Egypt 2023 : Part 6 : Luxor West Bank Day 2

Sunday 19 March

And off to the Valley of the Kings. The parking lot was full of busses which seemed like an awful omen. Here's my tip.. the general admission ticket allows you entrance to 3 tombs but for all the best tombs you have to buy extra tickets.. Buy these! Especially for the Tomb of Tutenkamen - the only mummy you'll see in Luxor - and the Tomb of Rames IV and V. They are by far the best and there are NO crowds! Then if the lines are too long for the others you can skip them. We did 6 tombs..too many to really appreciate every detail in every one. In the end you'll just be walking through and snapping pics! 

Next we went to The Valley of the Queens. What a pleasure because there were hardly any other tourists. The highlight here is the Tomb of Nefertari which also requires an extra ticket at a whopping 50 USD pp but just do it because it's beautiful.

Our guide took us to a late lunch at Sofra and we ate excellent mezze and roast pigeon.

Another tip..Djed Travel has been amazing and I would highly recommend them. We have been to and done everything we chose to do at pretty much our own pace and we haven't had to worry about any logistics. Our trip has run like clockwork and our guides and drivers have been amazing. 

Put Egypt on your bucket list!  Sadly many Egyptians in the tourist industry don't do themselves any favours with their relentless badgering and expectations to be tipped for everything. In the end we resort to being rude and dismissive just to walk a few metres in peace. This is a pity because when we travel we like to engage with locals and go beyond the tourist enclaves.

Egypt 2023: Part 5: Luxor West Bank

Saturday 18 March

I am overwhelmed! Day One on the West Bank of Luxor there was so much to see and we haven't even been to the Valley of the Kings yet! These lesser visited temples and tombs are amazing and it's such a pleasure to have these places almost to ourselves. Let's just say that I have given up on any idea of travelling independently in Egypt because our private guide has been so good and she has minimised the harassment from touts, scammers and sellers. 

1. Ramesseum - Memorial Temple to King Rames II.

2. Ramose Tomb - Tomb of nobleman Vizier Ramose and his wife. 

3. Temple of Queen Hatshepsut.

4. Deir El Madina - village of the artists and temple builders with their tombs which they decorated themselves on their days off.

5. Habu Temple - dedicated to wars and battle victories of Rames III. 

Whew!

Neil has written our names in heiroglyphics and made our kartouche. 

Tonight we caught the hotel ferry over the Nile to The Winter Palace, an historic colonial hotel with beautiful gardens. After drinks in the Royal Bar we had a BBQ buffet out by the pool

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Egypt 2023 : Part 4 : Karnak and Luxor

 Friday 17 March

Karnak and Luxor

It was a hazy morning on the Nile.

After our last breakfast it was farewell to the Dahabiya and onto the bus to Luxor. Our guide Miro met us in Luxor and off we went to the Karnak Temple Complex. This is the biggest Egyptian Temple that has been found to date and so far its only 70% excavated. The development of Karnak went on for over a 1000 years, with multiple generations of Pharoahs in charge.

It was very crowded when we arrived. Mass tourism; what can you complain about when you are part of it all? Luckily Google photos has a magic erase tool in the edit so with the swipe of a stylus you can eliminate any extraneous strangers from your pictures! This goes for all the pigeons sitting on Tutenkamen's head as well.

Just a tweak here and there so that this is still an accurate account of our day, which did include stopping for a cold drink at a cafe inside a 3000 year old temple complex!

In the afternoon, at Luxor Temple there was only a smattering of other tourists. Another impressive place!

The Holy of Holies in Luxor Temple is the spot where the universe was created! 

Neil has found some augmented reality graphics showing what the temples looked like at the time of the pharoes.

Our hotel, The Djorff Palace is on the West Bank of the Nile, so we arrived by boat. What a gem this place is. They don't have a bar but BYO is encouraged. I now know why we were lugging wine and beer around in our bags!