Avenue of Sphinxes – Dave and Kay's Travel Adventures

Thursday, March 21st, 2019

Our wake up call was for 5:00 AM and after breakfast we visited the West Bank and our first stop was the Valley of the Kings. Our guide said we would want to get to the Valley of the Kings as soon as they open so we would be ahead of the crowds. We were thankful for that. We didn’t have to wait in any lines to visit the tombs. By the time we were leaving there were lines.

Sixty three tombs have been discovered in the Valley of the Kings. These tombs belonged to Pharoahs and other dignitaries. This was our transportation from the parking area back to the Valley of the Kings.

The first tomb we visited was that of Rameses IV who reigned from 1156-1160 BCE.

Sarcophagus is empty. The mummy of Ramses IV is in the Cairo Museum.

Our next tomb was that of Rameses IX. He ruled from 1129-1111 BC. The ceiling in his burial chamber was decorated with scenes of the goddess Nut. The side walls showed scenes from The Book of Caverns and The Book of the Earth. This tomb also used yellow, black and dark blue colors which was rare.

The third tomb we visited was that of King Tutankhamen (King Tut, the boy king).

His tomb was found nearly intact which was quite a find in 1922. King Tut began his rule when he was 9 years old and died when he was 19. He has become the most famous king because of his intact tomb and all of the treasures found inside.

After spending time in King Tut’s tomb, we went in the tomb Rameses VI. This tomb was started by Rameses V and finished by Rameses VI.

Rameses VI ruled from 1143-1136 BC. Apparently both Rameses V and Rameses VI were both buried in this tomb. Much of Rameses VI tomb is covered with intact hieroglyphs and paintings. The burial chamber has a pit that is unfinished and a figure of Nut and scenes from the Book of the Day and Book of the Night.

The last tomb we visited was of King Ramses III. It was begun by Sethnakht and was stopped when the workers hit the shaft of King Amenmesse’s tomb.

King Ramses III resumed the construction. He ruled from 1184-1153 BC. His tomb is popular because much of it is well-preserved.

We were all overwhelmed by our time spent in the Valley of the Kings this morning. It was an experience that we will never forget!

We stopped at an alabaster store and a demonstration of how the Egyptians used to turn the alabaster rock into bowls, figures, etc…

Below are some pictures from the Valley of the Nobles, with over 400 tombs and they are located south of the Valley of the Kings. We didn’t visit any of the open tombs but we could see where new discoveries have been found and are not open to the public because they are still being studied.

Our next stop was the Temple of Hatshepsut. Queen Hatshepsut ruled from 1478-1458 BCE. The temple was built into the limestone cliffs. It is dramatic to see!

This temple has been continuously excavated and restored since 1891. They were working today.

You enter the temple through the great court.

Some of the best preserved reliefs are on the middle terrace.

Nearby there are other rock cut tombs and in some, workers were excavating and studying their finds.

On our way back into the town of Luxor, we saw the avenue of sphinxes during the day! They are quite impressive.

Our next stop was to visit a Francescan church school in Luxor.

Some of the children were finished with their school session for the day and piled into the car! Look closely at how many kids are in this 4-door sedan!

When we returned to the boat we relaxed on the sun deck until dinner.

Wednesday, March 20th, 2019

We are at the city of Edfu which is located on the west side of the Nile. This morning we took a horse and carriage ride to visit the Temple of Horus. The pictures below show a small view of the city on our way to the temple.

The Temple of Horus is one of the best preserved ancient monuments that we visited because when pagan cult was banned it was filled by desert sand which protected much of the temple. This temple is dedicated to Horus who was the son of Isis and Osiris.

As we traveled along the Nile we saw factories and a lot of air pollution and we also worried about what was being spilled into the river.

We are sailing on the Nile and passed through the Esna Lock system.

The Edna Lock system.

As we sailed along, these rowboats would come up to the riverboats and try to sell their wares, clothing, etc… They would toss it up to the top deck where passengers would be standing and hope that the passengers would toss down money in the bags. It was something to see!

This evening we visited the Luxor Temple. The traffic in the town of Luxor, was really heavy and of course there was a roundabout.

Luxor Temple was beautiful as we explored it this evening. In front of the temple is the beginning of the Avenue of Sphinxes which were difficult to see because of darkness. The Avenue of Sphinxes once ran all the way from Luxor to the temples at Karnak, a little under two miles.

Luxor Temple

The red granite obelisk that still remains. Two were originally in the front but the other is now in Paris!

This is one of the six colossal statues of Ramesses II.

Below are different areas of the temple, from the Great Court of Ramses II, the Colonnade of Amenhotep III, the Sun Court of Amenhotep III, the Hypostyle Hall, Chamber of Amun, and the Barque Shrine of Amun.