TRAVEL: Nile Cruise, Egypt (Part 1) - Luxor, Valley of the Kings & Temple of Hatshepsut

Our journey in Egypt began late at night as we touched down in Luxor, which I'd previously only known as the famous pyramid shaped hotel in Las Vegas. As it turns out, it is in fact one of Egypts most renowned and historical cities, and the starting location for our Nile cruise. 

We drove along the dark roads occasionally criss-crossed with railway tracks which are used to transport sugar cane, the city's main harvest, during harvest season. Even late at night, it was very much still bustling as we made our way to the Port. Our destination was the Steigenberger Legacy ship, which is essentially a hotel on water, sleeping about 150 guests across four floors. 

Tired from our day of travelling, we checked in upon arrival and headed to our relatively small cabin which indeed, looked like your average hotel room, for some rest before our 6:30am start the following morning. Awakening at the crack of dawn, we headed downstairs for breakfast, where we were sat with the ten or so other members of our English-speaking Discover Egypt group. 

At 7:30, our small group piled onto a coach to head to the West Bank of Luxor, and along the way our guide Essam told us about the history of the city, and how the East side was always seen as the side of 'life' as it is where the sun rises, in comparison to the West where the sun sets, and is therefore the side of 'death' and home to many historical tombs. 

After about an hour of driving, we arrived at the Valley of the Kings, home to 64 impressive tombs, many of which used to house Egyptian royalty including Tutankhamun prior to their excavation by Lord Carnarvon, whose family own Highclere House (aka Downton Abbey) back in the UK. Our ticket, which cost about $8, would allow us access to three of the open tombs. 

The three which we went into, that of Ramses III, Merenptah and Ramses IV, were relatively similar in terms of style, being a long corridor lined with hieroglyphs and other impressive drawings, leading to a chamber where the sarcophagus would have been stored. However, the brightness of the colours varied, as did the length of the corridors, with the middle tomb being over 160m long - we were told that the size of the tomb generally correlated with how long the Royal reigned, as a longer length of reign meant more time to build the tomb. 

 

Back on the bus, we made a quick pitstop to an alabaster factory, for which the region is famous, where we got to see how stone sculptures and vases are made, with the opportunity to buy some of our own afterwards, of course. As we were shown how the rock was sculpted, I couldn't help but wince as one of the workers used his foot to secure a piece of rock before sawing into it (the rock, thank goodness not the foot) with a scary looking saw. I remember being told off for not holding the stair handrail at work once - clearly the same health and safety measures do not apply here! 

There was a vast selection of goods inside, and we were trailed round by something of a sales rep who claimed there was no pressure to buy anything but did not leave our side as we browsed! Eventually we settled on some cats and scarab beetles in alabaster and basalt, and managed to negotiate to a decent price after some haggling - as everything is unique and different shapes and sizes, there's no defined price list, so that's something you and your sales rep have to agree on yourselves! 

Next we headed to the Temple of Hatshepsut, famous for being the first female King in Egypt. Subsequently, she had built an impressive three storey temple with pillars galore, and even more hieroglyphs for us to admire. It seems that Egypt is a land of legacies, and I was impressed to see how someone who had lived thousands of years ago had still left their mark on the modern world. 

On the way back, we stopped briefly at the statues of Aegamemnon, known for his role in the battle of Troy. The two tall statues were of the same likeness but built differently, one carved out of the rock and the other built with stone slabs - after all, great individuals love to be remembered in many different ways! Being a tourist hotspot, this place was swamped with street sellers who I found overly persistent, some literally shoving items into your hands to make you buy. Alas, I suppose this comes with the territory, but I was pleased to have done our buying at the factory as some of this was very 

clearly Made in China! 

Back on the boat, we had a simple buffet lunch before being given the afternoon to ourselves as the boat pulled away from the port. I chose to ensconce myself on a sun lounger on the top deck (in the shade of course, and not the baking hot sun) and watch the world go by as we moved from city to villages. As the sun went down, I passed the time waving to children on the banks of the river and watching sugar cane pasture after sugar cane pasture float by. 

From the other side of the ship came some commotion - it appeared that two men in a small boat had attached themselves to our ship via rope and were being pulled along as they attempted to sell embroidered goods to guests on the top deck. It seemed someone was keen as a bag was tossed up four floors from the boat, money put in and tossed back, before a large scarf was thrown up to its new owner. A unique way of shopping indeed. I can now confirm that the two men are still attached to the boat even after an hour of being pulled along, and still yelling outside my window for customers - they must be pretty far from home by now! And with that, our journey down the Nile had begun - more coming to the blog soon! 

I hope you enjoyed today's travel blog! I'll be back with more very soon so make sure to stay tuned on my Twitter @CiarasCountry, and drop me a message in the comments below with any comments or questions you may have about my adventures - thanks for reading!