Journey to the Land of the Pharaohs #4 - Luxor

Slowly but sure, I am continuing my scribbles on our trip to Egypt ;D... tirelessly, I keep saying..please bear with me...

So, Egypt is still on the agenda and this time, I have Luxor on my plate....

To complete our journey in the Land of the Pharaohs, we decided to visit Luxor and Aswan as well after spending around 4 days in Cairo...





Well...As a matter of fact, Abu Simbel was on our agenda...

Really wanna see that famous Abu Simbel Temple with its huge size Ramses II statues welcoming you....But considering my late pregnancy, tough road and safety as well as our limited time, we decided to stick to Luxor, the ancient capital of Thebes, and Aswan, where the Nubian monuments can be found...

After a 9-hour train ride from Cairo to Luxor, we arrived at 6.30 am in Luxor. They have special train for tourist, yo...but it was comfy and clean enough for the 3 of us..with double bunk beds and good food..if I'm not mistaken, it costed us 60 USD each...you can not take the local train there, which definitely cost cheaper...but peeping out from my window how packed and hot the local train was (I guess they use fan x_X), I am happy with my 'tourist' train :D...

Arriving early in Luxor train station, we were picked up by our local tourist guide, with a not-so-old sedan (which I forgot the make) cheerfully  adorned with furry upholstery :D....It was okay in the morning but later in the afternoon when the weather was 'just' 40 degree C,  then it was hoot hooot hooot...

Anyway, straight from the train station, we were heading to our hotel to have a quick check-in..lovely place indeed :D....then right at 7 am, we were already at the Valley of the Kings...mind you, 7 am was burning hot already..and it was October :D...

Valley of the Kings....

In front of the gate of the Valley of the Kings...since you can not take pictures inside, unless you wanna pay EGP 100 fines et your photos deleted....

Magnificently situated in the middle of the rocky mountains, now Valley of the Kings is the home for 63 tombs of the Pharaohs as well as the noble families and priests..

We got a chance to visit 3 tombs: Ramesess III, Ramesess IX and Seti I..

Since no photos or videos can be taken inside the tombs, we just admired the elaborated paintings inside the tombs..some of them are still vividly colorful and intact, depicting the glory (and the horror) of the past...



Right after the Valley of the Kings, we went to the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, one of the female Pharaohs, and stay there for a while...

Bo was very good at remembering the name the Queen, while me and Udi, as suggested by our guide, remembered it as "hot chicken soup" :D...



Well,the temple was located on the west bank of the Nile, opposite the city of Luxor, right at the other side of the Valleys of the Kings. 

Queen Hatshepsut was indeed a rare female pharaoh and considered to be successful as well. 




most of the Queen's statues were destroyed...
Her temple, known as Djeser-Djeseru ("Splendor of Splendors "), was designed and erected by Senemut, the pharaoh's royal steward and a true workshipper. We heard some interesting love affairs as well regarding this famous Queen Pharaoh :D...

No wonder the her husband, - forgot the name of the King, got so angry and ordered all Queen's statues to be destroyed or vandalized...

That's why we only saw the remaining of the Queen's  statues, while most of the King's ones were fully intact.

In the surroundings, we saw some holy tombs of priests as well....









One corner of the temple...
Then, on the way to Luxor Temple, we stopped for a while at the Colossi of Memnon... taking pictures of course, under the scorching sun and feeling so tiny underneath those gigantic statues...










 
After that, we had a wonderful lunch in one of the restaurants by the Nile river, while Bo was enjoying his happy meal...It was a buffet, all you can eat resto with traditional as well as international menu..sooo yummy...me and Udi enjoying baba gamush and fresh bread with traditional BBQ, while Bo was having his rice plate and ice creaaaam :D>...
Taking a break under the shades for a while....

one of the wings in Hatsepshut temple...




the priest's tomb...
Well, so much to tell when it comes to Temple of Luxor. Famous for its phylons, court of Rameses II, court of Amnhotep II, and the hypostyle hall, we spent quite some time there. Temple of Karnak, our next destination, is another amazing place.

So, I guess, I will add some info and the photos later...on my next notes :D>...

Meanwhile..enjoy the 'trip' with the photos taken by Udi :D...

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