We left the ship at the port Safaga, around 8:30 a.m. for a 4 hour bus drive through the Sahara Desert. What a sight that is ! ! !
At first, we were surrounded by tall, rugged limestone hills. I was surprised, because I had pictured this desert as endless sand dunes.
These gradually became smaller and after an hour or so, the sand dunes did appear.
As anticipated we did pass by an oasis or 2 and they were a welcome sight after all the isolation.
Vehicles travelling through the Sahara must go in convoy. There were 18 busses filled with passengers from the ship and 2 spare busses in case of break downs in our convoy. Every so often we passed through a check point manned by soldiers with guns. People traversing the desert are checked very carefully to make certain they arrive at their destination. If they don’t show up, a search party is sent out. The road through the desert was excellent.
We arrived at the west bank of the Nile River across from Luxor shortly after noon and our bus headed straight for the Valley of the Kings – the necropolis where the tombs of the ancient rulers of Egypt have been excavated. This is a huge mountainous area. The pharaohs had these elaborate tombs dug out from the mountainside and had them elaborately decorated with brilliantly coloured pictures and hieroglyphics. When they died, they were sealed in these tombs along with a multitude of gold and jewels as well as clothing food and furniture which it was believed they would need in the next world.
We spent over an hour in this location and were able to enter and explore three of the tombs. One has to see this to believe it. I though it would be claustrophobic but this was not the case. The tunnels were fairly wide and stairways bad been built so that we could descend quite comfortably. In one of the tombs, we had to go down a very long way and that was fine, but climbing the stairs back up was a chore. The colours, in places are as brilliant as if they had just been newly painted. The carvings are exquisite. It is mind boggling to imagine that this was done using a hammer and chisel. Over 60 tombs have been discovered and it is believed that there are many more. Only one tomb that was discovered had not been looted by thieves and that was the tomb of King Tut.
We were not allowed to take pictures here, in order not to damage the paintings. I did buy postcards, however and I’m planning on scanning them into my computer.
The venders in Egypt are the worst we have come across so far. They try very hard to sell their wares. They swarm at you, are quite persuasive and don’t take no for an answer. They follow you and keep after you, offering you something at an exorbitant price and then lowering it as they follow and the more one says no, the lower the price gets. The only way to get them to stop is not to acknowledge them, not to speak to them and not to make eye contact.
after we left the Valley of the Kings, on our way to visit the Karnak Temple we stopped along the way to take pictures of the Colossi – which are 64 foot twin statues of one of the Pharaohs. They are all that remain of a once great temple.
We crossed the Nile River on our way to the Karnak Temple and parked along its banks were multitudes of river cruise boats, jut waiting to take tourists for a cruise on the Nile. I had hoped to take the tour that included a dinner while cruising down the Nile, but by the time I went to book it, there was no more room left. I guess it wasn’t meant to be.
At the Karnak Temple, the Avenue of Ram-Headed Sphinxes leads to the entrance.
The Hypostyle Hall, is a colonnade featuring 134 immense and richly decorated columns. The complex also boasts the obelisk of Queen Hatshesput, the temple of Amen-Re and a Sacred Lake. It’s amazing that these artefacts are still in such good shape despite their age. Here is a statue of one of the Ramses in the death pose. The small statue at the bottom is that of his favourite wife.
Our drive home was long and uneventful, but I enjoyed the four hour drive through the desert just as much as I did in the morning on the way there.
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