Egypt - Hatshepsut's temple

At Hatshepsut's Temple

So next stop was Hatshepsut’s temple.   Hatshepsut was one of the few women to rule in her own right.   Her temple appears in the middle of the rocks - as if it were meant to be there. 

You're greeted on approach by remarkably preserved sphinxes

It also has sphinxes out front - one of whom’s makeup has survived.  When you walk up the first flight of stairs, the view is almost identical again with another long flat open area and then another flight of stairs.  

One of my favourite statues

There were many statues throughout, lots of different areas to explore, examples of the starry night, similar to what we saw in the Valley of the Kings, 

As with the other temples, some seriously impressive pillars and doorways

some giant piles of rubble as part of the world’s biggest jigsaw puzzle while archeologists work to reassemble other parts of the temple.  

Waiting to be reassembled

As with the other places we’ve seen so far, most surfaces are covered with hieroglyphs and art.  Apparently cobras are for protection?  I’m not sure the’d be my first choice, but also - I’m not royalty ;).  

Note the cobras up top :)

Many sections have been hacked out by Hatshepsut’s successor (and step-son) who had some serious issues with her and did his best to erase her from history.

Every area was impressive.  And most we had to ourselves.

The hillside around Hatshepsut’s Temple and other similar areas is filled with other tombs.  So Much History here…

Surrounding hillside.

Next up was a visit to a local home where they served us bread and tea.  This was mildly interesting but extremely awkward.  Esp as it was a private tour so just us.  This family has a farm - they grow a lot of their food, and run a tourist riding farm which they showed us around.  I didn’t take any pictures because it didn’t seem appropriate.  Also for tea, the man’s very young daughters were serving and I wasn’t fully comfortable with that either.  I’m sure it brings in money for the family and obviously they choose to do it, but it still felt off.  However, it’s the only place so far that nobody tried to sell us anything.

More from the temple, every area had a unique feel to it

So on the way back from the random local visit, we stopped at a roadside parking lot where these guys and their friends are just hanging out by the side of the road.  Since our guide is awesome we had the place pretty much to ourselves and were finished just as a bus load of people pulled in.

They made all the previous temple statues

 

These are the Colossi of Memnon, apparently 18m tall and have been around since 1350 BCE give or take a bit. In reality there are a number more of them farther back, however these are undergoing active restoration through Unesco and are blocked off so you only get what my phone was capable of reaching from the front line…

Not a bad way to spend the afternoon

Then for the afternoon we were on the move!  Easiest move ever since we spent it lounging by the pool as our cruise ship relocated itself Tvia the Esna Lock to Edfu.  The lock was mildly interesting as while we live right next to a lock system, this was the first time either of us had been through one.  

Heading into the lock

Along the way we leap frogged another cruise ship which we ended up sharing the lock with, had “pirates” hitch a ride, while others tried to sell stuff — apparently they will throw it up on deck and if you want it you throw money down.   

Trying very hard to get anybody's attention to sell stuff

Nobody on our ship even pretended to engage so wasn’t their best day.   Lots of kids swimming and there seems to be a thing where all of them wave and shout at passing cruise ships.  My favourite was “welcome to Luxor”.  Of course lots of what was shouted wasn’t in English - I’m choosing to believe it was pleasant.   A couple kids in boats latched on to the ship for a ride - long before the salesmen, and - randomly - what appeared to be a family just needing a lift? - did the same.

These ones didn't try to sell anything, just hitched a ride

Note that Friday here is like Sunday at home, so almost everyone is off and there may have been more local people around than on other days.

A starry night