waiting.

At 7pm we set off for the train station. We boarded our train which I noticed was a German messerschmitt. We did a bit of socialising, had dinner and played cards before retiring for the night.