You can't spend any time in Luxor without visiting the Valley of the Kings
The first stop on the tour was at the Colossi of Memnon. They're 18 metres tall, although its difficult to tell that from the photogragh. They are all that is left of the Temple of Amenophis III (Amenhotep). The Temple itself was destroyed by earthquake and the Colossi cracked. We were told that after they cracked they would "sing" as the sun rose in the morning. Unfortunately Emporer Septimius Severus attempted to restore the Colossi to get brownie points with Memnon and now thy are silent.
Not a great job on the restoration either.
After the Colossi we were taken to the entrance of the Valley of the Kings.
That would be our guide pulling faces at some of the stupid questions people were asking about "slaves".
We only visited one tomb while we were in the valley. KV8 the tomb of Merenptah. He was the successor of Ramses II.
I think.
A sarcophagos...
This is a list contained within almost all of the tombs. It details who worked on the project, how long it took, all the consumables used during the time such as food and clothing and it gives details of how far people travelled to help with the build.
Again everything was protected by glass and no flash photography was allowed so it was quite difficult to get anything bar dodgy slightly blurry photos.
I mentioned a Queen didn't I?
Just the one mind you.
The Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, Deir al Bahri or Dejesr Dejesrn meaning Most Splendid of all.
It is a masterpiece to say the least.
Three levels carved into the face of the mountain. It isn't in the Valley of the Kings, its quite close to the Valley of the Nobels though.
She became ruler of Egypt after her husband, Thutmose II died.
There are very few images of Hatshepsut left intact at the temple. Her son, Thutmose III was made to wait 20 years before becoming ruler of Egypt because she refused to marry him (as you would)(bear in mind her husband was her half brother)). When he came to power he destroyed all of her cartouches and images so that she would be forgotten.
One of the intact images is in the Sanctuary of Hathor standing between statues of Hathor and Amun-Ra, although this room is closed to the public she can be seen faintly through the gates.
Unfortunately the top terrace was closed for restoration while we there but the view from the second terrace was hard to beat.
The second terrace was also undergoing a lot of restoration and probably will be for a long time to come.
One of the reliefs in the temple...
And we haven't even got to Cairo yet ;)
Those photos are amazing. I'm loving this series.
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