Sunday April 19 2009 - We had taken advantage of an offer of a private tour arranged by Pete and Leslie, two other passengers, for less than half the price of the same tour operated by Princess. Our tour also included a half hour boat ride on the Nile, something not in the Princess tour, and it all worked out great, we were very happy with the arrangements provided by the tour company, Memphis Tours.
It was advertised that it would take from 2½ to 3½ hours each way by bus from the dock to Luxor, in fact it took 3 hours and 45 minutes approximately each way. We were up at 05.00am for a quick breakfast, the ship docked about 06.00am, and after a lot of waiting around our convoy moved off shortly before 08.00am.
Our escort vehicle on the way to Luxor
Our government supplied security guard
Our bus was first in line directly after the lead security vehicle, we sat directly behind the security guard who was smartly dressed in a nice business suit and had an automatic weapon slung over his shoulder, under his jacket so that it wasn’t too obvious, we named him Rambo. In addition to our driver, we also had a back-up driver, a representative from Memphis Tours and an Egyptologist/guide named Islam also employed by Memphis Tours. We started off slowly winding through town, allowing the other buses to stay with us, occasionally the security vehicle would sound his siren to encourage traffic ahead to pull over a bit to allow us to pass. As we moved out of town and into the desert landscape, sandstone hills and sandy flats, I couldn’t help but think, here we were in the first bus, most likely to be first into trouble if any arose, sitting behind the most likely target of any attack, the armed security guard. After an hour or so we stopped at a roadside café for a washroom break, all kinds of souvenirs were for sale at hugely inflated prices, Izzy looked at a local head dress, $35, the guy asked, eventually she paid $5, it was probably worth $2 or $3. By the roadside several women and children with donkeys, or camels, or goats posed for pictures for $1, they got a few takers, but most people sneeked a quick pic while they weren’t looking.
Our journey continued, every 5 or 10 miles we passed through a check point where the road was blocked by a chicane of barriers with armed police manning each post, sometimes with an elevated watch tower with a machine gun projecting out an opening, sometimes with a couple of policemen seemingly asleep in their vehicle.
Izzy, Pat and Jim at the Valley of the Kings
On the trolley at Valley of the Kings
When we arrived in Luxor, it was almost noon, our first stop was the Valley of the Kings and it was hot, 100 degF and the sun was brilliant white reflecting off everything around, we entered the reception building and reviewed the photographs and 3D model of the tomb locations, then boarded the little electric trolley to take us up the long drive to the location of the tomb entrances. Our entrance ticket allowed us to visit any 3 of the several tombs open to visitors and we chose those of Ramses 4th, 9th and 1st, the tomb of King Tutankamun was not open to visitors and we were told it was quite plain and contained nothing other than his stone sarcophagus.
Me at the Valley of the Kings with several tomb entrances visible behind
Excavation work continues
The tombs we did visit were basically all similar with complete wall and ceiling decoration pictures and hieroglyphics, that of Ramses 4th was different in that the walls were not protected by glass and, surprisingly, you could actually touch the paintings. All the tombs were amazingly bright and clean, easily accessible by stairs or ramps, no photography was allowed in any of them.
Shell talking to one of the guards at the Valley of the Queens
Next, we moved on to the Valley of the Queens, the location of the spectacular Temple of Queen Hatshepsut rising out of the desert plain in a series of terraces merging with the sheer limestone cliffs surrounding it.
Queen Hatshepsut's temple at Valley of the Queens
Our guide suggested that her name is easily remembered if you think ‘hat cheap suit’. The Valley of Queens is also memorable for the 1997 terrorist attack where 58 tourists and 4 Egyptians were killed, it was strange to be there, remembering back to the reports on tv, now the area appears to be somewhat protected. Izzy decided to forego the long climb to the top of the temple and relaxed in the coffee shop near the entrance while I climbed to the top. I made sure I was back at the coffee shop 10 minutes ahead of schedule so that I could get a drink, the price of which varied from $2 to $4 depending on who you asked, I opted for a $2 ice cream bar.
Our transport on the Nile
Arriving at the Sofitel hotel for lunch
We moved on, making a brief photo stop at the colossal statues of Amenhotep III, then on to the banks of the Nile where we enjoyed a relaxing half hour boat trip to our lunch stop at the Sonesta Sofitel hotel.
The avenue of huge columns at Karnak - it was the busiest place we visited
Inside the temple complex at Karnak
Lunch was edible and by the time we were finished it was after 03.00pm so we wasted no time in moving on to the world famous complex of temples at Karnak, built over a period of 2,000 years by generation after generation of pharaohs. Although the complex has been completely rebuilt in modern times, it is particularly nicely preserved, in fact it’s so clean and tidy that it reminded me of Disneyland, I almost expected to see a roller coaster winding through the top of the columns.
Sunset on the drive back to the ship
We left Karnak around 05.30pm, driving back to Safaga, I watched the passing scenes of life and fell asleep before we arrived back at the ship around 09.15pm, we were scheduled to sail at 10.00pm. Back on board, we had a late dinner then watched the sail away before going down to our cabin.
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