Day 4, Luxor

Krystin and I joined a tour group of six other Americans staying at the lovely Nefertiti Hotel in Luxor. Our tour took us to Valley of the Kings, the temple of Hatchepsut, Valley of the Queens, and the Colossi of Memnon. Does it sound like a lot to squish in one day? It was, but it was also spectacular. Unfortuantely I won't be able to attach pictures I took myself of the tombs in Valley of the Kings/Queens, becuase photos aren't allowed, but it was pretty surreal being in the mountains, going underground to the burial places of Egypt's royals. It was unbearably hot though, and some of the tombs were even more oppressive. We entered the tombs of Ramses I, Siptah, and Ramses IV. No sense in paying extra to see Tut's tomb, all the goods are at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

The Temple of Hatchepsut was fantastic. This was the only temple built for a queen, and one of the most important. It was huge, and had the mountains in the background, very impressive.

Valley of the Queens is also known as the unlucky valley because it's taken a lot of work to uncover them, and most of the tombs are very damaged. In addition to queens, they also buried some of the princes there who were not yet kings. Out of 74 tombs, only three are open. We saw two of them, Queen Titi, and the son of Ramses III, who was seven years old.

The last thing we saw on the tour was my favorite, the Colossi of Memnon. These are two enormous statues, which are all that remains of a temple that used to be there. Looking at the statues, you see the small city in the background. It's almost overwhelmingly beautiful and just HUGE.

We showered and got pretty, then off to the Luxor Temple. It was a cool night and the temple was lit up, causing an almost eerie feeling while gazing up at giant ancient statues. We walked around and took pictures, then spent some time relaxing on the avenue of sphinxes.

We found a small shop that sold alcohol and bought three beers (Stella), and enjoyed them on the roof with our tour friends. Then sleep!

Cheers!