Category Archives: Middle East

Luxor – The West Bank Funerary Temples and Necropolis

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Across the Nile is the world famous Valley of the Kings housing Tomb of Tutankhamun, however, the more impressive and little known are the associated Funerary Temples and Tombs of the Nobles.

View of West Bank from the NileColossi of MemnonSheikh Abd el-Qurna village

I initially thought we could walk the site the whole day; after all it was only two kilometres from the hotel. We started our journey towards the ferry crossing, and were followed by a taxi driver who tried to convince us to hire his taxi, we politely declined. We caught the 1 EGP ferry and continued up the road.  The same taxi driver drove up alongside us and offered to take us to the ticket office for 2 EGP, and eventually we accepted. After some discussion, he had made business, we arranged 80 EGP for 8 hours of taxi hire, quite a bargain, I thought.

The following were the tickets we purchased that day (and this didn’t even include the Valley of the Kings!)

  1. Temple of Deir El-Madina (30 EGP)
  2. Medinet Habu Temple (30 EGP)
  3. Ramesseum Temple (30 EGP)
  4. Deir el-Bahari Temple (inc. Hatshepsut’s Temple) (30 EGP)
  5. Temple of Seti I (30 EGP)
  6. Tombs of the Nobles
    1. Tomb of Userhat and Tomb of Khaemhet (25 EGP)
    2. Tomb of Rekhmire and Tomb of Sennofer (25 EGP)
    3. Tomb of Menna and Tomb of Nakht (25 EGP)

Temple of Deir El-Median

Deir El-Median was a village home to Egyptian artisans that worked on the tombs in the Valley of the Kings.  One of the main features in the temple dedicated goddess Hathor. When drawn from the front Hathor has a very distinguishable wide face with pointy ears.

Deir el-Medina - Looking over ancient village of Deir el-MedinaDeir el-Medina - Image of Hathor, located in the Temple of HathorDeir el-Medina - Deir el-Medina workers village

Medinet Habu Temple (Mortuary Temple of Ramesses III)

We entered through the Migdol Gate which brought us to the magnificent first pylon with decorated walls of Ramesses III defeating the Nubians and Syrians. Inside the first court are statues of Ramesses III as Osiris. Throughout the complex the walls were covered in amazing carvings and hieroglyphs, many with vibrant colours.

Medinet Habu Temple - First PylonMedinet Habu Temple - Travis standing at the Main GateMedinet Habu Temple - Entrance to the First Court front the First Pylon
Medinet Habu Temple - Second Pylon with inner Terrace visibleMedinet Habu Temple - Ramesses IVMedinet Habu Temple - Close-up of hieroglyphs, notice distinguishable Hathor
Medinet Habu Temple - Travis at the feet of the colossal Osiris statuesMedinet Habu Temple - Second Court inner TerraceMedinet Habu Temple - Travis under the inner Terrace
Medinet Habu Temple - Coloured hieroglyphsMedinet Habu Temple - Sonya with some deep-cut hieroglyphsMedinet Habu Temple - Brightly decorated walls of the inner Terrace
Medinet Habu Temple - Brightly decorated columnsMedinet Habu Temple - Coloured hieroglyphsMedinet Habu Temple - Sonya under the inner Terrace

Ramesseum Temple

The Ramesseum is the memorial temple of famous Ramesses II. We entered the first court from the north; in front of the second pylon were the remains from a giant statue of Ramesses II. In the second court were eight statues of Ramesses II. Moving from the second court was the Great Hypostyle Hall, where once stood forty-eight columns with capitals of closed and open papyrus flowers.

Ramesseum Temple - The Ramesseum TempleRamesseum Temple - Looking towards the Portice and Great Hypostyle HallRamesseum Temple - Sonya standing on the ramp to the Great Hypostyle Hall
Ramesseum Temple - Travis taking a rest in the Second CourtRamesseum Temple - Amun giving Ramesses II ankh (key of life)Ramesseum Temple - Great Hypostyle Hall
Ramesseum Temple - Decorated open papyrus bud columnsRamesseum Temple - Sonya with some deep-cut hieroglyphsRamesseum Temple - View of Ramesseum Temple from Tombs of the Nobles

Deir el-Bahari Temple and Hatshepsut’s Temple

One of the most amazing monuments is the mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut, hidden beneath and in the relief of cliffs known as Deir el-Bahari. Approaching from the ticketing-booth were small caves carved out of the valley’s cliff face, similar to what we had seen in Petra. Turning the valley corner you see an enormous cliff face with the Hatshepsut Temple sitting at the bottom, in the centre a cause-way leading all the way to the lower terrace of the temple. The ramp to the middle terrace was flanked by two statues of sitting god Horus. On the left side was Chapel of Hathor, bearing columns featuring the head of Hathor.

Hatshepsuts Temple - Road to Temple of HatshepsutHatshepsuts Temple - Temple of HatshepsutHatshepsuts Temple - Egyptian man
Hatshepsuts Temple - Osirian statue of HatshepsutHatshepsuts Temple - Osirian statues of HatshepsutHatshepsuts Temple - Sonya in front an Osirian statue of Hatshepsut
Hatshepsuts Temple - Travis and Sonya at Temple of HatshepsutHatshepsuts Temple - Column of Hathor at Hathor ChapelHatshepsuts Temple - Hathor Chapel Festival scene

Temple of Seti I

As one would have guessed the temple of Seti I is the memorial temple of Pharaoh Seti I. Though the temple wasn’t very impressive, it now had lush palm trees interspersed throughout which was nice.

Temple of Seti I - Sonya at Temple of Seti ITemple of Seti I - Wall carving of Thoth Temple of Seti I - Seti performing rituals to Amun

Tombs of the Nobles

The Tombs of the Nobles are the burial tombs of priests and officials. While we were there we were the only tourists, however just as we left a tour bus of Egyptians arrived.

Tombs of the Nobles - Looking over the Theban NecropolisTombs of the Nobles - Sign pointing to tombs of Rekhmire and SenneferTombs of the Nobles - Entrance to Tomb of Sennefer

Tomb of Userhat (TT56) and Tomb of Khaemhet (TT57)

Both tombs had beautiful paintings of daily Egyptian life, hunting, fishing and agriculture. In the Tomb of Userhat is a famous painting of man getting his haircut.

Tomb of Rekhmire (TT100) and Tomb of Sennofer (TT96)

The Tomb of Rekhmire had beautiful animal paintings of a giraffe, monkey, baboon and cheetah from Nubia. The Tomb of Sennofer or known as the Tomb of Vines, due to the walls and ceilings or the Lower ‘Burial’ Chamber covered with paintings of grape bunches on vines.  The Tomb of Sennofer had amazing artwork throughout.

Tomb of Menna (TT69) and Tomb of Nakht (TT52)

The Tomb of Menna had beautiful paintings of rural life and agriculture. The Tomb of Nakht had the famous painting of three female musicians representing the ‘Beautiful Festival of the Valley’.

Valley of the Kings

After having seen the most amazingly decorated tombs in the Tombs of the Nobles, we were questioned whether we should visit any of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings. Also, all the recommended tombs by the Lonely Planet were closed on our visit. Normal entry is 80 EGP for three ‘plain’ tombs.

Valley of the Kings - Walking towards the Valley of the KingsValley of the Kings - Entrance to Valley of the KingsValley of the Kings - Walking back from the Valley of the Kings

Tomb of Tutankhamun (KV62)

Even though Tutankhamun is a ridiculous 100 EGP, and is one of the least grandeur, we decided to see it due to being such an iconic tomb. The tomb also included the inner wooden sarcophagus and mummy of Tutankhamun.

Tomb of Ramesses V and Ramesses VI (KV9)

The other tomb we saw was the unique jointly shared Tomb of Ramesses V and Ramesses VI (entry 50 EGP), it gave us an idea of the grandness of a tomb of a pharaoh, over one hundred metres in length with a very wide and long entrance way. The walls and ceilings picture the story of the origin of the earth and include astronomical drawings.

We finished the day off resting on the side of the valley talking to the young local Egyptian sellers, who wanted to find out everything about our lives.  One of them even asked Sonya for advice about how to woe his online Brazilian girlfriend.

Related posts:

  1. Luxor – the world’s greatest open air museum
  2. Abu Simbel – reign of Ramesses the Great
  3. Karnak Temple – the largest ancient religious site in the world
  4. The Temples of Baalbek
  5. Egypt – Egyptian museum and Islamic Cairo

Luxor – the world’s greatest open air museum

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From Aswan we caught a train to Luxor arriving late in the afternoon. After the Pyramids of Giza, Luxor is the most visited tourist destination in Egypt. Luxor sits on the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of Thebes, with the majority of the city on the East Bank of the Nile and the Tombs and Temples on the West Bank Necropolis. We gave ourselves two days only to visit all of Luxor’s sites, it would be rushed.

On arrival we checked into our hotel and then made our way to Luxor Temple, situated in the heart of Luxor. On arrival it was already sunset but the temple was lit up which provided a different view, and one that wasn’t part of a sound and light show. Entering the temple we were presented with the first pylon on the left and Avenue of Sphinxes on the right. The Avenue of Sphinxes now consisting of fifty or so sphinxes, originally connected the Temple of Luxor with the Temple of Karnak, a little over two kilometres away. The government is attempting to restore the avenue, but it unfortunately means destroying existing local housing.

Walking along the Avenue of the Sphinxes towards Luxor Temple gave a magnificent view of the first pylon. A pylon is a monumental gateway, placed at the entrances to rooms of temples. The pylons would be covered in Egypt stories chiselled in to the stone. The Luxor Temple first pylon was named Pylon of Ramesses II and led to the Great Court baring the same name.  Outside the first pylon was also a large red granite obelisk, obelisks where commonly found in pairs at the entrance to temples. The missing partner was gifted to France and is standing at the centre of the Place de la Concorde in Paris.

The Great Court of Ramesses II consists of columns with capitals of closed papyri buds (representing Lower Egypt) interspaced with statues. From the Great Court is the Colonnade consisting of two magnificent rows of columns with capitals of lotus flowers (representing Upper Egypt). Before entering the temple sanctuaries was the Sun Court of Amenhotep III.

Head of Ramesses IIAvenue of SphinxesFirst Pylon, obelisk and sitting statues of Ramesses II
Travis and Sonya outside First PylonFirst Pylon, obelisk and sitting statues of Ramesses IIOne of the two obelisks
Sitting Ramesses II statues at the entrance to the Great Court of Ramesses IITravis in the Great Court of Ramesses IIStatues of Ramesses II in the Great Court
Travis and Sonya in the Great CourtSitting Ramesses II statueStatue of Ramesses II and his queen Nefertiti
Papyrus bud columnsBound OxSonya at the Colonnade

On the way back to the hotel we stopped to have dinner at a corner restaurant. We tried karkadé (Hibiscus tea) which is very popular in Egypt.

Related posts:

  1. Karnak Temple – the largest ancient religious site in the world
  2. Luxor – The West Bank Funerary Temples and Necropolis
  3. Abu Simbel – reign of Ramesses the Great
  4. Aswan – Temple of Philae, Unfinished Obelisk, High Dam
  5. Egypt – Egyptian museum and Islamic Cairo

Abu Simbel – reign of Ramesses the Great

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We awoke at 2:45am the following morning to start the journey south to Abu Simbel. The hostel had packed us breakfast (bread, boiled egg and juice) and we hopped onto the bus at 3am to pick up other travellers along the way.  As Abu Simbel is about forty kilometres north of Sudan, there are some rules around travel there – buses need to travel in a police escorted convoy and there are regulated times for these convoys departing Aswan. The three hour bus ride was quite uninteresting – mostly desert outside and so I slept most of the way. One highlight was seeing the sunrise across the bare, flat horizon, it was very beautiful.

Nothing can really describe the feeling of awe as you look above at the huge statues of Ramesses II carved out of the side of a mountain over two thousand years ago.  The depictions inside the temple were also quite amazing, of war, family life… and the wonderful statues of Ramesses with the three gods – Ra, Amun and the Ptah god of the underworld which is the only statue which the sunrays do not fall upon inside the temple.

There is also another temple next to Ramesses temple, the temple of Hathor and Nefertari – built for his wife Nefertari. Inside were pictures dedicated to the beautiful Queen.

We headed back to the bus back to Aswan. At Aswan, we stopped at a local restaurant and tried koshary – something we had seen Egyptians eat in Cairo.  Koshary seemed to be a mix of beans, rice, pasta… it was interesting, but by then I had already grown quite fond of falafel and much preferred eating that.

We decided to leave Aswan for Luxor that afternoon so headed to the train station.  We purchased tickets on the train and settled down for the ride to our next destination, Luxor.

Four colossal statues of Ramesses II outside the Great TempleSonya and Travis outside the Great TempleClose up of one of the Ramesses II statues
Sonya next to the ear of the Ramesses II collapsed statueHorus statue outside the Great TempleStoreroom wall carvings
Inner Sanctuary featuring Ra-Horakhty, the deified Ramesses II, Amun Ra and PtahInside the Hypostyle Hall with eight Ramesses II as Osiris statuesRamesses II as Osiris statues
Close up of one of the Ramesses II statuesSonya outside the Great TempleKing Ramesses II and Queen Nefertari outside Temple of Hathor and Nefertari
Egyptian standing at the door of Temple of Hathor and NefertariTravis outside the Temple of Hathor and NefertariView of the Great Temple cut in the hill

Related posts:

  1. Luxor – the world’s greatest open air museum
  2. Karnak Temple – the largest ancient religious site in the world
  3. Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
  4. Aswan – Temple of Philae, Unfinished Obelisk, High Dam
  5. Alexandria – founded by Alexander the Great

Aswan – Temple of Philae, Unfinished Obelisk, High Dam

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We caught the Abela Sleeping Train from Cairo to Aswan. It was $60 USD per person for the twelve hour trip there, which included dinner and breakfast. I had caught overnight trains in India but this one was very comfortable in comparison. We had a cabin to ourselves which had a small table, a sink, a seat (which converted into one bed) and a fold up bed above it. Dinner was an aeroplane-like meal (various formats of chicken, salad and bread, some pastries), drinks were extra.

The following morning I awoke to hear passengers get off for Luxor. That meant about three more hours before our stop, Aswan. We headed to the dining cart for some coffee.  As it was daylight, we could now see the beautiful scenery outside the train – a view of the Nile and its rich fertile land.

We arrived around 9:30 am in Aswan. As soon as we departed the train the atmosphere felt very different to Cairo. It was much hotter… and seemed more relaxed, laid back. We headed towards our hostel, walking through the souk. The shops were selling Nubian-style goods, Nubian being the local people of Aswan.

Sonya on the Abela sleeping train to AswanFelucca on the Nile River with Qubbet el-Hawa in the backgroundView of the Movenpick Hotel from our room at night

Our hostel was not far from the souk. We were given a lovely room with absolutely stunning views of the Nile. We booked a driver with our hostel who would take us to three places that day – Temple of Philae, the High Dam and The Unfinished Obelisk.

Temple of Philae

The Temple of Philae was our first stop, about fifteen minutes away from the city. The temple is located on an island and so requires travel by boat. The LP stated that the price of the boat trip was about 20 EGP per person, however the boat taxi men insisted on a price of 50 EGP per person! (It’s about a ten minute boat ride). Fortunately, we came across a friendly Brazilian couple who were looking to share costs, in the end we paid 100 EGP for four of us on one tiny dinghy.

The Temple of Philae was actually originally located at Philae Island but moved to Agilkia Island due to rising water levels from the Aswan High Dam.  We had watched a number of Ancient Egypt documentaries and recognised the front of the temple as we approached by boat – with its beautiful inscriptions across the front.  One of the benefits of travelling post-revolution was that there was barely anyone at most of the sites we visited. At Philae there were a handful of people. It was peaceful, serene and stunning.

Egyptians selling souvenirs on the ferry jetty to PhilaeTemple of Philae from the NileSonya at the Outer Court with the Nile River in the background
Sonya touching some hieroglyphsTravis outside the first pylonTravis in the Outer Court, not many people around
Horus and Hathor on the facade of the first pylonSonya at the entrance of the Mamissi or Birth HouseSonya outside the second pylon, the facade depicts Ptolemy XII offering incense to Horus
Sonya and Travis inside Temple of IsisSparrow in the ruins, the background Hathor columns are visibleTravis and Sonya outside the utility room
Outside Temple of HathorColumns in the Outer CourtTravis outside the first pylon

High Dam

The High Dam was a drive further south from Philae. Aside from the view of Lake Nasser, it wasn’t too eventful and could have been skipped. However, it was interesting to see how and why the dam was built and the effect it had on the surrounding areas.

Unfinished Obelisk

The Unfinished Obelisk has an interesting story.  Aswan was the primary source of granite during ancient Egypt.  Due to the many pharaohs desires of leaving their legacy, granite was important for making obelisks and other monuments and statues.  The unfinished obelisk is a forty-two meter long humungous piece of granite which was planned to be the biggest obelisk ever. But after three or four months into its making they noticed that there was a major flaw /crack in the granite hence having to abandon it. The obelisk is located in a quarry where there is evidence of other obelisks being cut out of the granite (some are now in Karnak, Luxor or Thebes as it was known then). The quarry men who worked carving out these monuments lived on the quarry, as can be seen by various pictures carved on the surrounding rocks.  It is said they came from places afar, as the pictures are of exotic birds and dolphins which are not generally found in the area.

Sonya at the unfinished obeliskTravis standing on the unfinished obeliskTravis inside one of the channels used to separate the obelisk
Sonya on some graniteAncient drawings of fish, assumed by the workersAncient drawings of birds, assumed by the workers

Aswan Souk and Felucca Cruise

In the evening we decided to take a walk through the souk and later take a felucca on the Nile. It was extremely relaxing and romantic, watching the sun set across the Nile.

Aswan marketSpicesColourful scarfs
Helmsman preparing the feluccaQubbet el-HawaThe helmsman, Sonya and Travis
The helmsmanSun setting over the Nile RiverThe captain adjusting the sail

We had dinner at a restaurant on the Nile – traditional Nubian fish tagine (which was delicious) and shish tawook (grilled chicken, always a favourite).

Related posts:

  1. Luxor – the world’s greatest open air museum
  2. Karnak Temple – the largest ancient religious site in the world
  3. Royal Arabic High Tea, Doha, Qatar
  4. How high did we go? – Journey through Tibet and the Himalayan mountain range
  5. Banteay Samre, Preah Khan and Neak Pean Temple, Ankor, Siem Reap, Cambodia