Hurghada

Red Sea snorkeling frenzy

Tuesday 5 February: From Luxor's scruffy little bus station, just south of the train station, it's a five hour bus ride (E£40) to the Red Sea resort of Hurghada. Templed out, I'm in need of some sea and sun. So, away from the package tourist strip, I check into the Four Seasons Hotel at Hurghada's Dahar beach. Two minutes from the sea, the bar next door has a happy hour for both food and drink that coincides with the timings of the Six-Nations rugby matches this weekend, perfect.
Friday 8: Most of the beaches are private and the public beach isn't great so I take an all day snorkeling boat trip, a chance relax and sunbathe on deck. The modern launch (95th mode of transport) is full of Swedes and Russians and at our first stop we dive along an offshore reef then, after lunch, land on Giftun Island's soft sand beach to paddle and sunbathe. Both stops are so crowded that I'm surprised there are any fish around. It's all a bit too organised for my liking but as lunch and a Stella beer are thrown in it's fantastic value (E£100, about £10 for the day).
Sunday 10: Happy hour lasts for three hours with half-price meals and bottles of Stella at E£7.5 (about 70p a pint). I'm the only customer watching the rugby and Scotland claim their first win in the championship which makes me even happier. Goddess Hathor is clearly smiling down on me, joyous intoxication.
Slideshow of Hurghada.

Dendera: Temple of Hathor

Temple of sensual goddess Hathor

Friday 18 January: Today I'm  taking a 2nd class train (E£18) north from Luxor to Qena (pronounced Kena), the nearest station to Hathor's cult temple, a three-mile taxi ride (E£25) further north, at Dendera. Hathor, the goddess of love and sensual pleasure, has been worshipped here since ancient times but, by Egyptian timescales, her temple is new.
Completed by Roman emperor Tiberius about 2,000 years ago the hyperstyle hall's magnificent 24 stone columns are adorned on all four sides by Hathor's distinctive features, her beauty only slightly defaced by Christian fundamentalists in later times. Out of reach of the Christian's wrath the ceiling retains well preserved scenes from the afterlife: colourful barques, a multitude of gods and cartouches against a powder-blue background. Deeper into the temple in the older inner sanctuary there are more reliefs of Hathor, typically depicted wearing a headdress of cow's horns. She was regarded not only as the goddess of love and pleasure but also the first lady of drunkenness and joyous intoxication - my type of girl!
Outside a deep pit filled with lush palms is all that remains of the once beautiful sacred lake but the temple's stout exterior walls remain decorated with lion-headed gargoyles and at the rear there is a large relief showing Cleopatra VII with, Caesarion, her son by Julius Caesar. Near the exit, next to an undamaged face of Hathor, is a relief of the grotesque dwarf god Bes who frightened away demons thus protecting women during childbirth.
Returning, I flag down a purple & white taxi from the end of the drive for the (E£20) trip back to Qena and a reasonably comfortable 3rd class seat (E£2) for the one hour journey back to Luxor. 
Slideshow of the Temple of Hathor at Dendera.

Edfu: Temple of Horus

Cult temple of falcon god Horus

Tuesday 15 January: Taking a 1st class seat (E£32) south from Luxor my train soon arrives at Edfu the jumping off point for the cult temple of the falcon god Horus. A two mile taxi ride (E£10) over the Nile bridge and I arrive at the temple entrance. Falcon god of the sky Horus has been worshipped here for more than 5,000 years but the current temple is relatively new and was completed by Cleopatra's father, Ptolemy XII, just 2,070 years ago. Classically designed, the twin pylons are decorated with reliefs of Ptolemy XII smiting his enemies. The gateway between them, leading to the great court, is flanked by granite statues of the great god Horus. Beyond this a further pair of statues guard the entrance to the columned hypostyle hall with further reliefs beyond.
Now that I know the route, I walk back through town, follow the promenade north, cross over the Nile bridge, take steps down to the riverbank and follow the riverside track back to the station for lunch and an, only slightly less comfortable, 2nd class seat (E£7) for the hour long journey back to Luxor.
Slideshow of the Temple of Horus at Edfu.

Tombs of the Artisans

Visionary art in Pashedu's vault

Monday 7 January: The now ruined village of Deir al-Medina is where the families of the craftsmen and artists who dug and decorated the royal tombs were housed. Their own small but exquisitely decorated tombs are right next to the village and clearly, here in their own tombs, the painters also excelled.
Sennedjem's Tomb (# 1)
A royal tomb artist, his own tiny vault showcases his talent. There are images of Sennedjem and his wife Lyneferti worshiping gods of the afterlife together with scenes from the book of the dead including a black-and-white calf, representing rebirth, carrying Sennedjem on his back. A 19th dynasty artist, Sennedjem's tomb was created around 3,300 years ago.
Irinufer's Tomb (# 290)
Most of the images here are well preserved and in the style of the royal tombs. However, little is known about the 19th dynasty tomb builder.
Monday 14: Now back in Luxor town I've decided to take a trip back to the West Bank to see one tomb, not enthusiastically described in my guide book, that I missed earlier. So, I take the ferry across and a bus up to the ticket office. I'm glad I did, it's a stunner.
Pashedu's Tomb (# 3)
The mural on the back wall of the burial chamber depicts Osiris with the Mountains of the West behind him and the eye of Horus, the avenger of Osiris, looking out from the mountains. There's an image of Pashedu drinking from a pool beneath a palm tree together with numerous images of the black jackal-headed god, Anubis, god of mummification and tomb guardian.
Slideshow of the Tombs of the Artisans.

Tombs of the Nobles

Girl band grace Nakht's tomb wall

Sunday 6 January: Following a light lunch at the Ramesseum Rest House I cross the road and, avoiding a handful of touts, climb up the hillside towards the beckoning tomb guards. Tour buses don't stop here and it's late afternoon so I have the tombs, and their guardians, all to myself.
Royal tomb art tends to depict scenes of gods and journeys to the afterlife whereas art in the tombs of ordinary folk tends to focus on more down-to-earth subject matter. 
Nakht's Tomb (# 69)
A scribe and astrologer during the reign of 18th dynasty ruler Tuthmosis IV (the pharaoh most famous for clearing the Great Sphinx of Giza of sand) Nakht's tiny tomb is one the West Bank's beauties. Among other scenes, the figures of a trio of female musicians playing the harp, lyre and pipes is one of the most elegant, seductive and endearing of all Egyptian art. Girl power preserved in painted plaster 4,500 years ago, don't you just love it.
Ramose's Tomb (# 55)
In contrast to Nakht's, Ramose's tomb is large, plain and incomplete. What it does have are surviving reliefs (most were desecrated by later rulers) relating to the rule of 18th dynasty rebel pharaoh Akhenaten who, during his short 17-year reign, changed Egypt's multi-god religion to the worship of just one god, the sun god Aten. He also moved Egypt's centre of worship to Tel Al-Marna, several days sailing to the north. Ramose, a local visor at that time, followed the court to Tel Al-Marna abandoning his unfinished tomb here in Thebes.
Sennofer's Tomb (# 96)
Sennofer was clearly a man after my own heart because when you duck under a low beam to emerge in the inner sanctuary of his tomb you find paintings of grape vines heavy with fruit growing up the walls and covering the whole ceiling. Absolutely fantastic but, sadly, just one photo and no flowing wine.
Wednesday 9:
Khonsu's Tomb (# 31)
Khonsu lived during the reign of 19th dynasty king Ramses II (the Great), around 3,250 years ago. There's many colourful scenes of Khonsu, the shaven-headed priest, making offerings to the gods, but more remarkable is the beautiful ceiling adorned with pastel-shaded birds swooping down from the sky.
Ushrhet's Tomb (# 51)
Much of the decoration here was chiseled out by tomb robbers in 1941 but the celestial ceiling remains. Ushrhet overlapped the reigns of 19th dynasty kings Ramses I and Seti I.
Benia's Tomb (# 343)
A golden false door in the first chamber was intended to lead Benia to the afterlife, wonder if it worked?
Thursday 10:
Roy's Tomb (# 255)
I was going to miss out Roy's tomb but as I'm cycling past it to Howard Carter's house today I've decided to drop in, and I'm glad I did. Only recently opened to the public, Roy's tiny tomb is beautifully decorated. There is a vibrant scene of Roy and his wife, Tawy, being introduced, by falcon-headed god Horus, to the seated god Osiris, ruler of the underworld. Next to it the couple make offerings to Hathor and Reharkhty. Roy was a steward to 18th dynasty warrior king Horemheb who ruled around 3,330 years ago.
Slideshow of the Tombs of the Nobles.

The Ramesseum

Ramses II's great funerary temple

Saturday 6 January: Constructed 3,250 or so years ago by Ramses III's father, Ramses the Great, the monument is dedicated to, you guessed it, himself - Ramses the Great. From a distance you can appreciate the whole of the site and the sharp contrast between the barren 'red land' of the desert and the cultivated 'black land' earth of the Nile flood plain. As his funerary temple, Ramses II intended the Ramesseum to last until eternity but the columns and statues lie in ruins. Even the great power of Ramses was no match for an earthquake.
Owned by the son of a friend of Howard Carter, the friendly fair-priced Ramesseum Rest House is my lunchtime stop of choice.
Slideshow of The Ramesseum.

Habu Temple

Relief, Ramses smiting Libyan foes

Saturday 5 January: Leaving the Valley of the Queens, I walk back and down to Medinet Habu for lunch. Opposite the restaurant is Habu Temple, the mortuary temple of 20th dynasty king Ramses III, constructed around 3,180 years ago.
Although part-built, altered and extended by many rulers, the most spectacular works were created Ramses III. The twin towers of the first pylon has huge reliefs depicting Ramses victory over his Libyan foes. There's a lot of smiting going on but one gruesome scene shows a scribe counting the severed right-hands of the enemy to get a tally of the dead. Perhaps unhappy with the total, or maybe there was a left-hand or a woman's hand in the pile, Ramses ordered a recount. In the next scene the process is repeated but this time the mound in front of the scribe is a pile of severed Libyan penises. Well, I guess that's one way to do it.
Slideshow of Habu Temple.

Valley of the Queens

 Afterlife journey depicted in pastel

Saturday 5 January: A short morning stroll northwest of my hotel is the Valley of the Queens. Surprisingly, all three of the tombs that are open to the public here were built to contained the mummies of the sons of 20th dynasty king Ramses III, who ruled around 3,180 years ago. None of the Queen's tombs, including that of Nefertari which is regarded as the Thebe's finest, are open.
Prince Amunherkhepshef's Tomb (# 55)
Scenes show Amunherkhepshef, with a boy's side-locks of hair, being presented to various gods by his father, Ramses III. He was probably a young teenager when he died and was entombed here in the Valley of the Queens where his sarcophagus remains.
Prince Khaemwaset's Tomb (# 44)
Another of several of Ramses III's sons who died young, Khaemwaset's tomb is similar to that of his brother's tomb nearby. His sarcophagus and mummy are in the Ezegio Museum in Turin.
Prince Sethherkhepshef's Tomb (# 43)
Originally built for yet another of Ramses III's sons, Sethherkhepshef, the tomb was never finished and the prince was buried elsewhere. 
Slideshow of the Valley of the Queens.