Luxor

We decided to overland by local bus to Luxor, which took about 5 hours. About half way there we began to regret sampling the street falafels and food from the bean cart in Hurghada. A quote from the Bucketlist came to mind, and that is “Never trust a fart.” So true Jack Nicholson, so true. Though we did enjoy the sugar cane juice and hibiscus tea. While on the bus we discovered we had lost our hostel information, including the name, but recalled the two we had considered. We arrived in Luxor, which looked like a verdant oasis set along the Nile River especially after the hot journey through the desert. We found a taxi and negotiated the price with a "this is all we have" technique and pulled into Oasis Hostel. We choose the wrong hostel, but looking back are happy we did. The owner arranged VERY cheap prices for tours and there was a beautiful room top bar that served a sunset tea every evening.

Our first exploration around Luxor was the West Bank, where the Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, and Al-Deir Al-Bahari Temple are located. Valley of the Kings is believed to date back to 1500 BC where Kings and influential nobles were laid to rest in extravagant tombs. This location was chosen because the mountain peak resembled the Great Pyramid and its location was isolated, though most of the sites have been raided of their treasures. The Valley of the Kings is most notable for King Tutankhamen’s tomb as it was the most intact tomb ever found. He ascended the throne at the young age of eight and ruled for only 10 years after mysteriously dying. Some believe it was foul play while others think he developed gangrene from a broken leg. The British explorer, Howard Carter and his horse, made the discovery in 1922 as the animal’s foot fell through the sand into one of the chambers. There is much superstition surrounding this expedition as many people on the team died shortly after the excavation began including Carter, leading to a “Curse of the Pharaohs” theory.

While visiting the tombs of Horemheb, Ramses IX, and Ramses IV we learned a little bit about Egyptian afterlife and burial rituals. It was believed that once you died your soul was guided by Anubis, the god of mummification, to the hall of judgment where your heart was weighed against a feather to determine your fate in the afterlife. If it was lighter than the feather you were deemed to have a pure heart, not weighed down by guilt or sins. If found to have a heavy heart, it would be consumed, and you would therefore not exist in the afterlife. Other organs like the intestines, lungs, liver, and stomach were preserved in jars along with the mummy and the average mummification took seventy days to complete.

Next was Al-Deir Al-Bahari Temple, where Queen Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple remains. She was the longest reigning female pharaoh and regarded as very successful. She is the only woman to be buried in the Valley of the Kings. After her death, her step-son who succeeded as pharaoh attempted to erase Hatshepsut from history by destroying her statues at the temple. This site is also known as the Luxor massacre after fifty eight tourist and four Egyptians were killed by Islamic terrorist in 1997. Today you see guards carrying rifles at all the sites.

After a stop in the alabaster shop we toured the Valley of the Queens which was very similar to the Kings. However, if one is willing to fork over $4,000 you can enter Queen Nefertiti’s tomb for 15 minutes as it is claimed to be the best preserved burial chamber. Needless to say we passed and took their word for it.

The next day we wondered around the east bank and Karnak Temple. In the afternoon we enjoyed a sunset felucca sail out to Banana Island. This was definitely the highlight of Egypt. Later at night we board the overnight train to the capital city, Cairo.