The West Bank of Luxor

Wednesday morning our group returned to Luxor, this time to the West Bank to visit the Valley of Kings. We visited the tombs of Ramses IV, Ramses VI, and Merneptah. The walls of the tombs were decorated with brilliant colors depicting activities varying from hunting to music. We only spent two hours in the Valley of the Kings before being rushed off in the bus. From there we went to… an alabaster factory where they tried to sell us their goods! I was disappointed that this was the reason we left the Valley of the Kings. Next we saw the Temple of Hatshepsut, situated below the Tombs of the Nobles. The Temple was wide and flat against the cliffs. Although the architecture was different, the hieroglyphs were similar to those we had seen the day before. Unfortunately Hatshepsut's successor and jealous nephew Tuthmosis had defaced many of the intricate carvings at the temple. As we were leaving the Temple of Hatshepsut I was disappointed to learn that the Valley of the Kings lay on the other side of the mountain from the temple and it is possible to walk from one to the other. I would have much preferred this to visiting the alabaster factory.

From the Temple of Hatshepsut our tour group was taken to a "papyrus museum" where once again the locals tried to part us from our money. I was beginning to be annoyed by this behavior. I had already paid $100 a day for the tour in our to avoid events just like this and see as many of the sites as possible. We went back to the boat from the papyrus museum without visiting the Ramsesseum, Valley of the Queens, or the Tombs of the Nobles on the West Bank of Luxor. Once back to the boat we spent Wednesday afternoon sailing to Edfu.

On to Edfu...