Born in Arizona moved to Babylonia….

 

Heading out into the desert again, up in the hills you can see an area with a row of caves. This is the Valley of the Queens. 

Near the Valley of the Queens where Egypt’s Queens were buried.

As we enter the Valley we pass the house that Howard Carter lived in while he was exploring the area.

 At the Valley of the Kings, the question of why here? Arose. See the natural pyramid in the mountains in the background. It seems like a perfect burial place. Even though the name uses Kings in its description, there are also tombs here of the elite or wealthy or upper tier Egyptians besides the pharaohs.

Heading into the area where the tombs have been found. There were 62 tomb found before Howard Carter found the tomb of the resting boy king. 

Remember the police check points I spoke about earlier? Well, all American tourist groups are also accompanied by an armed guard… Here is ours standing alongside our tour guide. Who wears a suit in the hot desert? Well that suit covered his shoulder holster and alongside his right side there was a short barrel automatic weapon. Every group of Americans had their own guard and they were all dressed and outfitted in a similar manner.. just the color of the suit changed. 

Near the cluster of tombs 

Who would have thought to look for anything of importance in this landscape!

Heading into the tomb of Ramses VI

Hieroglyphs along the walls 

Stairs heading down into the main room of the tomb

The ceiling

Much of the tomb’s decoration has survived and Ramses VI mummy is in the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization.Everything else that might have been inside has been looted centuries ago.

 KV62 the tomb number for the boy king known as King Tut

There was a constant line to enter this tomb. It is considerably smaller than the one of Ramses VI. This is probably because it was not ready when he died.

Heading down into the tomb

Unfinished frescos

The mummy of King Tut without his burial mask of gold.

The tomb wall decorations

Wonder if there are more discoveries to be made?

We headed out of the Valley towards the Colossi of Memnon on our way heading into the desert to return to our ship

The colossi are stone statues of the Pharaoh Amenhotep III and found in the Theban Necropolis. They have stood since 1350 BC and were well known to Greeks and Romans and well as early travelers. 

From a distance as we arrive

The ruins of the necropolis temple

Of course there are hawkers everywhere trying to sell alabaster statues for $1, just $1…American

This was just a quick photo stop.Now on through the fertile valley towards the Eastern desert and the ship. As it was getting close to 6pm, the hour when Muslims can break their fast, we saw lots of activity along the road, including families pr your boys holding our food and drink to the cars traveling along the road so they to could break their fast.

 

Out of town and heading into farming area.You can see from these pictures that most farming is low tech!

 

Sheep grazing in the field

Getting crops to seller

Women and men working in the field

We saw so many donkeys!

As we headed east through the desert the sun set quickly and knowing there was nothing exciting to se we didn’t mind it being dark as we headed back to the ship. Tomorrow will be a sea day as we head north through the Suez Canal.