Luxor & The Valley of the Kings

A felucca on the Nile

Felucca driver adjusting his sail

Columns at the Temple of Karnak

Statue and palm at the Temple of Karnak

Luxor Temple at night

We took a suprisingly pleasant overnight train south down to Luxor, home of the Valley of the King and Queens, Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple. Luxor is a picturesque town on the Nile river flanked by a formidable mountain range to the east.

Even though Karnak Temple was great and Luxor Temple at night was beautiful, the real highlight of the 'Luxor leg' had to be the Valley of the Kings. A relatively small area in the mountains to the east, where former Kings of Egypt have been individually entombed with their earthly treasures. This is the place where British Archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the boy king, Tutankhamun in 1922. We ventured into three tombs (tourists are only allowed access to around 16 of the 40-odd tombs), those of King Ramses the 1st, 4th and 3rd. We were truly blown away by the quality, artistic and historical, of the hieroglyphics adorning the walls, floor to ceiling and ceiling included! It is also amazing to think of the effort that would have gone into constructing a single tomb up in the mountains during 50ºC heat, 2000 years ago!