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Introduction
The pictures in this gallery were taken during the first full day of our holiday and an early morning balloon trip on the last day before leaving Egypt.
The Colossi of Memnon
First port of call was The Colossi of Memnon, which is the remains of the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III. The two statues are thought to have stood to the sides of the temple entrance and are 20 metres high. The feet alone are two metres long and one metre wide. The sandstone monoliths are believed to represent the pharaoh enthroned with his hands resting on his knees.
Valley of the Kings
The Valley of the Kings is located about 7km on the west side of the Nile and overlooks Luxor. The rugged terrain is a stark contrast to the cultivated zone, which we passed during our coach journey from the centre of Luxor. The parched and desolate area contains some 62 tombs, almost all thought to belong to pharaohs of the 18th - 20th Dynasties and are cut into the limestone rock.
Not all the tombs are open to the public. Given the restricted time and entrance ticket limited to three tombs, we opted to visit the following tombs:
KV 15 Sety II (Dynasty 19)
KV 2 King Rameses IV (Dynasty 20)
KV 8 Merenptah, son of Rameses II (Dynasty 19)
The significance and decorations became more spectacular as we visited the three tombs. In my opinion, the scale of the engineering and decorations of these tombs could never be appreciated by watching video or viewing photographs. The last tomb alone, KV 8, was simply stunning in the depth of steep passageway leading through the upper and lower chambers to the burial chamber.
Alabaster
On the way to the Valley of the Queens, we briefly stopped over to view local people producing products made from Alabaster - varieties of two distinct minerals, gypsum (a hydrous sulphate of calcium) and the calcite (a carbonate of calcium). The former is the alabaster of the present day; the latter is generally the alabaster of the ancients.
Valley of the Queens
It is believed that the area contains over 70 tombs of queens, prices and princesses of the 18th - 20th Dynasties. Our trip to the valley concluded the first day's excursions by a short visit to see the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, the only other woman apart from Cleopatra, to rule as pharaoh. The steep sided rock face providing a stark and powerful contrast to the embedded temple.
Balloon Trip
This was the climax to the seven day holiday, when Lynn and I took to the air after another early morning start. A short boat trip across the Nile and a circa 10 minute mini-bus ride, enabled us to reach our balloon take-off site much quicker than had we have taken the much longer coach trip to the nearest road bridge. This was fortunate as both of us had gone down with a stomach bug the day before, which left us rather queasy.
The trip was about 30-40 minutes long (not too sure of actual timing) and gave spectacular view of the area around the Valley of the Queens and the cultivated zone either side of the Nile. The balloon designed to take about 24 people reached an altitude of around 1,500 feet.
Overall impression, well worth the money and effort. I even managed to get Lynn along for the ride and she does not like heights. The conditions were extremely calm that day, with the pilot landing upon a 'sixpence'.
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