Luxor

I couldn't help myself and interrupted my Egyptian blogs to brag about my superior mouse catching skills and our unseasonal snowfall, so now I am going to get back to business and catch up on Egypt.

Luxor is about 16o miles north of Hurghada but for reasons I am going to explain in a minute, it takes about 5 hours to travel between the two cities. It is the site of the ancient city of Thebes (remember that from history class?). We wanted to go to Luxor to see (among other things) Valley of the Kings, where all the tombs of the Pharaohs (including King Tut) were found. So we signed up for a tour. We were picked up at 5:30 a.m. (all teenagers LOVE to start Spring Break days at 5:30 a.m.) from our hotel in a 16 passenger mini-bus/van thing, and we went with 4 other people and a driver and tour guide. You can drive between Luxor and Hurghada on your own if you want but you are required to stop at every military checkpoint along the way. One thing that is reinforced over and over again from the moment you land in Egypt is that this is a country on military alert pretty much all the time. Heavily armed policemen and military personnel patrol all of the towns. And I mean heavily armed, machine guns, automatic rifles etc. All of the hotels require their patrons to walk through metal detectors and have their bags searched. These hotel checkpoints are usually manned by hotel security and either a local police official or a military officer, again armed. Most of the hotels have their driveways blocked and you cannot drive your car up to the front door. If you can drive the car to the front door, sniffer dogs are used to walk around your car and sniff for explosives. It is fascinating but in a way it doesn't really scare you and is strangely reassuring.

So that the highway between Luxor and Hurghada is not one big traffic jam caused by all of the cars being checked at the checkpoints, there is a convoy that leaves from a prearranged spot 3 times a day. All the tour companies sending tours up to Luxor meet at the prearranged spot and leave together. The companies provide the convoy operators (the military) with a list of their passengers, their nationalities and other information. Then at the appointed time the convoy pulls out, escorted by armed police. I was absolutely floored by how many buses and tour vans at the convoy point. There had to be at least 30 big huge tour buses and then 50 or so smaller vehicles like ours. Then there were some personal vehicles, cars, trucks, business vehicles that wanted to go in the convoy. At the start of the convoy there is a little market where you can buy water, snacks or that must have tourist item. The convoy also stops mid way for a break. When we got to the break, out of nowhere these women and children show up with donkeys, camels, goats, dressed in costume. You can take a picture with them for a small fee. It was kind of sad to me, it was very apparent that these women and children (no men at all in the group) obviously make their living at showing up at the convoy stops and posing for photos and tips. Then at the appointed time the convoy leaves.


As you drive through towns and villages, the traffic is stopped and the convoy is allowed to go through all of the intersections without stopping. You can see people waiting on the side streets for what must be 1/2 hour or so for all of the cars to go through. I imagine it is quite an inconvenience when you think this happens about 6 times per day, 3 times to Luxor and 3 times from Luxor. It is a mixed blessing because the country is so dependent on the tourist income but still all of these tourists disrupting every day life must be annoying. You get a really interesting view from the window of your bus. You get a chance to see village life. People go about their business, taking their products to market by donkey cart or by basket. You see how people live; many mud huts built right on the river for easy access to water for daily life.

Once you get to Luxor, you can go off on your individual tours and itineraries. Our first stop was Valley of the Kings. It is an area where for about 500 years, from the 16th - 11th centuries BC., the Kings and very high noblemen of Egypt were buried. It has been the site of pretty much constant archaeological exploration since about the end of the 18th century. So far they have found 63 or 64 tombs (depending on who you ask). Just about every archaeologist who explores there eventually declares there are no more tombs, all the tombs are discovered only later to have another tomb found. The most recent acknowledge tomb is KV63, found by Americans in 2006. It was the first new site discovered since Harold Carter found King Tut's tomb in 1922. There has been a claim that a 64th tomb has been found, but the explorer that found that tomb did not go through the proper channels (the Egyptian authorities) to verify his find and instead reported the find through the media. So that is still in dispute.


The tombs in Valley of the Kings are built into the side of the mountain. Your ticket entitles you to visit three tombs. Usually on any given day only a handful of tombs are available for entry, including King Tut. However the day we were there, King Tut's tomb was closed. You walk inside the tombs, no pictures allowed inside, and walk down usually a long hallway. These hallways still have the drawings and markings on them. The colors are still so very vibrant. The drawings much more intricate than I thought, I was surprised at how complex some of them were. I guess I had always thought they were primitive but that is not the case when you view them in person. I found some pictures on the internet to give you an idea, these are pictures from some of the tombs we saw. Along the hallways might be different rooms where items we placed for the afterlife. In some of the tombs you can still find a sarcophagus or two in one of the rooms. The sarcophagus were made of stone and usually housed a coffin or two, and within the coffin the mummy. Like a Russian nesting doll.

One of the most famous finds in the Valley of the Kings was the tomb of King Tutankhamen (King Tut). Almost everyone has heard about King Tut, the boy king. He was only 8 or 9 when he became a pharaoh and died when he was 18. He didn't do anything particularly spectacular in his reign, no important discoveries. He really didn't have time, he was a very small blip on the pharaoh radar. Why is he so famous? For one simple reason, his tomb was found practically intact which had never really happened before. Valley of the Kings was not really "discovered", people have always kind of known where it is. And therein lies the problem. Initially the tombs of Pharaohs were in the most danger from other Pharaohs. They stole from each other to furnish their own tombs. Coveting the cool stuff they knew were in the tombs, they consistently raided them. It was like a little shell game. The stuff was moved from one tomb to another. Then over the years, archaeologists would claim and take stuff for different museums. How do you think the stuff you have seen over the years got there? Apparently in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the black market was flooded with Egyptian Antiquities. The Egyptian government is slowly but surely recovering some of this stuff, most recently a mummy that had been in a German Museum for some time. You can still see some really old graffiti on the inside walls of the tombs, carvings dated in the late 1800s and early 1900s. King Tut's tomb did show evidence that it had been robbed early on, probably within months of his burial. Is is believed these initial thieves stole valuable oils and perfumes. The tomb showed evidence of being resealed. The the tomb was forgotten really, buried in stone chips they believe covered King Tut's pad when other Kings tombs were built. So that left pretty much everything else for Howard Carter to discover in the 1900s. Valley of the Kings is still an active exploration site. They believe there are more tombs to discover. Recently, in 2007, they found more stuff in King Tut's tomb, some 3000 year old fruit and 50 clay jars.

After Valley of the Kings we went to Deir el-Bahri, a temple complex that housed several mortuary temples and a cache of tombs. It is extremely impressive, right up against and carved from the cliffs in the background. The drawings and markings on these walls are amazing (and I was allowed to take photos of these!)








Now it was in Valley of the Kings and the temple complex that I learned about Baksheesh. When I was in one of the Ramses tombs in Valley of the Kings, a man in a long robe and turban gestured to me. I went over to him and he told me that I should follow him over the ropes into this other area. Now this was clearly an area that people weren't supposed to be in and, because I am usually a rule follower, I hesitated. No, he assured me it was okay and there were better drawings in this room. (Very similar to pick up lines that I heard in school but for some reason I was pretty sure this guy wasn't trying to pick me up!) Anyway, I went in the room and he was right. The drawings here were pretty spectacular. Chizz came to see where I had wandered off to, and we looked at the room together. When we were wandering out, I heard Chizz and the robe guy talking and Chizz gave him some money. Later, I asked him what that was about. Chizz said it was Baksheesh, a bribe or tip sort of. What for? For showing you the room. Really? Yes, Chizz said Baksheesh was a way of life in the Middle East. From that point on, I was a little bit more wary of men in robes and turbans trying to show me things (hey, hey, hey - not that - I meant their ancient drawings and artifacts!). So when I went to the temple, it happened to me again. I must have tourist sucker written all over me, okay, I carry the camera, I walk around in awe and I was wearing khakis - but other than that! So the guy takes me into another area and again shows me some pretty cool stuff. And again, since I am like the Queen of England and usually don't carry the money when we are on vacation (Isn't that what credit cards are for?), Chizz had to hand over the Baksheesh. Usually it was only a few Egyptian pounds. Egyptian pounds are worth very little in dollars, although what currency is these days. But Egyptian pounds are like 5 pounds to the dollar, so if Chizz gave him an Egyptian pound - he is giving him like 20 cents. This picture is of a couple of Bahksheesh guys that hang around the temple waiting for unsuspecting tourists. I think the one on the top was saying "Hey go find that American wearing the Talbots pink top. She's clueless and her husband is good for a few pounds."


On our way to the next stop, we took a mini break to see the clossi of Memnon Statues. The statues are the only standing remains of the ancient temple in Thebes built by pharaoh Amenhotep III. I am bummed that my photo of both of the statues together somehow didn't turn out. But here is one and double it your mind, you'll get the idea. These statues are about 60 feet tall and are impressive. Just last week, they discovered another intact statue of one of King Amenhotep's wives. It is an amazing find because many of the statues and other works of art have been destroyed in a series of earthquakes and floods that ravaged the area in the 1st century. They have found pieces of other statues, a hand here , a head there but nothing intact until this statue. So you can see that these historical areas still hold quite a few treasures yet to be discovered. The whole area is like one big archeological dig.

Another form of Baksheesh is the various shops the tour guides take you to on your day of touring. You can stop at a papyrus center, where you learn all about the fascinating (not) history of ancient papermaking, a jewelry store, a perfume center or in the case of our trip to Luxor, an alabaster store. There are alabaster quarries all over the Middle East and then the shops recreate from there. Westopped and watched an exhibit of how alabaster is shaped into vases, ashtrays, etc. Then we bought a few alabaster items, some vases, a statue , a bowl. After the demonstration, Chizz had to give a little baksheesh. Of course. The tour guide gets a kickback from the shop owner. Truthfully all of the places we went to with our various guides make a sales pitch but if you aren't interested, you can just say that and they pretty much leave you alone.

Our last stop was the famous Karnak Temple. It is the second most visited place in Egypt, right behind the pyramids. The temple was started in the 16th century BC and added to over the centuries by many different kings. It is very impressive. This is the hypostile hall which was started by Amenhotep III and finished up by Seti I, about 100 or so years later. I wanted to show the scale
of the columns, so I have included a photo with some people so you can get the scale. It is amazing how big they are and how intricately carved. The carvings seem almost delicate but when you remember that some of them are over 3500 years old, it is even more spectacular somehow. Somehow though I get the distinct feeling walking around that these temples served two pursposes, one for glorifying and satisfying their gods, and the other for glorifying and satisfying themselves. There are as many carvings detailing great battles and individuals successes as their are carvings dedicated to the gods and their good deeds.












After the temple, we headed back to the meeting point for the return convoy to Hurghada. It always seems to take longer going back and the ride in our little mini-bus was not very comfortable. But I think Luxor was one of the many highlights of our visit and I am so glad we went. Stay tuned for more adventures and politics.