Last days in Egypt - Luxor and Aswan

Today is our last day in Egypt and we’re spending it in style, lounging around the rooftop pool at our hotel. Before you think this some sort of glamorous holiday, the hotel isn’t what you’d call fancy, it’s 45 degrees and this is the last bit of luxury we’ll have for quite awhile.

We’ve spent the last few days in Luxor, visiting the Luxor and Karnak temples and the Valley of the Kings, which is mainly tombs where the royalty were buried.

One of the sphyxes at Luxor temple

The temples are overwhelming, both in size and the detail. The history they have captured through sketches on the walls and stories in hieroglyphics is incredible. You really need a knowledgeable guide to understand these areas properly and luckily we’ve found a few fabulous ones.

Ramses II statue, with his wife at his leg

Head of Ramses II, who created most of the grand
statues in ancient Egypt

More statues of Ramses II

Main forum leading up to the sacred part of the temple.
Only select people could walk through here, and even fewer
through the actual temples

Detailed hieroglyphics are all over the monuments

Hieroglyphic symbol for the sun god

Each temple was added to by different kings (and a couple of queens) and you can see where the Romans came through and painted Christian alfresco images over the hieroglyphics. The walls are a bit like onions, with multiple layers of different stages of history that have been peeled back.

Security around the Valley of the Kings is very high, as it seems to be a popular place for nutters to kidnap tourists, though we had no issues at all. Apparently in its hey-day more than 6000 people visited these tombs each day and you could line up for hours to get inside. This would not be fun in what has been 45 degree heat each day here. There were perhaps 100 other tourists when we were there, which has been a common occurrence throughout Egypt. We went inside the temple of Hatshepsut (or 'hot chicken soup') who was the first female leader of Egypt but pretended to be a king rather than admit she was a woman. We also went into three tombs in the Valley of the Kings - all belonging to different Ramses (there were several kings called Ramses though were unrelated). Unfortunately we couldn't take photos inside but the colours and detail were amazing.

More statues of Ramses leading towards the Valley of the Kings

Temple of Hatshepsut

The locals in Luxor and Aswan are desperate for tourists to return as many are fully dependent on tourism for an income. It seems unfair that they are the ones to suffer when the political upheaval has been in Cairo and most people this far south didn’t get involved at all. At least in Cairo the foreign media provided an income source when the tourists stopped coming, but very few came this far down the Nile. If any of you are considering a trip to Egypt in the future now is definitely the time to do it.

In Luxor the hawkers were particularly aggressive – understandably out of desperation – but here in Aswan there is a marked difference between the Egyptians and Nubian people, with the Nubians being physically more African-looking and far friendlier.

 

This evening we went for a cruise on the Nile which was lovely. It's far cleaner than I expected and is quite beautiful. A few people had swims but having seen the size of lizards that hang out in the Nile i chose not to. Sadly the many cruise boats that were once so popular are docked along the shore and I doubt most have been used for months.

Following the Nile down from Luxor you could clearly see the difference a bit of water makes to the land. Literally one side of the road was lush green with palm trees while the other side was pure desert.

Our truck left us today to be loaded onto the barge that will carry it across to Sudan, as this is the only way to enter the country overland. Tomorrow we will get on the boat for people (and I’m assuming livestock) and if all goes to plan, 20 hours later we’ll be in Sudan. Hopefully the truck won’t be too far behind as we then continue south, bush camping again for a few days until we reach the capital, Khartoum. Given it’s been 49 degrees plus there we are bracing ourselves for what will probably be the hardest week of the entire trip. Til then ... x