The driver picked us up and took us to the waterfront to catch a ferry across the Nile!
We got to the launch site and waited for a little bit while they prepped the balloons and got everything set up. We could see the Valley of the Kings right by us!
They got one of the balloons up and had very little control because of the winds that morning so we waited a few more minutes and after the sun was fully up and the winds were still going strong, the called it for the day and rescheduled for the next day.
Back in the van and not thrilled to have gotten up early and the weather to have not cooperated!
Luckily we were already on the West Bank and Hagar and our driver met us so we had a very early start to our day, but it all worked out!
First stop- Colossi of Memnon- these are massive stone statues of Amenhotep III that stand 60 feet high! They are severely damaged but still impressive and are pretty much all that are left of his temple. They were built to stand guard at the entrance of his funerary temple, which was, in its time, the largest and most opulent.
There are ruins everywhere on this side of the Nile.
Howard Carters home. He is the man who discovered King Tutankhamen's tomb and he made his home here for the years he worked to uncover Tut's tomb.
We headed to the Valley of the Kings. And our earliness proved a gift- we had the whole complex almost to ourselves for a little while!
This was such a cool thing! Its a display of the valley and all 65 of the tombs that have been found. It shows how deep the go underground so you get a great visual of where everything.
The deepest shaft is 134 meters deep
Walking to the tombs
Before we went into our first tomb, Hagar sat us down and we talked about the burial practices and the afterlife beliefs of the Ancient Egyptians.
They began preparing for the afterlife at age six when they studied with priests to learn about the afterlife. They memorized spells that they would need to remember to get through the fifty gates to get to the last judgement. There were 200 spells to remember and then questions from the gods. When they finally reached the final judgement their heart was weighed against a feather plucked from the goddess Maat's wing. They were asked if they found joy in life and if they brought joy in life. Then they entered paradise if they passed all the tests and their heart weighed lighter than the feather. Everyone's idea of paradise was different and they prepared their tombs with what they felt they needed and wanted for their journey and their eternal paradise.
The pre-dynastic ancient Egyptians were buried differently than the dynastic Egyptians that we all know. (The dynasties spanning 30 families- each family reigning about 400 years) Pre-dynasty were buried in the fetal position (much like the Dilmun people that we learned about on our tour of the Bahrain Museum)
And with that, we were off. We headed into Merenptah's tomb first. He was the 13th son of Ramses II and came into power late in his life and only because his older brothers were dead. He was around 70 when he became king and only ruled for about a decade before he died.
Detail above the entrance
There was a replica of his coffin in the burial chamber
There were so many little side rooms and niches in all the tombs
Our second tomb was Ramses III's tomb and it was incredible. It was a lot better preserved and the color was amazing!
The ceiling was amazing!
During our lesson from Hagar that morning we talked about some of the animal depictions on the walls. This is a three headed snake with legs and wings! She asked Stella what she thought of it and when Stella said it had to be made up she reminded her that maybe it wasn't. And maybe there were animals that existed then that have evolved now and don't look the same! We've started talking about evolution and how the world looked when it first came to being and the first insects and reptiles so it was a cool way to unexpectedly tie in evolution.
Depiction of the scarab beetle and the sun
Ramses VIIII was the last king that was buried here and his tomb also serves as a vast library. It was incredible and the walls were just covered in hieroglyphs
Close to the entrance... we saw this bee hieroglyph a lot
These were incredibly vivid and absolutely perfect!
Burial chamber
Depiction of the Pharoah's enemies being overpowered- they're arms are bound and heads cut off
We left the Valley of the Kings and headed to Hatchepsut's temple.
Hatchepsut is a personal favorite of mine. She was the only female Pharoah- other women were queens or regents, but she reigned as a Pharoah herself. Her husband Thutmose II died and left his kingdom to his infant son, Hatchepsut's stepson (she and Thutmose II only had one child together, a daughter). She ruled in his stead and when he came of age, she decided that she was going to remain in power. She was a great and successful ruler, staying in power for almost 22 years. When she died her stepson, Thutmose III rose to power and tried to erase her from history. He struck her name from statues and buildings and tried to make it so she never existed.
This is the tomb of the architect of the temple, Senenmut and Hatchepsut's lover. It's right next to her tomb and temple.
The facade of the mortuary temple looks new because it is... The Polish Academy of Science in Warsaw headed up the restoration and study of her temple. Her stepson ordered portraits and statues be destroyed after her death so a lot of reconstruction and restoration was necessary and has been going on since 1891.
Walking up to the middle level of the temple-
The view from the middle level of the temple. The upper most level isn't open to the public but it is the solar cult chapel where people came to meditate on the days of forgetting. There are five extra days in the Egyptian calendar and they are called the days of forgetting so that you meditate to let go (and forget) of the negative things that happened throughout the year and start the new year off fresh and with a clean slate.
If you're facing the temple, to the right is a chapel for Anubis and to the left is a chapel for the goddess Hathor.
We visited Anubis' chapel first
Inside the chapel of Anubis
Ceiling in Anubis chapel
One of the columns with Hathor atop it in the outer area of her chapel
On the steps walking down to the lower level
Enormous statues of Hatchepsut
Inside the main sanctuary
We stopped by an alabaster factory to learn how alabaster carvings are made.
Stella picking away at a large block of alabaster
Christopher hollowing out alabaster to create a bowl or vase
After walking around the shop we headed to lunch!
Hagar took us to a local hotel that has a farm to table restaurant attached. Everything we ate came from the garden and farm that we were sitting right next to! It was gorgeous and the food was incredible.
The hotel is actually the former home of an Egyptian family who helped Howard Carter on the dig. The little boy of the family was the water boy and he would bring water to the people working on the site. He had a jug with a pointed bottom that he would dig a little hole to prop it in before he dipped out water for everyone. One day he was taking water to Howard Carter and he dug his little hole and ended up unearthing steps in the sand that would lead to Tutankhamun's tomb!
Our view... the garden and their pet camels!
Sun bread (yeasty bread risen in the heat of the sun) and omelet
Stella with salad, baba ganoush (eggplant dip), tahini, and this delicious cheese spread! I don't know what all was in it, but we all loved it.
Christopher had a lamb tagine that he said was delicious!
Fried eggplant- so yummy!
Our waiter asked if we wanted any tea and at first we declined, but then he told us it was an Egyptian "thing" and he had to bring us mint tea. I was assuming mint tea... you know, flavorless bags of mediocre tea. Nope. Not what we were served and a new love affair of good quality black tea steeped with fresh mint leaves began!
He also brought us slices of basbosa cake... it was absolutely divine! Its a semolina and coconut cake drenched in syrup.
We headed back to the hotel after that and took a nap... after an early morning and a day full of climbing and walking, we were all exhausted. And we also realized that afternoon naps should totally be a thing again!
We woke up feeling refreshed and headed down to the heated pool.
Christopher and Stella swam in the bath temperature water and I hung out in the hammock reading a book and watching the sun set over the Nile.
I think Stella's new favorite way to watch the sun set is in a pool
Eventually I got in and swam for a little bit
The hotel restaurants at the hotel were pretty good and prices were comparable to larger chain type places in the states (think Chili's, Olive Garden, etc). This was our view... looking over the Nile on a beautiful, clear night!
I ordered something called Koshari which is a national dish of Egypt. It is a mix of rice, noodles, lentils, chickpeas, and fried onions. You add tomato sauce, garlic vinegar, and an Egyptian hot sauce. It was weird but pretty good. It was one of those things that was probably born out of necessity... just bits of leftovers thrown together and sauce thrown on them. The real star of that dish was the garlic vinegar. It was out of this world!
After dinner we headed back to our room to get to sleep early so we could try for the hot air balloon ride.
Hatchepsut is a personal favorite of mine. She was the only female Pharoah- other women were queens or regents, but she reigned as a Pharoah herself. Her husband Thutmose II died and left his kingdom to his infant son, Hatchepsut's stepson (she and Thutmose II only had one child together, a daughter). She ruled in his stead and when he came of age, she decided that she was going to remain in power. She was a great and successful ruler, staying in power for almost 22 years. When she died her stepson, Thutmose III rose to power and tried to erase her from history. He struck her name from statues and buildings and tried to make it so she never existed.
This is the tomb of the architect of the temple, Senenmut and Hatchepsut's lover. It's right next to her tomb and temple.
The facade of the mortuary temple looks new because it is... The Polish Academy of Science in Warsaw headed up the restoration and study of her temple. Her stepson ordered portraits and statues be destroyed after her death so a lot of reconstruction and restoration was necessary and has been going on since 1891.
Walking up to the middle level of the temple-
The view from the middle level of the temple. The upper most level isn't open to the public but it is the solar cult chapel where people came to meditate on the days of forgetting. There are five extra days in the Egyptian calendar and they are called the days of forgetting so that you meditate to let go (and forget) of the negative things that happened throughout the year and start the new year off fresh and with a clean slate.
If you're facing the temple, to the right is a chapel for Anubis and to the left is a chapel for the goddess Hathor.
We visited Anubis' chapel first
Inside the chapel of Anubis
Ceiling in Anubis chapel
One of the columns with Hathor atop it in the outer area of her chapel
On the steps walking down to the lower level
Enormous statues of Hatchepsut
Inside the main sanctuary
We stopped by an alabaster factory to learn how alabaster carvings are made.
Stella picking away at a large block of alabaster
Christopher hollowing out alabaster to create a bowl or vase
After walking around the shop we headed to lunch!
Hagar took us to a local hotel that has a farm to table restaurant attached. Everything we ate came from the garden and farm that we were sitting right next to! It was gorgeous and the food was incredible.
The hotel is actually the former home of an Egyptian family who helped Howard Carter on the dig. The little boy of the family was the water boy and he would bring water to the people working on the site. He had a jug with a pointed bottom that he would dig a little hole to prop it in before he dipped out water for everyone. One day he was taking water to Howard Carter and he dug his little hole and ended up unearthing steps in the sand that would lead to Tutankhamun's tomb!
Our view... the garden and their pet camels!
Sun bread (yeasty bread risen in the heat of the sun) and omelet
Stella with salad, baba ganoush (eggplant dip), tahini, and this delicious cheese spread! I don't know what all was in it, but we all loved it.
Christopher had a lamb tagine that he said was delicious!
Fried eggplant- so yummy!
Our waiter asked if we wanted any tea and at first we declined, but then he told us it was an Egyptian "thing" and he had to bring us mint tea. I was assuming mint tea... you know, flavorless bags of mediocre tea. Nope. Not what we were served and a new love affair of good quality black tea steeped with fresh mint leaves began!
He also brought us slices of basbosa cake... it was absolutely divine! Its a semolina and coconut cake drenched in syrup.
We headed back to the hotel after that and took a nap... after an early morning and a day full of climbing and walking, we were all exhausted. And we also realized that afternoon naps should totally be a thing again!
We woke up feeling refreshed and headed down to the heated pool.
Christopher and Stella swam in the bath temperature water and I hung out in the hammock reading a book and watching the sun set over the Nile.
I think Stella's new favorite way to watch the sun set is in a pool
Eventually I got in and swam for a little bit
After we got dried off we headed down to one of the restaurants for dinner. We decided to keep it easy and eat dinners at the hotel and lunches out in town. It just made things easy with not having to worry about finding and uber or taxi or where to eat. Typically I would never do this and I am a big proponent of eating local, but again, Egypt does have problems with attacks and such so we played it safe for this trip.
The hotel restaurants at the hotel were pretty good and prices were comparable to larger chain type places in the states (think Chili's, Olive Garden, etc). This was our view... looking over the Nile on a beautiful, clear night!
I ordered something called Koshari which is a national dish of Egypt. It is a mix of rice, noodles, lentils, chickpeas, and fried onions. You add tomato sauce, garlic vinegar, and an Egyptian hot sauce. It was weird but pretty good. It was one of those things that was probably born out of necessity... just bits of leftovers thrown together and sauce thrown on them. The real star of that dish was the garlic vinegar. It was out of this world!
After dinner we headed back to our room to get to sleep early so we could try for the hot air balloon ride.
