Valley of the King

Today, we're visiting the Valley of the King. There has been 63 pharaoh's tombs uncovered and they are still looking. There are also many more tombs from noble and workers found in this area. It's bone dry so it's not surprising that things are so well preserved. The entrance fee allows the visit of 3 tombs. Of course there was a gentleman handy to help up pick the very best ones and of course arrange for a top notch guide for a modest(well actually not that modest fee) which we declined. I'm sure if you're a keen pharaophile, the tombs must be all very fascinating but to the uninitiated eye(that's us). They're pretty similar... The ones we saw we're quite large(around a hundred meter I guess) and intricately carved with all kinds of stories of their version of the afterlife and some had the sarcophagus left. Most of the contents of these tombs are in museums around the world.

I figured that we could take a shortcut across the hills to the next temple so we headed up the trail right beside the sign that said no climbing, we felt like real egyptians at that moment. That got a few people yelling not because they didn't want us to do it but because those sacrilegeous foreigners neglected to pay bakshish for a guide or some valuable information on how to follow the marked trail.

There was a nice view from the top and we climbed down to the temple of Hatshepsut, apparently the first female pharaoh. Nice temple... especially because of the location against the cliff. Then a little walk past the tombs of Nobles, another temple by one of the Ramses, yet another temple from Amenothep both with little left standing and finally the temple of Ramses III called Medinah Abu. All templed out, we managed to get a cheap minibus back to the hotel, grabbed our bags and headed to dinner at Sofra once again and it didn't disappoint. Mmm that pomegranate juice was tasty!

We're bunking in a hotel closer to the train station since we're going to Aswan at 7:30 in the morning. El cheapo is only 12USD/night with shower, wifi and breakfast. About 5 times cheaper than our previous digs yet certainly not 5 times worse. It was clean and quiet.