De Nile is the River of Egypt

As we finished touring the West Bank of Luxor, my friend Claro and I headed to the East Bank (Land of the Living), via a river boat cruise on the Nile.

Our boat was captained by Muhammad and his "crew".
Say "CHEESE!"

Claro sporting a Rico Suave' pose. LoL.

A lone sailor out on his felucca ....

and a boat load of tourists.... "all in de - Nile". LoL.

Now here's something you don't see everyday.

Almost at the end of our cruise...

Claro looking at the "Temple of Luxor" ahead.

Muhammad's son expertly maneuvered the

boat close to our hotel dock.

Our hotel looming closer....

We stopped at our hotel for a lunch break, and then met up with Nubi, our tourguide, for the remainder of our tour on the East Bank.

More ancient ruins to follow....

In the Valley of the Kings

The Valley of the Kings, located on the West Bank of the Nile, consist of 63 resplendent tombs of pharaohs of the New Kingdom. For 500 years from 16 - 11 B.C., tombs were built for kings of the 18th to 21st dynasty. The most famous tomb at this site was King Tutankhamun's (a.k.a. King Tut). However, contents of his tomb were permanently housed at Cairo's Egyptian Museum. In the Visitor's Center of the Valley of the Kings, a small model of the valley was exhibited which identified locations of the tombs, and the under belly of the tombs themselves. Due to photosensitive light damage that occurs over time, no photographs were allowed in the tombs below. However, I took pics of copyright photos sold on the premises to show just how rich the colors of the interior frescoes and hieroglyphics still remained thousands of years later. Nubi, my tour guide, was patient and knowledgeable in explaining the history of ancient Egypt, and the language of hieroglyphics prevailed throughout the interior walls of the tombs. He was marvelous and because of him, I gained a better understanding of the lives of the different pharaohs, the mummification process that took place after their deaths, and the protocols that went behind each burial. Valley of the Kings blew me away, and I left there with a deeper respect for Egyptian ingenuity and advanced building prowess.

Singing Statue of Memnon

The next stop was "El-Colossat of Memnon". In ancient Egypt these gigantic twinned statues (colossi), portraying King Amenhotep III sitting at his throne, measured 60 ft tall. In their former location, they stood guard at the entrance of King Amenhotep III's funeral temple. Today they sit on the West Bank (Land of the Dead) across from the modern city of Luxor.

Here I am testing out my brute strength. LoL.

A bird's eye view gone awry?

Two shorter figures carved into the front throne alongside his legs are his wife Tiy and mother Mutemwiya. On the sides of the colossi, there is a depiction of the Nile god Hapi, bending together lotus and papyrus plants, symbolizing the union of Upper and Lower Egypt.

Part of the northern colossus cracked during an earthquake in 27 B.C., thus collapsing from the waist up and breaking into two.


During its time, King Amenhotep III's temple was the largest and most opulent in Egypt, surpassing even the Karnak Temple in area size. For reasons not yet discovered, his temple was destroyed, and the colossi (or "El-Colossat" to the Arabs) were transported over 420 miles by land to the West Bank. Because each statue weighed 700 tons, they could not send them down the Nile. The Colossi of Memnon, named by the Greeks during their reign, sat majestically for 3,400 years on the West Bank of the Nile River. Incidentally, after the earthquake of 27 B.C., the fractured colossus could be heard singing:

"Following its rupture, this statue was then reputed to 'sing' every morning at dawn: a light moaning or whistling, probably caused by rising temperatures and the evaporation of dew inside the porous rock. The legend of the 'Vocal Memnon', the luck that hearing it was reputed to bring, and the reputation of the statue's oracular powers, travelled the length of the known world, and a constant stream of visitors, including several Roman Emperors, came to marvel at the statues. The mysterious vocalisations of the broken colossus ceased in 199 A.D., when Emperor Septimius Severus, in an attempt to curry favor with the oracle, reassembled the two shattered halves."

It's a shame that the repaired colossus was silenced. It would have been interesting to hear it sing. Who knows? Maybe the spirit of King Amenhotep III will find its voice and sing for its visitors again. Rest assure if that happened, I'll be on the first plane out to Luxor. LoL.

Queen Hatshepsut's Temple

Keepers of the Tomb. I tried not to take pics of them directly.

A Taurus under the fresco of a Bull.

The ancient ruins of Luxor began on the West Bank of the Nile River. It should be noted that the "West Bank" in Luxor is not to be confused with the conflict going on in the "West Bank" of Israel. These are two separate places. Egyptians divided up the banks of the Nile River as "East Bank" and "West Bank". Because the sun rose in the east, ancient Egyptians referred to the East Bank as "Land of the Living", and therefore was the side the ancient city of Thebes (now Luxor) resided. Hence, when the sun set in the west, the West Bank was referred to as "Land of the Dead"; the burial place of the dead.

The first stop was the "Temple of Deir El-Bhari", the funeral temple of Queen Hatshepsut. Queen Hatshepset was considered one of the most successful pharaohs in Egyptian history. She was 5th pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of the New Kingdom. She was the eldest daughter of King Thutmose I and later regent to her husband, and half brother, King Thutmose II (brother-sister marriages were common to keep the royal blood lines in the family). As regent, she was head wife, or "Great Royal Wife", over his many wives, and therefore assumed the reigns when he died. His throne should have been succeeded by his son Thutmose III, whose mother was a low ranked wife, but unfortunately he was too young. Wisely, Queen Hatshepsut had him whisked away to an isolated temple far from Thebes, so she could rule unopposed for 22 years; the longest reign of any female pharaoh. She ruled with an intensity that brought peace throughout the land, as well as commerce, growth, and wealth. She hired the best architects and sculptors of her time and prolifically commissioned hundreds of building projects in Upper and Lower Egypt that were grander and more numerous than any of her Middle Kingdom predecessors. She had so many statues produced under her reign that almost every major museum in the world have Queen Hatshepsut statuaries in their collection. As was the tradition of all pharaohs, the construction of funeral temples began at the start of their reign (because it took a lifetime to complete). Queen Hapshepsut's funeral temple of Deir El-Bhari was her greatest masterpiece. It was so elaborate, that all consequent pharaohs followed her example in having tombs as resplendent as hers. Her funeral temple was built on the site near the entrance of pharaoh burial tombs that later was to become "Valley of the Kings"; therefore, historians catalogue her tomb as the first pharaoh's tomb in the "Valley of the Kings".