Egypte / Egypt 2002

July 9, 2002 – Luxor

Today the wake up is set at 6am because we want to start the visit of the west bank before the high temperatures. Yesterday, the temperature was a little over 50°C in the town of Luxor so I think that records will be broken today on the other bank.

Salim slept on the roof where the temperature was cooler than the one inside the bedroom (35°C). I wake up with a sore throat because I put the fan on position 3 (out of 5), it will be absurd to be ill under such a climate.

We take a breakfast on the roof and we go to the pier to take the ferry to cross the Nile. Egyptians like tourists a lot, now we have a brand new price for the Nile crossing: 1 EGP when the locals pay only 0.25 EGP. I try to negotiate to pay the regular price but my interlocutor doesn’t care. I decide to have my own revenge so I give him a banknote of 20 EGP just to take nearly all the notes he has. He was not good in mathematics so he gave me back 20 EGP in small change (1 EGP and 25 piastres). The roundtrip will finally cost me 1 EGP and not 2, so it’s my way to defy this stupid system of 2 prices. Like I told him, come in France and you will pay the price I pay. Salim choose a different way, he just gives him 25 piastres and jump into the boat, the guy with the ticket was screaming but it will change nothing. They will talk in Arabic and that’s all. I should have done this…

On the ferry, I am very angry about this way to take money from foreigners and a taxi driver will pay for it. He just comes innocently to offer us a high price to go to the ticket office. I let you imagine what I told him. The guy is a little offended and to show us that Egyptians can be fair he proposed us drive to the ticket office for only 1 EGP. Thanks!!! But too bad that we have to suffer this kind of situation.

We pass the colossi of Memnon.

The colossi of Memnon

At the ticket office, we see Jorge who was there half an hour before us but while walking to the valley of Kings, he will remember that he will need tickets to enter the sites so he has to come back here. We take the tickets: One for the valley of the kings (3 tombs) and 1 for the Ramasseum, Jorge adds a ticket for the temple of Hapsetshut and Salim only takes a ticket for the valley of kings. We decline the visit of the Nefertari tomb because it is really too expensive: 50 EGP with the student card or 100 EGP for the regular price.

We finally take the same taxi to the valley of Kings and we give him for the whole trip a very good price 10 EGP. Egyptians are nearly the best in the tourism industry. When you arrive near the visitor center, you have to walk in front of all the shops and the cafeteria at the end. After, there is the fabulous a racket of a small train to reach the real entrance, the distance between the 2 points: 200m.

The valley of the Kings

In the valley, it is know the time to have a look to all our guidebooks to select the 3 tombs we will visit with our ticket. We start with the most remote tomb, the one of Thutmosis III and one of the most beautiful ones for the guidebooks. On the road, we see the 2 New Zealanders who were on the felucca with us: Hi!!!

To reach the tomb, you have to take a steel staircase. We enter the tomb through a small sloping corridor. First, there is a well then we enter a first room with a lot of red and black decorations on the walls. Finally we enter the room that contains the sarcophagus of the Thutmosis III. The ceiling is wonderfully painted in blue with a lot of stars. This tomb is unique because it is the only oval funeral room in all the valley.

Tomb of Thutmosis III

After Thutmosis III, we visit the tomb of Ramses III because the one of Ramses VI is closed for renovation. The entrance corridor has approximately 10 holes illustrating the life of the inhabitants. The drawings on the walls are well preserved and the colors are really different from the ones used in he tomb of Thutmosis III. After a first corner there is a large gallery surrounds with two rooms. Then there is a barrier but you can see that this gallery is at least longer by 20m but we can’t go any further. With a light, we can see the remains of drawings but it is hard to see them.

Ceiling of the tomb of Ramses III

Tomb of Ramses III

We end the visit of the valley of the Kings by visiting our third and last tomb. We choose the tomb of Ramses IV and, for me, it will be the best decorated tomb of the 3 we visited and the 66m corridor is so beautiful. The volumes are impressive and, in the room at the end, there is a huge sarcophagus. Just before the sarcophagi, on the left there is a wall completely covered with hieroglyphs. It is also where my shooting séance ends because I don’t have the famous camera ticket so the guard wants me to pay or leave my camera there but I don’t want that. Salim will talk to the 2 guards (that was the trick because I noticed the first one but not the second one hidden in a corner!!! Normally there is only one guard there…) and Jorge will help me to have my camera back in the bag. We finish the visit of the tomb and as he doesn’t want me to buy the camera ticket we leave the tomb without paying this stupid ticket.