Up at 4:30. Why? You may well ask. One of our party – the oldest member – had decided another bucket-list item was the hot-air balloon ride. This meant I was up at 4:30 to make sure he was collected for the dawn trip. Once he was safely collected by the balloon team, I must admit I went back to bed for an hour.
Breakfast done, our very own Phineas Fogg returned just before we were due to leave for the final day of West bank exploring, luckily for him we had saved some breakfast. We were starting today’s proceedings at the temple of Seti I. This very “unvisited” temple is the northernmost of the visitable Theban necropolis. The temple was built by Seti I as a mortuary temple for his father, Rameses I, founder of the 19th dynasty. The temple faces east and is directly in line with, probably, Seti’s greatest work, the Hypostyle Hall at Karnak. Despite it being Seti’s temple, it seems like a lot of work was also done by his son. The name of Rameses II is everywhere. I do like that you can now climb up onto the rear retaining wall which gives a good view over the temple.
Next stop were two tombs in the Dra Abu el-Naga area, that of Djehuty, and of Hery. Djehuty was Overseer of Treasury and of Works, and Overseer of the Cattle of Amun, during the reign of Hatshepsut. Because of the way it is lit inside, this is quite a striking tomb. A short walk from here lies Hery, from the very beginning of the 18th Dynasty, Hery was Overseer of the Granaries of the King’s Mother and Royal Wife Ahotep. If you are limited on time, I would suggest these two rather than the regular Roy and Shuroy.
One more place that I feel can’t be missed, but usually is by tour companies, is the tomb of Kheruef. The Asasif is an ongoing archaeological area, and we are now not allowed to drive into the site. A rather noisy cop informed our driver of this quite vigorously. So, we walked in the blazing midday sun until a tomb guardian arrived on his motorbike and led us to the tomb of the Steward of Amenhotep III’s wife Tiye. Again, I won’t bore you with my opinion of 18th Dynasty inscriptions compared to the 19th, but if you want exquisite, then Kheruef is where to go. The tomb of Kheruef, like TT55, is of interest as it spans the change from Amenhotep III to his son and, of course, raises more questions than answers about that murky period in Ancient Egyptian history. I love this tomb, from the fascinating Amenhotep IV entrance lintel to the beautiful inscriptions that highlight the second heb sed of Amenhotep III. We had been talking of the Djed symbol some time earlier and here is a great depiction of the “Raising of the Djed Pillar”. I could spend hours here, but it was time to visit the shop of some good friends, luckily just across the road.
This family-run shop’s owners looked after us well when we were here in the Covid times and I like to stay in touch. It is also good to bring Egypt first-timers to places like this, not to sell them things, but for them to experience the local people and their famed hospitality. We had some tea, a surprise sale was made, we then went in search of lunch.
The restaurant that I had planned on was closed and our driver recommended a new place not far from where we were. Close to the Seti I temple, we went upstairs to this very empty roof-top seating area. The view was across the hillsides of Dra Abu el-Naga and the food was outstanding with mountains of it. The place was so quiet as they had only just opened but on the strength of the meal we enjoyed I will definitely put it on the itinerary for next year’s tours. If I just could remember its name.
Lunch done, it was time to head back up the road to the temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari. The buses were everywhere with masses of tourists, although the numbers made it easier to get past the shops. The temple is one of the most impressive sights in Egypt, whether it is your first visit or your 100th. We started at the Hathor Chapel, followed by the Punt Expedition, although the time of day made it quite difficult to see things clearly. After the Anubis Chapel, up the ramp to the upper level and into the holy of holies. One important thing about leading a group is being aware of when your people are “tombed and templed out”. We abandoned the idea of doing the Western Valley and the tomb of Ay and headed back to our hotel.
But that wasn’t it, we still had a late afternoon appointment with our river taxi captain. The hotel kitchen had prepared a big koshari meal to take with us on the boat. We headed upstream as the sun began to sink below the western horizon. We pulled into the bank in the gathering gloom and enjoyed a fabulous meal of this famous Egyptian street food, as the boat rocked gently with the movement of the river. Once everyone had finished, we drifted back downstream under the light of the full moon over Luxor. I can’t think of a better end to the day.
Tomorrow, my best place in the whole of Egypt; the Most Select of Places, Karnak.
