Valley of the Kings

River Nile, Luxor
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A very early rise this morning for our trip to the Valley of the Kings. We crossed over to the other side of the Nile to the West Bank to meet our transport 'DONKEY'S' !! Well what a lot of fun the donkey's were, they might be small but they are very strong which they needed to be to carry us heavy weight westerners for the next two hours.  It wasn't particulary comfortable and we were riding along the road dodging the cars !  The saddle were like sacks of straw thrown over their backs which gave little comfort to one's backside ! By the time we got off we were all a little sore and stiff.  The Valley of the Kings comprise of some 60+ tombs set into the valley rockfaces and buried deep underground, more tombs are still being discovered every year.  Our ticket gave us access to three tombs with Tutankhamen being an extra LE70 entrance fee. For preservation reasons, not all the tombs are open, only a select few at a time.  We saw Ramses IV, 1 and 111 tombs. We were not allowed to take our cameras inside as flashes damage the paintwork but I can tell you the rich colours of the Pharonic paintings inside these tombs are incredible. On entering a tomb you walk down a ramp and along corridors.  The walls of the corridors are decorated from wall to ceiling with drawings which tell story's and at the end of the corridor is a room that houses the sarcophagus.  All the tombs are empty except for King Tut's which still has his mummy.  I do have to mention the toilets at the Valley, they are very clean but what caught my attention was the old man in the Ladies toilet who's sole job is to empty buckets of water down the dunny as their was no flusher !! now that's a job !.  Having looked around our chosen tombs we then proceeded over a hill to see Queen Hatshepsut's temple.  We could of taken a taxi around to her temple but walking there was much more of a challenge as you get to enjoy the views across the Valley of the Kings.  Queen Hatshepsut's temple was very different it was a Greco-Roman style temple of terraces, ramps and pillars, it looked impressive on the approach at one time there would of been an avenue of sphinx's leading up to the temple.   Just like Karnak's the temple roof was missing but there were some impressive statues of the Queen herself and some colorful pharonic artwork which you could photograph. Going back to Luxor most of us took a Taxi !  Vaughan and few others decided to take the donkey which they tell us was a much better ride since they road through villages and countryside.  Pity we didn't ride that way going to the Valley ! On our way back the Taxi driver stopped and showed us the two statues of Menmon, they were missing a few chunks of face but nonetheless works of art.