Stupendous Luxor

Shazzam and Eagle on a boatride across the Nile.
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We had basically four days in Luxor, which I was afraid was going to get boring but I was wrong!  Also, I was afraid that it would seem too touristy, but also I was wrong.  I fell in love with ancient Egypt, and couldn't keep out of the tombs.  Every day more and more tombs and temples.  We got lucky with a very nice guide, who found us outside the hotel on the first day, and stuck like glue and eventually just made all our arrangements for us.  At last, we were even invited into his home for tea, and to meet his family of adorable children.  That really helped, also it helped to have Shazzam as a translator.

The Ramesseum, with the colossal head of Ramses II which inspired the poem "Ozymandias"
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First my favorite, the tombs.  There are basically four classes or areas of tombs:  the Kings, the Queens, the Nobles, and the Workers.  First we saw the Kings, and couldn't get into all the ones that we wanted, but our favorites were:  Ramses II, II, and VI, Tuthmosis III, Tawosret/Sethnakht, Siptah, and Seti I.  All of them were fantastic.  I couldn't believe that I was face to face with the tombs of the pharoahs, and the paintings were absolutely stupendous.  There's no guides inside the tombs, so I would study up on Egyptian culture of the dead before you went, and read a good guidebook excerpt right before you go into each tomb.  Lucky for us, Eagle had been studying Ancient Egypt for us, so she could identify Anubis, Osiris, Hathor, etc.....

fascinating and relaxing

Princess Jasmine inside one of the tombs of the Nobles.
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The best Queens tomb, Nefertari, was closed, so we went instead to the tombs of the Nobles.  These were really worth the visit.  The Pharoahs' tombs were entirely devoted to the Egyptian Book of the Dead depictions, and other ritual art.   The Nobles' tombs were more relaxed, the paintings depicted great scenes of everyday life in ancient Egypt, and were really interesting.  Hardly any other tourists here.  Each tomb had its own guard, who would open the gate, and since there wasn't any electricity, he and an assistant (or two) would use a system of mirrors to reflect light on interesting portions of the tomb.  They spoke in Arabic, and Shazzam translated, lucky for us or it would have been less meaningful.  The unusual thing here is that a town had been built on top of the tombs prior to their discovery, and although the government had been trying to get the people to move away, they hadn't.  So there were some tombs, unnamed and unmarked, where people were keeping their sheep.  Apparently the government was undertaking a forced relocation the week after we left.  Anyway, our favorite tombs here were:  Menna & Nakht; Ramose, Userhet & Khaemhet; and Sennofer & Rekhmire.

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Finally, there are the Workers' tombs.  These are actually tombs of the artisans who worked on the Royal tombs, and in their spare time worked on their own tombs.  A few of them were open, and they were the best of all!  Because they were really free to use their creativity.  So we saw Inherka, Sennedjem, and Peshedu.  These are really worth it, although off the usual tourist's path.

Its best to see one tomb area per day, or you get pretty "tombed out."  Princess Jasmine was bored by the tombs and acting up -- lost her retainers.  Shazzam and the guide went back, apparently got everyone searching to no avail.  The next day, we went into a Temple in a completely different location, and the policeman there said -- good news!  they found the retainers!!  Apparently the entire city had heard how well Azzam tipped, and armies were out searching for the lost treasure of the tombs.....

Shazzam and Eagle inside a tomb.
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Then there were the temples.  We saw three, and all three were absolutely worth it.  Again, I would recommend one tomb area and one temple per day, or you get too satiated.  The Temple Ramesseum, Temple of Hatshepsut, and Madinat Habu were all well worth the visit.

Then to have fun we experimented with various forms of transportation.  In Luxor, you stay on one side of the Nile, while the attractions are all on the other side.  To cross, you take a gaily-decorated motorboat for a nice short trip.  Another afternoon, we took a sailboat, called a Felucca, down the Nile to a destination known as "Banana Island."  The island is covered with banana groves, and for a small baksheesh, you can walk around and go to the Banana Bar.  They were small and incredibly sweet, I think I ate about six.  Then it was sunset on the Felucca, so peaceful.  Then we took a camel ride through one of the West Bank villages, it was Friday so everyone was out and about, waving and friendly.  I like the West Bank area, everything is colorful and the people are very nice.  They do a good business off the tourist trade.  Finally, for the piece de resistance, we got up early one morning and took a balloon ride over the ruins and villages and the Nile, watching the villages wake up.  We could hear the donkeys braying, and below they were cutting the sugar cane and we could hear the swish swish of the machetes, and smell the fires.  It was absolutely wonderful, and very safe.