There are so many interesting places in Egypt, that I’ll admit it was very difficult to pick the next stop after Cairo on this trip! Do we see the salt water lakes of Siwa? Head down to Aswan for the Nubian Village & Abu Simbel? Decisions decisions…
After researching things to do and studying the map to see what location would make the most sense geographically, Luxor was the final pick! We took a quick one-way direct flight from Cairo (lasted about 1 hour and cost about $70 per person with booked directly through NileAir) and we were there before we knew it. Fun fact: Did you know Luxor used to be called Thebes?
I’d be lying if I said our first day in Luxor went perfectly, though. Our flight was pretty early which required us to wake up even earlier, and we were already quite sleep deprived from a combination of anxiety, jet lag, and the noisy streets of Cairo waking us up constantly. On top of that, even though we were drinking as much water as we could, we were still really dehydrated. Although I would have loved to have been able to relax by the pool as soon as we got there, my dad and I both ended up taking a two hour nap in the room instead.
However, this resort was easily one of the nicest places I’ve ever stayed at! I booked the Jolie Ville Resort & Spa. Since we stayed by the pyramids in Giza/Cairo, I knew I wanted to be right on the Nile in Luxor and this place definitely checked that box; the resort is on an island in the middle of the river! It’s a very large compound, is all inclusive, clean, quiet…what more could you want?! Here is the view from one of their pool areas at night; you can see Valley of the Kings in the distance!
Thankfully after our nap we felt slightly better and managed to make it to the sunset boat ride I had booked for us. I booked it here and they picked us up right off the bank to the east of the hotel. We rode in a traditional felucca sail boat which was so peaceful and watched the sunset over the palm trees, and I even got to stick my hand in the water to be able to say I touched the Nile River (don’t work, a crocodile didn’t bite me!)
The Nile River is so important to Egypt for many, many reasons! Not only is it the primary water source but through dams, they are also able to get quite a bit of electricity from it. For some it is even a food source. If you didn’t know, the Nile is the longest river in the world! It starts at Lake Victoria and ends in the Mediterranean Sea…which yes, means it flows south to north! While this is actually more common than people think, it is believed that the way the Nile flows is the reason that southern Egypt is considered “Upper” Egypt and northern is considered “Lower”.
The next morning, we were picked up by Emo Tours at our hotel for our full day tour + transfer to Marsa Alam. To make the process easier I had booked for us to be in a large van all day so that we could go ahead and check out of our hotel and bring all of our luggage with us. I contacted the tour company directly to get all of this arranged instead of going through a third-party site to make communication a bit easier. I would have loved to have stayed at Jolie Ville for another night but we didn’t want to waste any time, so this made the most sense.
Our tour started at Hatshepsut’s Temple, which was one of my favorite things I saw during this trip. I mentioned Hatshepsut in my Cairo blog post briefly but I didn’t explain much about her, so I hope you’re ready for a history lesson!
Hatshepsut is one of the most famous rulers of Egypt for many reasons. She came to rule whenever her husband, a Pharoah named Thutmose II, passed away. She was only to rule until her step-son, Thutmose III, was old enough. But then, she went from an interim ruler…to a full-fledged pharaoh. Why?! How?!
Archaeologists and scholars many years ago first assumed it was due to greed. They dubbed her a “vile ruler” for seemingly taking away the title from her step-son. But the more she was studied, the more this was found to be untrue. Yes, Hatshepsut did become ruler after Thutmose II died. But they don’t think she wanted to “steal it out from under her step-son”. It is now believed that their kingdom faced a threat from another branch of a royal family that forced her to protect the kingship for her stepson by declaring herself the king instead of a queen! Unfortunately, this also meant that whenever Thutmose III came of age, because of her title, she could not just “step down” and give the throne to him; once she called herself king, she would be king until death.
She achieved a peaceful and prosperous rule over Upper Egypt for about 21 years. During this time, she re-established trade with other areas and oversaw some of the greatest construction projects in Egypt. But despite these achievements, she knew that as a female, she would not be respected; so she chose to reinvent herself. She did this by reassuring her people that she was a legitimate ruler of the throne because she could speak directly with the gods and also by depicting herself as a male in artwork and statues to display that she was just as strong and powerful as a man. However, she was never “deceitful”; inscriptions would always indicate her true gender using phrases such as “Daughter of Re” or “His Majesty Herself”.
Many assumed that she had a hateful relationship with her stepson, but it is now believed that she was not only protecting him but also trying to prepare him for his own reign. Evidence found shows that she was sending him to school and making sure he was taught to be a warrior. It is often believed he was even appointed the leader of Hatshepsut’s armies. After her death (based on her mummy, they believe she likely died of bone cancer), Thutmose III then stepped up as the king and ruled for 33 years (54 if you include the years where he was actually technically the rightful king), and his success is largely attributed to not only Hatshepsut’s own achievements in their kingdom but also how well she had prepared him.
Despite this, during his rule he had many statues and inscriptions destroyed that portrayed Hatshepsut as a pharaoh, leaving only ones that showed her as a queen untouched. This is believed to have been done to show that the throne had gone directly from his father to him and to also display the legitimacy of succession to his own sons (since Hatshepsut had a daughter named Neferure). We actually got to see this with our own eyes at her mortuary temple where parts had clearly been chiseled away, but others left alone!
Whether or not Thutmose III actually had hard feelings or not towards Hatshepsut is something we may never know, but in my opinion, I think he owed her a thank you! Hearing the history of Hatshepsut really interested me and I enjoyed learning about her. True definition of #girlboss!
Unfortunately, yesterday’s sickness carried over a tiny bit, and my dad got too hot at the beginning of our tour of Hatshepsut’s Temple and almost passed out! I was so so so worried. Thankfully he made it to a little café next to the temple and was able to get cooled off and was ok for the rest of the day, but I have to mention our tour guide Salwa because she was AMAZING. The best tour guide we had during the trip by far. Whenever my dad got too hot, she whipped out an umbrella from her purse for him and let him use it all day to stay out of the sun so he could finish the tour. She was always finding us shade to stand in, air-conditioned spots to take a break, and even had frozen water bottles for us to sip on as they melted; she took exceptional care of us all day and was basically our Egyptian-grandma! Highly recommend her!
After this we stopped at a pottery & stone carving shop to see how they make vases from materials such as alabaster, then stopped for a quick photo opportunity at the Colossi of Memnon. Then we were off to one of my most anticipated locations; Valley of the Kings!!
The Valley of the Kings were created whenever the Egyptians started to realize that making a gigantic pyramid to mark someone’s grave was basically a beacon to tomb robbers, so they decided to start hiding them in the cliffside instead. Unfortunately, once thieves discovered one, the others were close by enough that they were found as well.
Thus, most tombs were empty whenever discovered, leaving behind only the beautiful artwork on the walls and the sarcophagi with their mummies inside. However, one tomb was found untouched; King Tutankhamen’s! In fact, this is really the only reason King Tut is considered famous, because his tomb was the only one discovered that was still filled with treasures. His rule was relatively insignificant and only last 11 years. His mummy is the only one still located in his tomb in Valley of the Kings, as the rest have been moved to museums.
When you visit Valley of the Kings, after you get through the man entrance, you’ll ride on a little “train” that takes you up the road to where the tombs are. You’re given a ticket that you must show at the entrance of the tombs, but fair warning; you may only see 3. They will hole-punch your ticket at each tomb to mark how many you have been into. I suggest researching beforehand to decide which tombs you want to visit, but also have a backup plan, because they rotate which tombs are open to give others a “break” and help preserve them. You can also ask your guides which ones they recommend, just be aware that they are not allowed inside with you.
We saw the tombs of Merenptah (KV8), Ramesses IX (KV6), and Ramesses III (KV11). Other tombs that were highly recommended to us were Ramesses V & VI (KV9) which is 100EGP extra, Seti I (KV17) which is 1,000EGP extra, and Ramesses IV (KV2) and Tausert & Seknakht (KV14) which are both included. If you’re interested in seeing King Tut’s mummy then you can pay extra to visit his tomb, but from what I’ve read all of his treasures are now at the Egyptian Museum and the rest of his tomb isn’t as detailed and decorated as others, so we decided to skip it.
We took the advice of our guide that after seeing a few tombs they start to become repetitive and made the decision to not pay extra to see anymore and to be happy with just the 3 we saw. While Valley of the Kings was definitely one of my favorite things we did in Egypt, I was surprised with how crowded it was! Because of this I was only able to snap a few photos of the artwork inside. It was also very hot and stuffy so we didn’t spend very much time in each tomb. It may be to your benefit to come earlier or later in the day.
After this, we headed to Karnak Temple! Another favorite stop of ours on the tour, this temple was dedicated to the gods Amun, Mut, and Khonsu and is the largest religious building ever constructed. The Hypostyle Hall (the room featuring 134 large columns), several small surrounding temples, and the sacred lake are just a few things that make up this sacred place. It was amazing to walk around and admire the intricate carvings and artwork on the walls and columns and to wonder how they achieved this level of architecture so many years ago!
Nearby is also the Luxor Temple. It is not only much smaller than the nearby Karnak Temple, but it was also actually believed to have been built to signify the rejuvenation of kingship instead of being dedicated to a god. It was built over time by many, including Amenhotep III, Tutankhamun, Ramesses II, and even Alexander the Great. The temple is still used for worship, even today!
While we were there, we got to watch them work on reconstructing an ancient pathway between the Luxor and Karnak temples called “Avenue of Sphinxes”. Supposedly, there used to be a road created 3,000 years ago that connected them. I think it is truly amazing that despite the country’s challenges, Egypt continues to have the most preserved history in the world and that they continue to try to restore and protect it!
Despite our time in Luxor not starting off the greatest and being full of challenges, I am so glad we toughed it out and made the best of it because I learned so much and really enjoyed our two days we spent here. Even though Egypt may not have been what I totally expected, it still blew me away and made me crave even more adventure! As I mentioned in my Cairo blog post, I intend to write a general guide to Egypt as I have had a lot of questions about whether or not we felt safe, any recommendations we had, what did we not enjoy, etc. so keep a look out for that!
Overall I loved Luxor and would definitely come back someday because I feel there was still quite a bit that we did not get to see or do such as Valley of the Queens or a hot air balloon ride. I hope this blog has been helpful in planning your trip (or maybe convinced you to take one!). Thanks for reading!
Great content! Keep up the good work!