Docked at Safaga Port

Latitude 26.70 Degrees North and
Longitude 33.94 Degrees East

April 18th, 2018

Weather: Sunny With Light Breeze and High of 106 Degrees With Low Humidity

Author: Don

Today we drove 3 hours each way through the mountains and desert from Egypt's port city of Safaga to the Nile River Valley.  Until we reached the Nile area, the countryside was completely devoid of any vegetation or habitation.  It is easy to appreciate why ancient Egypt was safe from attack from this direction.  But along our modern highway route, our convoy of 14 buses encountered several heavily fortified Egyptian police security stops.  Once in the fertile Nile Valley, we drove through miles of heavily irrigated farmland.   We could see many people in the fields actively harvesting crops.  At least one intersection along our road in each village we passed was guarded by a permanent security checkpoint with up to a dozen armed police present.  Guard towers were also present at most significant factories and utility plants.  Most of the people in this part of Egypt live a simple, traditional agrarian lifestyle without many worldly possessions.  The villages are scattered long the banks of the many large irrigation canals fed by the Nile.

Our first destination was the vast ancient Egyptian temple complex at Karnak on the east bank of the Nile river in the city of Thebes (modern-day Luxor).  It covers more than 250 acres.  The largest and central area of the site contains a temple dedicated to the sun god, Amun-Ra, with a smaller section dedicated to his wife, the goddess Mut.  Another section is dedicated to Montu, the falcon-headed god of war.  Construction at Karnak began 4,000 years ago and continued up until the time the Romans took control of Egypt about 2,000 years ago.  The temple complex includes numerous decayed or partly restored gateways, statues, pylons, large temple buildings and small chapels.  Over the centuries the complex expanded as many Egyptian pharaohs added new structures and changed or destroyed existing ones.  It is one giant jigsaw puzzle for the archeologists.  The weather on the day we visited was sunny and very hot, with the temperature well above 100 degrees.

Our group was served a tasty Egyptian lunch (provided by the Luxor Palace Hotel) aboard a dahabiya (a large river boat with a single sail at each end) while we cruised the Nile River.  These boats are often used for overnight passenger cruises up or down the Nile.  It was a very pleasant lunch with a cooling river breeze blowing.  Our bus picked us up on the west bank of the Nile to continue to the Valley of the Kings.

At the Valley of the Kings, we entered the tombs of the pharaohs Tutankhamen, Seti I and Rameses IV.  Our access to Seti's tomb was by special one-time permission.  It is not usually open to the public and may indefinitely be closed to everyone soon.  In the separate Valley of the Queens, also by special permission, we entered the tomb of Queen Nefertari, Rameses the Great's most favored wife.  She was reputed to be a beautiful Nubian woman.  Nefertari's and Seti's tombs each involved separate rooms and antechambers, but Tutankhamen's and Rameses IV's were simpler in structure, but equally extravagantly decorated.  The tombs were all spectacular and the experience of climbing down multiple levels below ground added to our sense of excitement.

It was a very long and hot day, but well worth it.  This first-hand introduction to ancient Egypt was a terrific experience!