26th November 2010
I have had two great days out exploring. The weather here is much cooler now; 29c. So it makes cycling around very comfortable now.
Hawy Tomb 14 – Qurna
This turned out to be a very good visit for me, because at last, I found the Inspectorate there. His name is Sayed and we got on well. We exchanged phone numbers and he said that if there was anything I wanted to know or to see, that I could phone him. He will be hearing from me soon! The Hawy Tomb (New Kingdom) is in front of the “Roy Tomb” at the Valley of the Nobles – Qurna and near to the road. It was discovered more than 100 years ago and in 2003 Malone Petro, an Italian lady, started working on it. Since then she has dug and removed all the soil and debris that has filled it over the centuries. They have now cleared and opened up the inner court; it must be great, I could not get to see inside it but sneakily, I was allowed to take some pictures of the outside after having tea with the guards and policeman there.
I have had two great days out exploring. The weather here is much cooler now; 29c. So it makes cycling around very comfortable now.
Hawy Tomb 14 – Qurna
This turned out to be a very good visit for me, because at last, I found the Inspectorate there. His name is Sayed and we got on well. We exchanged phone numbers and he said that if there was anything I wanted to know or to see, that I could phone him. He will be hearing from me soon! The Hawy Tomb (New Kingdom) is in front of the “Roy Tomb” at the Valley of the Nobles – Qurna and near to the road. It was discovered more than 100 years ago and in 2003 Malone Petro, an Italian lady, started working on it. Since then she has dug and removed all the soil and debris that has filled it over the centuries. They have now cleared and opened up the inner court; it must be great, I could not get to see inside it but sneakily, I was allowed to take some pictures of the outside after having tea with the guards and policeman there.
Tuthmosis III Dig – Qurna
Well this dig has come a long way since my last visit. They have and still are, reconstructing and renovating many of the walls of this temple site. There is a wonderful uncovered step way and the temple site now seems very large. What I really liked to see was that the main First Pylon to the temple is down on one side of the road while the rest of the temple is on the other side. Like so many places in Luxor, this main road that runs from the ticket office to Carter House was built over and through the Tuthmosis III Temple site.
Ramesseum
There is a dig at the Ramesseum, it’s at the rear end by the main road. Here they are working on walls and pathways, no buildings. You can see they are very careful, taking all the soil by hand and sieving through it before putting it onto lorries.
Carter House Café
At last the Carter House Café/Tea Garden is open. It all looks very nice, they say its five star, I don’t think so but the prices most certainly are five star. The Winter Palace Hotel runs the cafe. Here a cup of tea will cost you 20 LE, a sandwich 55 LE, a salad 65 LE. Last night I had a meal at the Jamboree Restaurant in the souk. I had a cola, a wonderful thick creamy union soup followed by half a roast chicken which was so, so nice and filling, All for 51 LE. It is sad that the Carter House Tea garden is so expensive. While I was there, people came to the tables, looked at the menus and then left. I was the only one there that afternoon. Of course! I am viewing all this as a local and where I normally pay only 3 egp for a tea. In English terms, it’s not a lot to pay if you’re on a holiday.
Montouhemhat Tomb TT34 - Asasif
I had a great time exploring this site. It’s the parts before and on the left as you approach the Hatshepsut car park. I particularly wanted to look at the tomb of Montouhemhat that I had visited two years ago and to see what progress had been made since then. It is off the beaten track where no tourists go. Well, it truly is a great place. It’s a large deep tomb that is open to the sky; I assume that its first discovery was made through the roof. From the surface it is a lovely place with statues, columns and carvings on the walls. It apparently has more than 300 meters of corridors and is said to be very beautiful inside. I spoke to an Egyptologist lady an Egyptian man who was down at the bottom of the tomb. From the surface I kindly asked her, could I come down to speak to her, she laughed and replied no. They have started to build across the top of this tomb a roof and on one half they have erected steel girders across it. So the pictures I managed to take will soon be unique. Once it is covered, there will no longer be such a clear view of the inner court, and of course, once it is open to the public, no one will be allowed to take photos. The Egyptian man said it would open to the public in two years.
Old Qurna
Qurna near Hatshepsut. Almost like old Qurna, nearly all the houses have been pulled down accept for several alabaster factories, all very colorful. There are many digs going on here where there were once house.
A kiss from a local
I think I still have a Mykonian Goat smell about me.