First for a preview of our Egypt trip. We flew to Cairo and then on south to Luxor where we visited the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens. This is where various ancient royalty were buried hidden in the sandstone hills. We entered various tombs including three of the Ramses Kings. Each tomb has numerous chambers and intricately decorated walls and ceilings. This is where King Tut's tomb is but only his mummy is still there. The artifacts have been moved to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo which we visited. We visited the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut and the Temple of Memnon.
In Luxor we boarded a river boat for three days. We stopped at Edfu and visited the the Temple of Karnak, the largest found so far. Our guide said only 30 % of the antiquities have been found as yet. Then we stopped at Kom Omba to see the Ptolemaic Temple of Horus and Sobek, walked around a granite quarry where we saw an unfinished obelisk to get a sense of the size and huge task of placement. We landed at Aswan and took horses and carriages to the Temple of Horus which is the best preserved temple. We visited Philae's Temple of Isis which is on an island. From here we flew back to Cairo and had an evening dinner on a river boat. We were entertained by a belly dancer and a whirling dirvish. In Cairo we visited the main pyramids, the ones you usually see in photos. They are right at the edge of the city which seems so out of place. We could actually see them from our hotel room. Beside the pyramids is the sphinx with the funeral temple where they prepared the bodies for burial. It was only after the pyramids were looted that they began to bury the royalty in tombs hidden in the hills. That evening we went to a sound and light show at the pyramids to conclude our stay.
View Larger Map
1 comment:
I saw a documentary on Egypt and it did show a lot of poverty. Much of the farming methods were identical to those used over a thousand years ago. Many of the irrigation methods date back to Roman times.
Post a Comment