Another incredible day today. Super early start again with the alarms set for 3.30am, ready for a 4.05am pick-up from the boat because today we were going to watch the sunrise in a hot air balloon!! We had breadfast supplied by the boat (basically a bag full of bread for breakfast) and soon we were all jammed into one of little white vans that number by the dozens here! We made a few stops to pick up some additional folk from other hotels in Luxor before we were driven down to the docks where there were lots of brightly decorated shuttle boats waiting to ferry us across the river. I particularly appreciated the string of Union Jacks down the middle of the boat as well as miniature bottles of Bombay Sapphire hung as additional decorative elements. I guess it was to make sure all the Brits felt at home! They did serve us tiny little cups of coffee (which slid down nice) and some wafer biscuits so it was civilized enough for 5am! After sitting for a while waiting, we were suddenly off and launched ourselves across the river for our 3 min ride across the Nile. There we were piled into another indiscriminate white van (it was all a bit chaotic and we had to work hard not to lose our balloon guide, MoMo) that would take us to where the hot air balloons would take-off and (hopefully) land. Getting up at the arse crack of dawn and taking a sunrise balloon flight is obviously THE thing to do in Luxor as it was busy AF. Each basket takes up to 32 passengers and we had to fill out a couple of forms with our weight so they could make sure to balance the load properly. Utterly. Mortifying. (I didn’t even feel as if I could lie cos then that might be a problem if everyone lied about their weight, they’d get the balancing wrong and we’d all die in a fiery heap)
Given they do this every single morning, it felt surprisingly disorganized and chaotic – but the longer we stay here, I think that’s just Big Egypt Energy for you. We had to wait around for about 20mins or so while we received the proper clearance from the police (and from the weather people that it was safe to fly) but then again, we were off! Around 20 or so white mini vans pelting down a dirt road at high speed because by this stage we were chasing the sunrise – it rises at around 6.30am and we got to the balloon field just at 6am. We were soon shepherded to our balloon and the four of us told when to climb into the basket. I was right next to the burners, so no worries about being cold (where’s my s’mores at?). And before we knew it, we were off! All the guys whose job it was to hold the balloon down after it was inflated simply just let go and we started to rise up, up and away!
It was simply breathtaking. We didn’t move around all that much but the captain did make sure to gently spin the basket round so that everyone would get a chance to see everything. The main attraction was the Temple of Hapshepsut and lots of old tombs that you can’t actually go walk around on foot. The only way to really see them properly was via hot air balloon – so job done! We did manage to beat the sun, so were up in the air in time for sunrise – it was just magical, with the sun cresting the horizon as well as the mist rising up from the valley floor. There were about 20 or so balloons in total and it was such a sight to see, being surrounded by them all. It wasn’t quite as serene as you might imagine as there were regular blasts from the huge gas burners right next to me, as well as intermittent chatter on the pilot’s radio.
We were only up in the air for about 20mins total until we started to descend and brace ourselves for landing. There were some loops inside the basket for us to hold on to should we need it and they had also told what position to adopt if the basket landed and tipped. In the end, neither were necessary – we touched down very gently and were quickly secured by the ground crew who again held onto ropes and the basket to keep us in place. There was another group of tourists waiting to get on as soon as we’d disembarked, so the balloon wasn’t deflated. The balloon right next to us was, though, and the canopy enveloped the basket underneath which would have been kinda fun!
So that was the start to our day and it was an amazing experience. ManpanionTM was very glad he’d done it (he felt the same way about hot air balloons as he did about helicopters – and we’d popped that aviation cherry back in Hawaii last September) as were we all – it was a great deal for just $100! We all clambered back onto our white minivan and were dropped off at a local coffee shop (clean bathrooms!) where we all had coffee and yummy Nutella crepes while we waited for Peter to come pick us up and continue our day. It was only just past 7.30am, so we’d already achieved a lot – but today’s itinerary promised another highlight – our visit to the Valley of the Kings!
Lee Ann had been doing a bit of reading last night, so we had a hot tip from her guide book that the tomb of SETI I was an absolute must see! Our ticket included entrance to 3 tombs as standard – but that entrance to SETI I, Tutankhamun and Ramsess V/VI was extra – so we happily paid for it – it would be a shame to come all this way and not see all the best shizz!!
Unsurprisingly, the Valley of the Kings was a lot busier than any of the other sights we’d seen up to this point, so we had to queue for some of the more popular tombs. The valley is known to contain 63 tombs and chambers – but with the last one only having been discovered in 2006, its hard not to look at the valley walls and imagine there aren’t still treasures and tombs waiting to be discovered! Of course, the most famous discovery in the Valley of the Kings was Tutankhamun’s tomb back in 1922 by Howard Carter (funded by Lord Carnavon) – and we’d already seen all those artefacts and treasures back in Cairo. It was still cool to actually visit the tomb, though, and see the mummy of King Tut (the only artefact left inside now) – but it was not by any means the most impressive of the tombs we visited. That honor goes to a tie between SETI I and Nefertari’s tomb in the Valley of the Queen’s. You can see the pictures below – but they really don’t do it justice.
It was just staggeringly beautiful – the colors were as vibrant as the day they were painted, over 2000 years ago and so incredibly detailed. You could even see the individual brush strokes on some of them. In the tomb of Rameses I, on a few of the walls you could see the sketches that were drawn onto the walls before they was fully decorated. In this case, they ran out of time after the King died (they only had 40 days for the sacred mummification process) so they were not painted in or carved out. It was really fascinating to see – like peeking behind the scenes and “how it was made”!
The tombs were clearly the highlight of the day but we also visited the Temple of Hapshepsut. Hatshepsut (c.1473–1458 BC), the queen who became pharaoh, built a magnificent temple at Deir al-Bahari, on the west back of Luxor. It lies directly across the Nile from Karnak Temple, the main sanctuary of the god Amun. Hatshepsut’s temple, Djeser-djeseru “the Holy of Holies” was designed by the chief steward of Amun, Senenmut. The temple consists of three levels each of which has a colonnade at its far end. On the uppermost level, an open courtyard lies just beyond the portico. Mummiform statues of Hatshepsut as Osiris, the god of the dead, lean against its pillars.
This is because Djeser-djeseru is Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple, where her cult was practiced after her death, when she attained the blessed state of Osiris. Far from being devoted solely to her, the temple also includes sections for the cults of her revered father Thutmose I, the goddess Hathor, and the funerary god Anubis. An altar, open to the sky and the sun, was dedicated to the cult of the solar Ra-Horakhty. Pride of place was given to Amun. At the far end of the upper courtyard, on the temple’s central axis, a passage cut directly into the living rock culminates in his sanctuary.
The temple’s walls are covered with beautiful painted reliefs depicting temple rituals, religious festivals, and even the transportation of obelisks from the quarry to their destination in Karnak Temple. Perhaps most interesting are the reliefs in the portico on the so-called Middle Platform. The decorative programme on the left side depicts Hatshepsut’s expedition to Punt, believed to be located near modern Eritrea. The inhabitants of this land, their dwellings, and surrounding environment are vividly recorded, as are the riches and exotic animals that the Egyptians brought back with them. On the other side of the portico, Hatshepsut relates how she is the rightful king of Egypt. She does this not only by claiming that her father Thutmose I had designated her as his heir, but by stating that her true father was none other than the god Amun himself.
In between our trip to the Balley of the Kings and The Valley of the Queens, we also visited an alabaster factory where they showed us the process of carving alabaster vases. And yes – I did end up buying a couple of pieces – a lovely black alabaster vase and a smaller ivory alabaster cup that looks amazing and glows when you put a tealight inside it. I’m gonna need a bigger suitcase at this rate!
We got back to the boat just before 2pm (its fun that you need to walk through the other boats that are also docked up, so you can get a bit of a peek at how they are decorated!) and straight to the restaurant for a late lunch. When we got back to our room, we found a fun little gift from the housekeeping crew – a pair of swans made out of towels – very romantic!
The rest of the day was spent relaxing on the boat as we motored our way from Luxor to our overnight stop at Edfu. We went through a lock en route, which was interesting to see – a change in height of 7m between locks. There was also a welcome reception from the boat where the cruise director introduced us to various members of staff – a bit cheesy but charming nonetheless! After the reception, it was time for dinner – and an early night! Tomorrow we start a bit later so don’t have to get up until 6.30am – yey!
