Egypt Part II (Luxor)

If you want to see cool things, I think Luxor is the place to go. Just outside of Luxor, we visited the Kom Ombo and Edfu Temples. Edfu houses a crocodile museum but it was unfortunately closed when we were there and every question asked of the guy on duty was answered with “CLOSED.” “Will you be open later today?” “CLOSED.” “What time do you normally open?” “CLOSED.” “How much is admission to the museum?” “CLOSED.” …


Kom Ombo and Edfu were just okay, but the Valley of the Kings was awesome! We started the day with a sunrise hot air balloon ride over the valley.


I’d never been in a hot air balloon before! Having completed my first ride, I think it’s something to definitely do at least once, but the sights would have to be pretty amazing for me to do it again – Kapadokia (Turkey) perhaps. After a 4am wakeup call, we arrived at the launch site and watched them use fans and gas/fire to inflate the balloons. Then, they loaded us into the basket. I thought there would be just one big basket – well, I guess there was, but it was divided into sections and I think about 25 or so people were able to get on. When they blast the “hot air,” you can hear and feel the heat – it’s a little intimidating actually. Our pilot, however, was wearing an official pilot’s shirt instilling much confidence in us; he guided us around the valley without issue. We landed in a field (?) and a dozen guys started running around and yelling as they worked to deflate the balloon. Hilarious.

When we finished with the temple, we were finally able to go into the Valley of the Kings. Your entry ticket allows you access to three tombs – Tut’s is extra. We elected not to pay the 100 LE (~$17) because our guide said Tut wasn’t all that great, it’s just that his was the only tomb discovered with the treasures still inside. We would be viewing said treasures in Cairo anyway. Instead, we saw the tombs of Ramses IV, Ramses III, and Ramses IX. I liked Ramses IV the best because it was the only completed tomb that we saw that day. Workers only construct the tombs during the pharoah’s reign – work stops when the pharaoh dies so several of the tombs are incomplete. It’s amazing that the colors used to paint the walls are still so vivid and the designs are really quite beautiful. We weren’t allowed to take pictures in the Valley of the Kings, but if you care to Google it, this was my favorite tourist site in Egypt.

After the Valley of the Kings, we stopped by the Valley of the Workers which houses the tombs of those who worked on the pharoahs’ tombs. What’s interesting is that the detailing and artistry is much more elaborate in the workers’ tombs. One worker boasts paying more gold for the coloring than the pharaoh (whose tomb he was working on) did.

This is Hatshepsut’s Temple:


Although a woman, she insisted on her tomb being built in the Valley of the Kings. She was apparently very tough and quite possibly a lesbian.

Last stop on our Valley of the Kings trip was the Colossus of Memnon: These are huge.


In town, Karnak Temple was pretty amazing to see with its enormous pillars:



Having done a hot air balloon ride, Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Workers, Hatshepsut, Colossus of Memnon, and Karnak Temple in one day, we were exhausted and ended up skipping the Luxor Temple. I don’t feel like I missed out at all since we’d driven by it once or twice. I’m at the point where I’ve seen enough temples for a long time.

Generally, I liked Luxor though I had heard that it was the hassle capital of Egypt (and there for potentially of the world). All the sightseeing left us with no energy for the souq so I guess we were spared a lot of the hassle.

On Food: Right around Luxor, I was pretty fed up with Egyptian food. We had had pretty good food in Aswan and really enjoyed one of our meals at a local restaurant. It was like a never ending serving of courses: bread with tahini, soup, foul (bean stew pronounced fool), salad, rice, and whole grilled pigeon. But by the time we got to Luxor, I felt like I was constantly eating appetizers and forever waiting for the main course! On the felucca, we’d have pita-like bread for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with a 2-3 hummus/tahini-like dips. That’s it! For 6 meals in a row!!! It wasn’t bad food or anything, but I just felt super unsatisfied, unfulfilled, and angry after every meal. Luxor was more of the same with a bit more variety on the “appetizer” offerings. Things definitely improved in Cairo, with access to a pretty decent Chinese restaurant and Syrian schwarma!


(dinner at a local Nubian village)

Up Next: Cairo