Luxor, chapter two.
We spoke in the previous chapter of our visit to the giants of Memmon, the temple of Medinet Habu and the Temple of Hatshepsut. After these visits, the sun shone majestically high in the bright and cloudless skies of Luxor, where any hint of finding a cloud was unthinkable. In fact, according to our guide of Faraona tours, the annual average rainfall at this location was 3 days.
Thus, we continue our journey towards the majestic Valley of the Kings, an ensemble formed by the tombs excavated in the mountains of several dynasties of pharaohs. A place nestled between rugged mountains, desert, where no shelter from the sun in sight. To access these graves, our guide informed us of a terrible news: the Egyptian government had banned a few months before the entry of all types of cameras at the site due to the proliferation of tourists and vigilant of unscrupulous that for a small fee you are allowed to enter and make as many pictures you wanted in tombs not open to the general public found under excavation or jeopardize their conservation. So we had to leave our Nikon D90 camera in the van and begin the visit (though of course, as we shall see, the phone can be helpful at times like this).
After a few minutes driving in a car articulated tourist you get early access to graves, where successive excavations have provided a total of 62 tombs, as well as others that remained unfinished and in different wells, which total more than 80 points for burial, apart from those not yet located. Among them we can see those of Ramses, Tuthmosis, Seti, Merneptah, Amenhotep and of course that of Tutankhamun. For those interested in visiting the tomb of Tutankhamun, that has nothing really special because all the objects found within it are now in the Cairo Museum. Probably the most attract our attention is the amount of treasures found in a small space. The tomb can be seen as the most famous of all and not just because the Pharaoh had a reign in the history of Egypt, but rather as one of the best preserved tombs at the time of its discovery. Here I show you the only photograph we could obtain, in a clandestine manner with the mobile phone.
After this visit, we took a small boat that moved us from side to side of the river Nile to visit our next destination, the temples of Luxor and Karnak.
The temples of Luxor and Karnak, an architectural group who have staged several times over the history of ancient Egypt. Each agent, during several dynasties, built his small church in an area on the banks of the Nile.
Today is considered the largest monument and are called "temples of Karnak."
In this complex of buildings you can find a cluster of chapels and columned halls, highlighting erect the obelisk, the tallest in the country if we do not consider the unfinished obelisk found in the quarries of Aswan rose granite. Thus, in this temple complex we find the essence of the history of Egypt, so it is important at this point to pay attention to the guide.
Anecdotally, you can also see at the lake a stone beetle, symbol and god of dawn, and you should give three times around. Get you luck, according to the Egyptians.
And when it was almost one o'clock, our forces were under minimum and we thought we already had finished the visit to someone in the group that now can not remember but I was not, he came to remember our guide to a comment that was made early in the morning on a special room that was in one corner of the Luxor temple area in which he was an effigy of an ancient Egyptian goddess black. So began a journey of about 15 minutes under the scorching sun (about 15 minutes that were eternal) and walk on a dirt road in the desert to reach this sala. In this room is in common usage the performance of ritual magic of all kinds and according to the guide the atmosphere is special to enter it. I have to say that neither group experienced any paranormal experiences at the time. I imagine that this would require preparation prior exoteric and some kind of beverage and / or smoking any special Shisa. To visit it is mandatory that the guide clearly knows the area and of course, give a generous tip to the keepers of the door leading to that chamber.
Indeed, at this stage of the trip our group was composed of seven persons, who had joined us:two girls from Argentina (Agustina and Ana, two sisters) and Juan, from Madrid. So, after "view" the last room (actually the darkness was almost total and what we saw was better thanks to the numerous photos taken with flash) finally we headed to our friendly cruise ship where we could take a few refreshing beers "Stela" (the only place possible because we met in the time of Ramadan), shower, and a generous sleeping peacefully nap after eating at the buffet the boat.That yes, the culinary theme selection is important, avoiding fresh vegetables, unpeeled fruit and choose well-cooked meat and cooked pasta. Because otherwise "the revenge of the Pharaoh" will come upon you. Although this will be discussed in future chapters.
After the "siesta" we enjoyed the pool and watched the lock gates located in the journey from Luxor to our next destination: Edfu. During the passage of these locks is typical selling all kinds of garments by Egyptian sellers who come to you in small rowing boats surrounding the ships full of tourists. A curious image. Thus, after passing these gates we headed to Edfu, can see fascinating images of the people and wildlife along the banks of the Nile.
That night, after an evening meal we decided to do a little sightseeing tour to the small town of Edfu, obviously only the main street parallel to the multitude of boats that were moored. After the relevant harassment "Children sellers" we took a seat in one of the bars (you could say) and savor a wonderful and refreshing drink, karkade, that we had the opportunity to taste the night we reached our boat hotel. All this accompanied by a shisha.Thus, after the boat and acohol shisha that night we sleep quickly and rest for the next day: visits to Edfu and Kom Ombo.
Ver Luxor. en un mapa más grande
