Valley of the Kings and Queens

Settled into the Royal Lily but before we leave Luxor there are some more temples to visit, namely the Valley of the Kings and Queens

In the Valley of the Kings we visited 4 tombs. When a king (pharoah) comes into power, workers are commissioned to prepare the burial tomb. Digging, cutting, decorating each chamber and moving on. As soon as the pharoah dies, work ceases and is prepared for the burial. So if a pharoah lives a long time, the burial chamber can be quite long. Some of them are beautifully ornate.

Next we visited the Temple of Hatshepsut ( say Hat cheap suit), a mortuary temple of the Pharoah Hatshepsut. It is quite an impressive building cut into the rocky cliffs.

Final stop was Valley of the Queens which is much the same as Valley of the Kings but is the burial place for wives of pharoahs. One tomb even held the miscarried fetus of a pharoahs wife. Incredible to see the colours on the scenes are so well preserved.

Back on the boat for lunch and we set sail for Edfu. A very relaxing afternoon after the busy morning.Read more