Valley of the Kings

We’ve had so much fun it’s been hard to take time to get on-line. Monday morning we looked out our balcony and saw several hot air balloons on the other side of the Nile over the Valley of the Kings. I imagine for a price one can get quite a view of the Valley via hot air balloon. We were content to watch them.

After breakfast, we went to the Valley of the Kings. I was disappointed, but not surprised, that they don’t even allow cameras on the premises. We had to leave them on the bus. We got to take few after the tour, but there is not much to see from the bus parking lot. So we bought postcards!

The visit to the Valley of the Kings, however, was pretty incredible. There are 62 total tombs that have been discovered and named by the Pharoh that was found in them. The last one was that of King Tut. They think there a 63rd tomb, but they don’t know whose it was. They are digging at 64th site and have found some pottery, but don’t yet know if there is a tomb or if it is just belongings of some of the workers.

We went into 3 different tombs. They were all different in terms of the size and how deep they were. Two of them had hieroglyphics on the walls and ceilings of the tunnels to the tomb and in the tomb, which was empty. The third had blank tunnel walls, but the tomb was well preserved and had a huge stone casket. (I am guessing it was 6 ½ feet tall) and the paintings on it were also in tact.

The tunnels were very high and pretty wide and the hieroglyphics were very well preserved with the colors every well intact. Our guide did a great jog prepping us for each tomb and telling us what we would see the different pictures symbolize which was made it more meaningful. Now I might be able to remember some of the Egyptian gods!

We also learned more about King Tut’s tomb. We didn’t go in it because it is pretty small as he only ruled for 8 years and wasn’t very important. Even so, his treasures contained 450 kilos worth of gold! So we can only imagine how much some of the other tombs contained. Tut became famous because his tomb the only one that still had most of the treasures inside. They believe that the reason his tomb wasn’t robbed is because: 1. They built the tomb of the succeeding Pharaoh very close to Tut’s. 2. A lot of rocks and other debris, etc. from the digging of that tomb got dumped on Tut’s tomb. When that tomb was found, the archeologists believe the grave robbers didn’t think there would be another one so close to it and they didn’t bother to dig deep enough to find it. The irony is he was buried so well because he was one of the least important kings, but now he is the most famous and the most important to us!

Another highlight was Queen Hatshepsut’s Temple. The main structure is intact, but much of it was ruined by her son, King Tut Moses III who, it is believed, killed her and removed all evidence of her reign.

About 1:00 we boarded our boat and had lunch. We were pleased that our rooms are pretty spacious considering the size of the boat. It’s pretty small with I think about 60 rooms. The bathroom even has a tub! I was figuring it would just have a small shower stall.

We enjoyed a relaxing afternoon – Emily took a much-needed nap and I got caught up journaling. I am short on time here and will write more soon.