Valley of the Queens

January 8, 2012

Friendly Falafel Guy, Luxor

I made a mistake yesterday in following my guidebooks advice and took a tour of the Valley of the Kings. The place was awesome, but tours suck. I forked out the ridiculous surcharge to climb into King Tut-ankh-amun’s TINY tomb. I knew it was going to be less impressive than some of the other tombs, such as Ramses VI, but come on, it was KING TUT! He did have one cute wall mural, his mummy, and one of his sarcophagi. To really see the splendor of Tut you HAVE to check out the Cairo Museum. It’s amazing and well worth the hype.

 beautifully carved gate at Karnak

 The guidebooks and plaques refer to this recurring architectural temple element as a hippodrome. I'm not an egyptologist, but hippodromes are for chariots, I'm not quite sure how they'd navigate pillars? Whatever, it's gorgeous!

 Renovations continue...

The following day I rented a bicycle and road around the west bank to the Valley of the Queens. As long as one has some time and it’s not hot this is by far the best (and cheapest) way to see the sites. Once I got outside the top 3 site groups, I had the Valley of the Nobles to myself! Okay, you can’t entirely escape the hassling tour guides and tomb guards, just suck it up, cave in and pay out a few cents of baksheesh (the ubiquitous cultural practice of tipping for everything including wiping your own ass) and the experience is incredible.

All photos below are of Luxor Temple lit at night.

Above, a mosque has built on top of part of the temple. 

Above, is a closeup shot of a Nubian with earrings

 and  what appears to be facial scars on his cheeks.

I had the good fortune of catching a lecture hosted by the Mummification Museum. Though open to the public, it’s geared towards Egyptologists working in the area. Professor Susanne Ostine shared her current research on the “Life of a Tomb.” Scholarship continues to diversify in archeology. Rather than concentrating on the big find or a rock star Pharaoh, this academic is looking at the tomb, holistically. Who and how was the tomb originally built? Who were the subsequent (dead) occupants (later kingdoms stopped building tombs and started squatting older tombs)? Her team also engaged in forensic studies deciphering premortem injuries and diseases from postmortem vandalism. I could tell from her delivery that she would love to make a great find, but I also emotionally appreciate that she still carries out the less glamorous and romantic, yet still worthwhile investigations.

Tomorrow topics are Cars and Sex!