22/ 03/ 2007 (Part 1) - Luxor

At 6am we left for Aswan to Luxor. We checked in to Nefertiti Hotel. Not bad as well..www.nefertitihotel.com. Few minutes walk from Luxor Temple.
Now tour time.......

As we've missed the normal tour (which starts at 8am) we 'd to take our own private tour again :) So as for today's tour, we are covering the famous Colossi of Memnon,Valley of the Kings/Queen, Hasothep Temple costing EP110=RM70 for 2. So we started our tour at 11am.

p/s Luxor is separated into 3 areas - Village of Karnak, the town itself (Luxor Temple) and West Bank

West Bank

First monuments which we see on the West Bank - Colossi of Memnon

• 18m high, once the largst complex on the West Bank
• Built by Amenhotep III as his funerary temple, used to fill with hundred of statues
• Reason for disappearance : flood on Nile
• During Graeco-Roman times, great tourist attraction as Greeks elieved they were actually statues of the legendary Memnon, a king of Ehitopia and son of the dawn goddess Eos, who was slain by Achilles during the Trojan War.

The map of the town

Valley of the Kings (Entrance :EP75)

Model showing Valley of the King. Little boxes are the tombs buried

Tuf Tuf (which ferries us from entrance to the tombs) EP1-to and fro

The entrance......(note the pyramid-shape moountain peak of Al-Qurn(The Horn) which consists of east and west valleys, with the east containing most of the royal burial sites)

With the entrance fee that we have paid, we could only visit 3tombs. As for Tuthankamun's tomb, it was additional EP8. So we've decided :

1) Tuthmosis III

Hidden in the hills betwen high limestone cliffs and reached only via a steep staircase, this tomb demonstrates what the pharaohs went thru to mislead potential thieves. But the thieves still found their way through :)

His tomb was the furthest in the valley. I should say that this is a very worthy site though it was quite an exercise as we'd to climb few flights of stairs...phew... The painted and carvings on the walls are just amazing...taking into consideration of when all these tombs were buried (18th century) and above all, how many slaves were used to dig so in depth...

2) RamsesI - The shortest entrance corridor to the tomb, the chamber decoration is beautiful

3) Ramses III - His sarchophagus in Louvre, Paris - the paintings on the wall excellent

4) Tuthakamun - paying extra EP8 isn't alot but it's not that worthy to see like the rest of the travelers say

We then proceeded to Temple of Hathshepsut(Entrance : EP15=Rm10)

The explanation of the history of the temple seems a bit complicated with a few pharaohs daughter, half brother etc... As a conclusion, it's a lady pharoah who ruled for 20 years, and for Egypt, it was a time of peace and internal growth.