Egypt, The Valley of the Kings, Luxor Temple, and Hepshetsut Temple
August 28, 2010 1:09 pm places to visitI travelled to Egypt on an all-inclusive Thomas Cook holiday. I recommend them as a travel company and if I’m not travelling independently, always choose them for package tours. Click on the image below to check their competitive prices:
Entrance to the Valley of the Kings
This is the entrance to the Valley of the Kings, Egypt. It is the first glimpse of what is to come and its modest appearance hides how amazing this place actually is.
Entrance to a tomb in the Valley of the Kings
Entrance to the tombs are down steep steps and then after showing your ticket, you go through a doorway into a passage. The walls and ceiling of the passage are decorated with paintings, with rooms leading off to the sides. At the end of the passageway is the Pharaoh's burial chamber.
Entrance to Rameses 1 tomb
Tombs are marked with simple signs.
Please no photo
Photography is strictly forbidden within the tombs.
Valley of the Kings
Entrance to many of the tombs is prohibited.
Valley of the Kings
You are restricted to visiting just a few of the temples in The Valley of the Kings. Many are closed to the public.
Inside the Valley of the Kings
The valley is a dry, dusty place and the sunlight reflects off the rock making it hard to see without sunglasses. Entrances to the tombs line the pathway, but not all are open to the public.
Valley of the Kings
Entrances to the tombs are very modest and would originally have been hidden.
Hepshetsut Temple
Hepshetsut Temple is situated in a vast flat landscape and dominates with its grand facade.
Hepshetsut carvings
The relief carvings once completed were painted.
Hepshetsut's Temple
Every bird or animal you can think of appears somewhere in a carving. Even birds wearing hats.
Hepshetsut stone carving
...shame about the face
Hepshetsut hieroglyphics
Nice legs...
Hepshetsut hieroglyphics
There are many animals, insects as well as people depicted in Egyptian carvings.
Hepshetsut Temple
All hieroglyphic carvings would originally have been painted and sometimes you can still see the colours.
Hepshetsut Temple
The temple has been badly damaged over the years, but has undergone restoration. You can still see paintings on the walls.
Hepshetsut Temple
Queen Hepshetsut's Temple is directly aligned with her tomb on the other side of the mountain.
Collosus of Memnon
You can see how huge these monuments are by how small the people next to them are.
Luxor Temple
You can see Luxor Temple from the Nile.
Water buffalo on the Nile
You can see water buffalo grazing along the sides of the Nile.
Many think of the pyramids when they think of Egypt, but I think the Valley of the Kings and Luxor are a must-see for any tourist visiting Egypt. From Luxor, we visited the Valley of the Kings, Karnak Temple, Collosus of Memnon, Luxor Temple and even managed to float down the Nile in a brightly coloured boat.
Luxor in Egypt is a place I only thought of as existing in the Bible. And when I visited it, it looked like it still belonged in the Bible. Cars and trucks mingle on crowded roads with donkeys and camels. Farmers and agriculture are situated right next to the city. Ancient sits next to brand new.
The Valley of the Kings is an amazing place, full of entrances to tombs that tunnel down into the rock of the mountains. It is a very hot, bright place and conditions for those who created the tombs of the Pharaohs and for those who discovered them in the Valley of the Kings must have been far from comfortable. Even the tombs themselves are hot. There is no respite from the heat.
Photography is not allowed in the tombs of the Valley of the Kings. But you can take photos of the entrances and the mountains that the tombs are carved into. All the tombs differ in design. No two are the same. The magnificence, depth and splendour of the tomb depends on how long the pharaoh lived. The tombs were begun as soon as the Pharaoh began his reign. The longer he lived, the deeper and more elaborately decorated his tomb.
