OK, I'm back from my most recent vacation in _____. Wait, where's the fun if I tell you? I need to finish yacking about Egypt and the rest of Michele's visit so I can tell you about the new country. Ooooh! Suspense!
Day 2 in Luxor and Michele and I hit the streets. Almost immediately we came upon an old dude with a wooden cart. On the cart was an aluminum pot and a pile of course, pita-like bread. I approached him as I was pretty sure what was in the pot and I was pretty excited. "Foul?" I asked. "Foul" he nodded. I quickly explained to Michele that foul (pronounced fool) is boiled fava beans served rolled up in bread. A very tradition Egyptian breakfast that I have enjoyed many times in Oman. Michele declined. Something about eating food from a grungy old pot on a rickety old cart from a guy who looked like he may not have washed his hands this week was somehow unappealing to her. Go figure. I held up my finger for one and off we went. And, of course, it was delicious. Best foul I've ever had.
We came across this doorway and I have to say this- this is why I travel. There is quirky shit all over the world and I love finding it.
Right after I took this photo, the lady in the background held out her hand and said "Baksheesh". Which basically translates to "tip me". Egyptians are famous for their constant plees for baksheesh. If a child says hello to you and you say hello back, they will hold out their hand and say "baksheesh".We walked towards the Nile. The plan was to catch the ferry to the West Bank, rent some bicycles and pedal to the Valley of the Kings.
But first we had to find Princess Michele some breakfast fit to eat. After rejecting most everything, she agreed to eating a cheese and preserved lemon sandwich made by a sweet little old lady. (Who probably hadn't washed her hands in a week).
Some dude offered to "help" us find our way to the ferry. We declined his help, but he followed us, asking occasionally if we needed a guide for the day. We just kept firmly telling him no. And he just kept following us.
When we got to the ferry we thought he would finally leave us alone but no. After we bought our tickets he spoke to the ticket seller and then followed us onto the boat, sitting a couple of seats down from us. Then another dude came and sat beside us and asked if we needed a guide for the day. Again we declined. Again he offered. Again we declined. As the boat started to pull away, both the new guy and the first guy jumped off, walking away together. Seems they were working together, trying to get us to agree to their services.
Our host, Alaa, had told us the day before where to rent bikes so we went there. These were old fashioned bikes, no gears, but it's pretty flat so we figured we'd be ok. The dude renting the bikes to us asked us to please bring them back, not just ditch them somewhere. I assured him we were not the kind of women that could ditch. I told him Canadians don't do that.
Such a scenic bike ride.
A short way along we came across these. Colossi of Memnonwere built around 1360BC and are almost all that are left of what was once the largest temple in Luxor. Situated in the Nile flodd plain, the rest of the temple has simply washed away over the centuries.
There's an archaeological dig going on behind the colossi.
More riding and we made it to the Worker's Village. This is the area where the tombs of the workers and artists who created the tombs for the Kings lived and were buried. The more important among them had tombs of their own. But we didn't stop there, we continued on up the road.
This guy had a little bit of everything on that cart. Like a peddler from the Old West.
Typical house and yard as we pedaled along. At this point it was starting to get hot and we had been pedaling about an hour.
Still pedaling. Still getting hotter. And it is no longer mostly flat. Now it just feels like work. On a crappy bike.
When Michele snapped this shot I was about ready to flag down a truck and offer them all kinds of money to drive us the rest of the way. I was secretly plotting to abandon the bikes and get a cab back. Screw the rental guy- I was hot and tired and my legs were starting to hurt. What were we thinking? We're in our 40's for crying out loud!
And then, when all hope was lost, we were there. We stopped in at the information center. This diorama (there's a word you don't get to use often) shows the map of the tombs from above....
....and below. In all, some 62 tombs have been excavated, though not all belonged to pharaohs. Only about 20 are open to the public. The tombs are dug into the mountains with long, narrow corridors which open up into chambers.
Puddles, at the entrance to one of the tombs. When you pay your entrance fee it only allows you to see 3 tombs. And there are a bunch, so we relied on my guidebook to help us choose. While it is true that King Tut's tomb is available to view, we did not view it. My book says it is not that great a tomb. What made it so great was that it was the only tomb that was never looted so when it was discovered it was full to the gills with good stuff. But then they took all the good stuff out and sent it away on tour and now it's all in museums. Apparently the empty tomb is just so-so, so we didn't go in it.There is a very strict rule about no photography inside the tombs. They state quite clearly that they will confiscate your camera if you are caught. So..... I snuck some photos. No flash though as I know the flash damages the paint. I'm sneaky, but not destructive.
This is the long corridor leading down to one of the chambers. It's carved with hieroglyphics.
Looking down the hallway into a chamber.
The 3500 year old tomb of Thutmes III was the most elaborately hidden.
To get to it you have to climb up these stairs.
Then down these stairs.
Then across a ravine over which this bridge has been built.
And voila! The first chamber. Couldn't get more photos 'cause there was a guard dude down there. There was also a sarcophagus down there. No mummy, just the big quartzite sarcophagus's. The guard shined a flashlight into it so we and some other tourists could see the carvings on the inside. Than he asked for baksheesh. Michele and I had wandered away quickly to be spared the baksheesh plee. We were wily the whole time we were in Egypt, to avoid having to pay any baksheesh.
Then it was back out into the sunshine with my beautiful, smiley sister.
Back down the stairs and onto out last tomb where I was able to sneak some more photos.
The 3d corridor, lined with various deities. Not bad for no flash, heh? I love my new camera! This is the tomb of Tausert and Setnakht. I not gonna bother giving you any of the history for them because I'm tired.
The ram-headed sun god is depicted on the wall, stretching out his wings to emerge from the darkness of the underworld. What gets me is that the paint in these tombs is in such great shape. This tomb is 3200 years old!Of course we didn't abandon the bikes- we're Canadian! And you know what? It was downhill almost the whole way back to town. Turns out it only looks flat. We had been pedaling up a slight incline almost the whole way to the Valley of the Kings! 40 something rocks! We kicked that roads ass on our crappy bikes!
We stopped at lunch at this somewhat ok restaurant.
What made this lunch remarkable was that a boy who was maybe 13 took our order, prepared our food and served it to us. No child labor laws in Egypt. It's trying to be a cheese sandwich and salad.
My totally rockin', bad-ass sister on her way cool ride. Yes, that's Puddles in the basket. I forgot to mention that by this time I had a serious hate-on for that hat. See, I was in charge of carrying our bag and that damn hat was in it half the time, taking up WAY too much room. Stupid hat.
Back in the town near the ferry terminal on the West Bank, returning the bikes, some young Egyptian dudes toodled by on their camels. Doodle-Dee-Doo. Just going for a ride on my camel. Wacky Doodle World!
Sigh. Michele insisted on checking her email. She was really wanting a letter from Chloe. And according to Michele, so did Puddles. Honestly, I was starting to worry about Michele. She would actually say things like "Puddles wants his photo taken checking his email". Mmm hmm. Puddles went wherever we went, riding in either our shared bag or Michele's pocket.If you think we were done for the day, think again. Dusk was approaching as we made our way back to the East Bank on the ferry. And dusk is the recommended time to visit Luxor Temple.
From the ticket office we walked along a path that was part of the Avenue of Spinxes which in ancient times ran all the way to the temples at Karnak, 3km to the north. Luxor Temple is located just off the banks of the Nile and modern city of Luxor has surrounded it with traffic, shops, hotels and restaurants, all catering to the thriving tourist trade.
Upon entering the first thing we saw was the enormous First Pylon, raised by Ramses II and decorated with his military exploits. In front of the 24m high wall are some giant stutues of Ramses II and a pink granite obelisk. There were oringinally 6 statues and 2 obelisks. The 2d obelisk now stands in the Place de la Concorde in Paris. We learned that much of the treasures of Egypt have been carried away to museums in other countries. Actually, I am constantly reading in the guide books for all of the countries I've visited that such and such awesome treasure is now in the British Museum in London. So I'm thinking I need to visit the British Museum- see the best of each countries goodies.
I'm afraid the Michele Witch Project visited Luxor Temple as well.
As the sun sets lights are switched on making the carved reliefs easier to see.
Oh ho! Now you see why it's best viewed at night!
Dare I say again that I love my new camera?
These guards asked me to take their photo then asked for baksheesh. Seriously.
Oh yes, night time is a very nice time for photos at Luxor Temple.
My gorgeous sister again. Trying futilely to get a good shot. Time to mention yet again how much I love my new camera.
Is it gloating if I mention that I didn't use any of Michele's photos of the Temple for this post? Her camera just couldn't cope with the dim lighting.
To be fair, this is Michele's photo. (But she took it on my camera)After we finished poking around the Luxor Temple we decided to really go crazy and pay a visit to the Luxor Museum, which is open late. I have no photos of it, but it was cool. They had lots of smaller statues and everyday items found in the various sites of Luxor. There were even a couple of mummies.
We called Reggae, another CouchSurfer in Luxor after leaving the Temple to see if he wanted to get together. He was the backup CSer that I had planned on staying with if the first one fell through. He had also given me a bad phone number originally which is why we weren't able to reach him that first night. He felt bad, so he invited us to dinner at the hostel he works at.
Really cool, funky place. And Reggae was a really great host. Fun and funny and very hospitable.
He served us what ended up being our best meal in Egypt. Rice, vegetable/potato tajine, lamb tajine, salad, grilled chicken and bread. 'Course, I didn't eat the lamb or the chicken but Michele at every bite. She said it was awesome. I can attest that the veggie tajine (casserole) was awesome.
Back to the apartment we went. Our host, Alaa, came over with his daughter and we told him all about our day.We collapsed into bed after pretty much a perfect vacation day with my goofy sister. And Puddles. And that damn hat.
