Luxor

On our first visit to Luxor we stayed in the Sheraton, which was fine, and had a nice outdoor barbecue and we had a room with a Nile view - essential!

On our second visit we stayed at The Old Winter Palace, which is a wonderful much more atmospheric: high-ceilinged rooms, sweeping staircases and an enormous restaurant. We loved our room, with a view of the Nile and across to the Necropolis of Thebes - a fine place to watch the sun setting over the desert.

Breakfasts in the hotel were great - can particularly recommend the waffles. But having tried the "French" restaurant we couldn't really recommend it - overpriced and poor wine choice.

When we go back we shall certainly stay here again.

We got into the habit of getting up very early, spending the morning visiting sites, then returning for lunch and relaxation in the afternoon in the shade by the pool - a most pleasant way to spend time.

From Luxor you can visit the Valleys of the Kings and Queens, Luxor and Karnak Temples as well as sites further afield such as Dendera.

Luxor itself has a nice bazaar where you can bargain for sandals, gallebayahs, spices, etc.

The Old Winter Palace, Luxor

Karnak

On one of our visits to Karnak Temple we walked, but this was from the Old Winter Palace and I would not recommend it in the heat of the day or from the other side of town.

This is an enormous temple complex and a favourite of mine particularly for the fabulous columns in the Hypostyle Hall and the relics of Hatshepsut's reign.

Dedicated to the Theban triad of Amun, Mut and Khons it covers 200 acres and its many temples were constructed over a long period of time, stretching from the Middle Kingdom (2000BC) to the time of Ptolemy Auletes (80-51BC). The largest and most important is the Temple of Amun-Ra - the largest in the world.

On the western approach to the temple - from what was once a quay on the Nile - a row of ram-headed sphinxes lead to the first pylon. ALthough the sphinxes date from Ramses II, the pylon was constructed in the XXV(Ethiopian) Dynasty. It is 113m wide, 43m high and 13m thick - a massive structure and nearly twice the size of the entrance pylon at the Temple of Luxor. The avenue of ram -headed sphinxes once continued through the area which is now the Great Court, entered through the first pylon. Some of the sphinxes can still be seen within the court but moved to the periphery.

South from the Great Court is the small temple of Ramses III. The east side of the court is formed by the second pylon on the south end of which is a famous biblical scene of the defeat of Rehoboam, son of Solomon, by the Egyptian pharaoh Sheshank I.

Passing though the second pylon the visitor enters the magnificent Hypostyle Hall - the largest chamber of any temple in the world: 54000 square feet containing 134 immense columns.The 12 along the central aisle are 23m high with a circumference of 15m. The hal is truly spectacular, it is almost impossible to take in the scale of the building - one of the finest sites in Egypt.

To the south east of the hall is the Court of the Cachette where several thousand statues were excavated in the early 20th century. Between the third pylon of Amenophis III and the fourth pylon of Tuthmosis I there were once two pairs of obelisks erected by Tuthmosis I and Tuthmosis II - only one of the pair of Tuthmosis I remains standing.

Beyond the fourth pylon are the obelisks of Queen Hatshepsut. Only one remains standing (above), the other fallen and in pieces, but both would originally have been capped with electrum - an alloy of gold and silver - so that they would have been visible from afar, reflecting the sun. The upright obelisk is 30m high and is the largest in Egypt. On its base an inscription tells of the origin of the obelisks in the quarries of Aswan and how they were prepared and transported to Luxor in the sixteenth year of the queen's reign.

Further east through the fifth and sixth pylons and the jumbled remains of the Middle Kingdom Temple lies the Festival Temple of Tuthmosis III. South of these structures lies the sacred lake.

There is an awful lot to see here. If you are really interested in the history then a good guide book is essential, but there is much to be said for simply wandering the ruins, as early or late in the day as possible, and simply taking in the atmosphere and colossal achievements of the builders.

After out first visit we knew we'd be spending some time here so second time around we made sure we arrived at opening time. We spent three hours exploring this lovely temple and as usual taking lots of photographs. It was very hot by the time we left so we took a horse-drawn carriage back to the Old Winter Palace - highly recommended. The horse looked really tough but either cunning or lazy as it regularly slowed down unless "stimulated" to move faster by the driver.

The Temple of Luxor

The Temple of Luxor

Lying alongside the Nile, and connected to the Temple of Karnak by an avenue of sphinxes, the Temple of Luxor was constructed in the XVIII and XIV Dynasties by Amenophis III (1417 - 1379BC) Ramses II (1304 - 1237BC) added the northern colonnaded court and the massive pylon which faces north to Karnak. Fine statues of Ramses II once flanked the entrance through the pylon, with two obelisks at the entryway - only three rather damaged statues and one obelisk now remain, the other being in the Place de la Concorde in Paris. The pylon walls are carved with scenes from the Battle of Kadesh which Ramses fought against the Hittite king in the fifth year of his reign. Further battle scenes are depicted on the western temple wall behind the great pylon.

The Temple of Luxor

The great colonnaded court of Ramses II is reached by passing through the pylon. A chapel in the north west corner dedicated to Amun Re, Mut and Khons was built by Tuthmosis III (1504 - 1450BC) and his step-mother Hatshepsut 200 years before Ramses incorporated it in his court.

South of the court is the grand colonnaded corridor of Amenophis III leading to the court of Amenophis III. The junction of the colonnade and court would be where the avenue of sphinxes from Karnak once ended as this was the original entrance to the temple.

Luxor's pylon entrance with the two seated statues of Ramses II is particularly appealing as is the lovely statue of Neferatari alongside the colossal statue of her husband in the Court of Ramses II.

The Temple of Luxor

The Museum at Luxor

Not great fans of museums, especially when there is so much to see elsewhere, we nevertheless followed a recommendation to visit the museum at Luxor and found it excellent. It is well organised and well lit with some wonderful artefacts. Highlights were a beautiful statue of Tuthmosis III, several Hatshepsut-related items - a wall painting depicting her as consort to Tuthmosis II and items from Deir el Bahri - and the 24 statues found in 1989 at Luxor temple, especially the red granite Amenhotep III.

Deir el Bahri - the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut

The Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut

The most beautiful of all the temples and quite unlike any other.

Hatshepsut was a remarkable woman; the daughter of Tuthmosis I she married her father's son and heir Tuthmosis II. They had no children so that when he died the son of one of his secondary wives became pharaoh: Tuthmosis III. As he was only a child at this time, Hatshepsut ruled in his place, eventually taking the step of declaring herself pharaoh. She was depicted as a man in many images as the pharaoh was, of course, traditionally male. She ruled for 20 years - even after Tuthmosis III reached manhood. It was only when she died that the took his place as ruler. He obliterated as much of Hatshepsut as he could find from the records, including temple images and instances of her name.

The temple is built in a series of terraces connected by ramps and sits in a beautiful location snug against the cliff face and facing the Nile. It is a magnificent sight as the rising sun reveals its beauty. Much of the temple is closed to visitors.

In the northern colonnade of the upper terrace are scenes of the divine birth of Hatshepsut - the child shown as a boy.

In the southern colonnade is a depiction of the expedition to Punt - the greatest achievement of the Queen's reign. The images include one of the local queen of marvelous girth, no doubt a sign of great wealth. Brought back from Punt were prized myrrh resin and some of the trees from which it is obtained, ebony, ivory, incense, gold, spices, baboons, and all manner of valuable and curious goods.

Through the Punt colonnade is the chapel of Hathor and the face of the beautiful cow-eared goddess appears at tops of the pillars here.

Looking down into the Temple of Hatshepsut
(see below)

On our second visit we arrived very early for a special reason: to walk across the mountain pass between Hatshepsut's temple and the Valley of the Kings. Our guide would not allow us to take this expedition on our own- in the years between our two visits there had been a terrible massacre of tourists at Deir el Bahri. In 2000 all the tourist sites were watched by armed guards.

Easily one of the most memorable journeys we have made, it began with a steep climb which came out above the temple so that, with care, we could look down into the ruins, and into the closed areas. The views of the temple all the way up are marvelous and the mountainside is dotted with recesses where the pharaoh's guards watched over the site.

The Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut from the mountainside

As we climbed higher the misty Nile and its flood plain developed into a stunning panorama. At the very top of the pass was a military guard post.

Looking south over the flood plain of the Nile

The ground is stony and can be quite difficult underfoot, and the track does diverge at certain points so it is possible to take a wrong turn.

As we began our descent into the Valley of the Kings the tombs gradually came into sight. The walk was about one hour and we arrived at around 8.30a.m. when it was already getting very hot.

Looking down into the Valley of the Kings

The Valley of the Kings

We have visited many of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings, some more memorable than others. Most visitors want to see the tomb of Tutankamun but I would say this is one of the least impressive. At least in 1989 you couldn't really see very much, nor go "inside" the tomb at all - the impression is a jumble of artefacts (and the best of these are now in the Cairo museum!). the three highlighted here were all visited in 2000 and recommended.

The tomb of Amenhotep II is reached by a long corridor and steep steps. The walls of one of the chambers bear the complete text of the Anduat - the Book of the Underworld. The blue ceiling is painted with yellow stars and the huge sarcophagus remains in position.

The Valley of the Kings

The tomb of Tuthmosis III has a cartouche-shaped sarcophagus chamber and a translucent sarcophagus with Nut carved inside.

Both these tombs had deep shafts crossed by footbridges to deter tomb robbers, and similar starred blue ceilings. Blue papyrus plants, symbol of the south, are painted on the walls.

The tomb of Sa-ptah has very fine paintings including one of the mummification process. Deep underground the unfinished sarcophagus chamber contains a huge sarcophagus bearing images of Isis and Nephtys.

The Tombs of the Nobles

South of Deir el Bahri lie the Tombs of the Nobles. The decorations of these are fascinating because they are often of everyday life in contrast to the more death and afterlife preoccupation in the tombs of the Pharaohs. The local limestone is apparently not good for carving, hence the preponderance of painted decoration.

The tomb of Ramose is particularly interesting because the decoration spans the reigns of Amenhotep III and Amenhotep IV. This is an important era of change in Egyptian society, when the worship of the sun disk - the Aten - was introduced by Amenhotep IV who changed his name to Akhenaton - "he who is pleasing to Aton".

Ramose was a very important man being Governor of Thebes and Vizier, and so he has a fine large tomb. In akhenaton's reign the painting became more realistic. However, Akhenaton and his wife Nefertiti are both shown with elongated heads which may be an idiosyncratic style of the period rather than realism. There is a fine and distinctive image of the rays of Aton.

Also in this tomb can be seen a red grid on a wall giving a clue as to how the paintings were created: the artist copying from a gridded sketch to get the proportions correct.

In the tomb of Nakht, a scribe and astronomer of Amun, colourful scenes of agricultural activities accompany scenes of hunting and feasting.

Dehr el Medina - The Workmen's Village

South of the Tombs of the Nobles lies the workmen's village of Dehr el Medina. Here lived the men who created the tombs of the pharaohs and consequently, in imitation, they decorated their own tombs with scenes of the afterlife which include domestic and agricultural scenes. Over the tomb they often raised a small pyramid.

It is refreshing, after so many tombs and temples, to see some living space. Unfortunately most of it is off limits!

Two wonderful tombs are those of Sennedjem and Inherkau.

I would recommend viewing at least Sennerdjem's which has some of the very best wall paintings. Sennedjem - "Servant in the Place of Truth" - lived during the reigns of Seti I and Ramses II.

When discovered in 1886 Sennerdjem's tomb held 30 mummies. The tomb is covered in marvelous paintings including Sennerdjem and his wife ploughing and sowing fields in the afterlife.

Inherkhau - "Foreman of the Lord of the Two Lands in the Place of Truth" - lived during the reigns of Ramses III and Ramses IV. Inherkau's tomb has some wonderful animal paintings including the famous "Cat slaying the Apophis Serpent" The cat looks remarkably like a hare!

Medinet Habu - the Mortuary Temple of Ramses III

The Syrian style gateway is unique being a an imitation of the gates encountered in foreign campaigns. Within the well-preserved temple the decorations are particularly deeply cut - a device intended to thwart succeeding pharaohs who might attempt to erase them. The scenes of the battle with the Sea Peoples which Ramses fought in 1176 BC - it is the only known ancient Egyptian depiction of a sea battle.

We were lucky to be here when there were no other visitors and this made the site even more atmospheric, though the vivid carvings and decorations in themselves make this worth seeing even if the temple is crowded.

The Tomb of Nefertari

The tomb of Nefertari, beloved wife of Ramses II, is the most beautiful of all. Visitor numbers are restricted and, quite rightly, photography is forbidden. The tomb was the subject of a major restoration project completed in 1992. The striking colours of the paintings are unlike anything else we had seen anywhere in Egypt. There are many images of this beautiful queen, including one of her playing a board game called "senet", and of the gods and goddesses and scenes from the Book of the Dead.

This was our last visit on the west bank - and we certainly finished with the best. As of January 1st, 2003 the tomb has been closed to visitors in order to assess whether too much damage is being done to the paintings.