A story about travelling through the area around Luxor to see some amazing sights.
Day 2, saturdag 10 december 2016.
Program today: Valley of the Kings and some private tombs.
The day of, among other things, the visit to the tomb of Seti I.
Today we got up at 5 o'clock, so that we would be there exactly at 6 o'clock when the Valley of the Kings would open.
Exciting with the visits of, among others, the tombs of Seti I, Ramses VI and Thoetmosis III on the program.
Valley of the Kings.
And yes we were there first and had the whole valley for ourselves, really fantastic. Even the guards were surprised when we came thereat 6:10 am to enter the tomb of Seti I, they were all together drinking their tea and the key of the doorlock could not be found so quickly, but fortunately that was solved quickly.
After the guard letting off his usual chat about the fact that you were only allowed a maximum of 10 minutes inside and that you were not allowed to take photos, I let Olette go for a moment with the guard and it soon became apparent that they lived in the same village and had many common acquaintances and you might already guess it, that opened up perspectives, tada thanks to the early time and the chat from Olette the 10 minutes were just suddenly about 50 minutes and as a blow on the cake I could also make some recordings, something I obviously rewarded afterwards, because they must also live.
Click on the picture to see more.
For a short video impression of the tomb of Seti I, click below.
Whouw that was something you'll never forget, if you also want to view this tomb yourself, then I advise you to do this quickly, because scanners are already in the tomb. The whole tomb is scanned just like that of Nefertari and then a replica is made and then placed at the House of Howard Carter. Tourists will then only be allowed in the replica and not in the original, for your information.
The next tomb we visited is KV 9 from Ramses VI, also for this tomb you have to pay a little extra, but fear not, not as much as for those of Seti I.
The tomb of Ramses VI Click on the picture to see more.
For a short video impression, click below.
Well, it does not stop, again seen such a great tomb, quickly through to the tomb of Thutmosis III, I am curious about the Amduat which is depicted there entirety.
The tomb of Thoetmosis III Click on the picture to see more.
For the pictures of the Amduat click below.
For a video impression, click below.
Fascinating is the word what the tomb of Thutmosis III in my view best describes, great and actually superlatives are too short on this day.
Back outside the tomb, meanwhile it is about 9 o'clock and we see that other tourists have now also woken up, because it is starting to become busier.
Arriving at the next tomb, KV 14 that of Tawosret and Sethnacht, we waited outside because at that moment just a group of Chinese people were going in, who apparently were not really impressed because after five minutes they were already outside again where their guide was waiting for them, I am glad I had a better guide.
Because there was no one in the tomb at that moment and our presence apparently had went aroundunder the guards, we were welcomed with open arms and we were able to make recordings again, which we of course enthusiastically accepted.
The tomb of Tawosret and Sethnacht Click on the picture to see more.
For a video impression, click below.
Beautiful, now on to the last tomb we want to visit. The tomb of Ramesses IV, this one is close to the entrance or exit and presumably it will be more crowded and to make recordings will be more difficult.
Unfortunately that turned out to be the case and I have only been able to film here briefly and the photos I received from Olette, thanks.
The tomb of Ramses IV Click on the picture to see more.
For a video impression, click below.
Well I can say that it was a memorable visit to the Valley of the Kings. But we are not there yet because in the western part WV 23 is the tomb of Ay and we are going to visit it.
For this we leave the more or less tourist part and after buying a ticket we drive to the tomb, on the way we pick up the guard, because he is not waiting at the tomb as it is not too often visited by tourists.
After the visit to the tomb, which is also very worthwhile, we also make a walk through the Wadi located near this tomb, which I can also recommend.
The tomb of Ay Click on the picture to see more.
Pictures of the Wadi next to the tomb of Ay
also called the "Valley of the Apes".
Great that I have been able to experience all this, now it is time for lunch and Olette has decided that she will do that at home because her pets also had to be taken care of.
Must be honest, she has made a nice Egyptian "mudbrick" house with European gadgets in it.
What was also nice is that I had to visit the neighbors immediately, because they were curious as a visit there is not an everyday activity. The neighbors turned out to be very nice and common people, who make you feel welcome and I was invited to lunch the next day, hospitality at its best, super.
After this pleasant intermezzo it was time to go and see some more, this time there were again a number of private tombs on the program, this time at Medinet Moerai.
TT 40 the tomb of Amenhotep.
TT 277 the tomb of Amenemonet
TT 278 the tomb of Amenemhab
And then three more tombs at Dra-abu-el-naga.
TT 13 the tomb of Shuroy.
TT 255 the tomb of Roy
TT 148 the tomb of Amenemopet
This they do not take away from me either, what an artists at that time, great.
Since it was still relatively early, we decided to have a drink first at the Ramsesseum Caféshop, run by Mohamed Abdul Rasul, a descendant of the one who discovered DB 320 and whose grandfather was the assistant of Howard Carter during his discovery of the grave from Tutankhamen, just google them.
Then I order a round of beer out of habit (at least that is how I am used to it at home) and then this round is taken over by someone you have never seen before and who also invited us for dinner the next day. It turned out that he was the local gold merchant and who thought it was wonderful to get something offered because he wasn't used to that............
Enjoyable drink with Mohamed and Olette.
Before it gets out of hand, it's time to go to the Marsam hotel and put the photos on the computer, tomorrow it will be a long but pleasant day because Abydos is then on the program.
