We awoke docked outside Luxor. Leaving early, we drove to the Valley of the Kings, passing by hot air balloons lifting skyward. Pulling into the parking lot, we were greeted with a nice surprise: we were the first ones there! Time to visit some tombs without other pesky people popping into my pictures!
What is the Valley of the Kings? Remember the pyramid fad? That eventually went away. Building gigantic structures with treasure inside was a thief magnet. “Buried treasure here if you can figure out how to get in!” The New Kingdom pharaohs decided for a more subtle burial, carving into a valley in the south across the river from Thebes, the southern capital. Unfortunately, almost all of them were looted in antiquity, too.
At least one tomb, however, escaped ancient looters’ notice: the tomb of Tutankhamen. Discovered in 1922 by William Carter, it was a sensation. Most of the objects found inside are in the Cairo Museum today (and moving to the Grand Egyptian Museum when it opens). Tut himself is in a glass case inside his tomb.
Besides visiting Tut, we went inside four other tombs: Rameses IV, Merneptah, Rameses III, and Rameses V/VI. Their size was generally dependent on how long the pharaoh reigned. The longer he lived, the longer his workers continued to dig and decorate. Once he died, the worked stopped and he was buried after the lengthy mummification process. The paint on some walls remains vibrant. If you’d like to tour a tomb virtually, there’s a recreation of Rameses VI’s tomb here.
Our next stop was the mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut. While it’s located close to the valley, one has to drive out of the valley and around the hills to reach the other side of the ridge.
Our final stop for our short day was the Collosi of Memnon. These are statues of Amenhotep III, which sat in front of his large mortuary temple complex. Very little of the complex remains but these broken statues still stand guard after over three millennia.
