Luxor west bank
- valley of the kings and queens

We decided to book onto an organised tour to the west bank. We were collected by a minibus at 8.30 and driven 10 miles south to take the bridge across the Nile. The first thing you see as you approach the valley of the kings is the colossi of Memnon (really statues of Amenophis 3 whose faces were damaged in an earthquake and were part of his temple).

To the valley of the queens to see two tombs Amunherkhepshep and Titi nearby. We saw three tombs in the valley of the kings (Ramses 4, Ramses 6 and Amenhotep 2) from about 1500 BC. The inner walls of all of the tombs are decorated with figures and hieroglyphs.In some cases engraved and coloured (red: iron, blue: lapis lazuli, green: indigo and ochre) and some are frescoes. We saw an occasional full face - supposed to be a guard some are cat-like. The last tomb is in black line drawings. The ceilings are mostly blue and yellow, some with calendars, others covered in 5 pointed stars like pin men. Each tomb has many instances of a cartouche containing the name of the occupant (in alphabetic symbols, e.g. A: bird in profile, N: a river). Each pharoah built his own tomb , but most died before finishing. The pharoah's name was written in 4 different ways.

Stopped at alabaster factory near Gurna. Then on to the temple of Hatshepsut which has three terraces built into the hill with ramps up the front. There are wall paintings including scenes of a visit to Somalia. The temple associated with each tomb was used for mummification. On the way back we saw a papyrus plant and visited a papyrus factory to see how it is made. Returned on local ferry.

Click on an image for an enlarged view

The colossi of Memnon	In tomb of queen Amunherkhepshep
In tomb of queen Amunherkhepshep	Looking up the valley of the queens
Alabaster worker at Gurna	Gurna house
Gurna house	Gurna house
Hatshepsut temple	Hatshepsut temple
Hatshepsut temple	Hatshepsut temple showing ramp
Hatshepsut temple, second terrace	Hatshepsut temple, detail of statue
Our guide, Gabrail and papyrus plant	View back to Gurna