Day 1:
We took the Hilton courtesy shuttle from the hotel to the entrance of the Karnak Temple. It gets hot pretty early in the day and so the earlier you go, the more comfortable the visit will be.
After paying 80 EGP entrance fee, we were inside the complex. At the front entrance of the actual Karnak Temple lies the Avenue of Sphinx’s. A row of sphinx’s with head of a ram and body of a lion line the walkway to the entrance of the temple.
After crossing the first pylon (entrance door), you are greeted with a courtyard with rows and rows of erect pillars (134 columns in 16 rows over 50,000 sq. ft) otherwise known as the Great Hypostyle Hall.
The pillars have various carvings typical of ancient Egypt. Looking up you can see the bottom of the horizontal beams resting on top of the pillars and you can see all these carvings where the color is still visible after thousand’s of years.
Walking further you see the two erect obelisks constructed by Queen Hatshepsut. We walked around the Karnak Temple complex for a couple of hours. Its really something to soak in all the history and imagine what it was like here 2000 years ago.
We returned back to the hotel using the shuttle. In the evening we took a cab to Sofra Restaurant where we had a heavy Egyptian dinner.
Day 2:
I booked a cab (through the Hilton Concierge Desk) to visit the West Bank for 5 hours. The hotel has published rates for the trip and it came out to a total of 200 EGP before tips (entrance fees to attractions not included). It takes quite a long drive (about 45 minutes) along the East Bank before reaching the bridge to get to the West Bank. Another option is to use the public ferry across the Nile and find a cab on the west bank to negotiate the rate for the day.
Our first stop was Valley of the Kings. During the New Kingdom, the pharaohs were not building Pyramids any more. Rather they had planned their resting places as rock cut tombs into the mountainous terrain now known as Valley of the Kings. After buying tickets (100 EGP per person) at the entrance of Valley Of the Kings, you have the option to walk a bit to get to the first tomb or you can take a 5 minute tram ride.
Another point to mention is that visitors will be well served if they start their tour of West Bank as early in the day as possible. It gets very hot up there in the west Bank attractions as the day progresses.
There are 63 tombs discovered so far in the Valley Of the Kings but not all of them are open for visits at the same time. The entrance ticket allows a visitor entry into any 3 tombs they choose among the ones that are open that day. A visit to the famous and most sought after Tutankhamun’s Tomb (numbered KV 62) is not included with the entrance ticket though. It costs an additional 100 EGP. One important thing to note is that photography is strictly prohibited inside the tombs at Valley Of the Kings.
There are tomb guards walking around in each tomb and express displeasure if they catch you trying to sneak in pictures.
The first tomb we entered was KV2 (Tomb of Ramses IV) . It was a very easy walk down a fairly easy incline to the main sarcophagus chamber. You can marvel at all these amazing hieroglyphic carvings along the walls of the walkway.
Next we entered the KV57 (Tomb of Horemheb) . This was a fairly steep flight of steps and then another steep passage down to the chamber. We were amazed at all the hieroglyphic carvings on the walls and the roof, created thousands of years ago by the ancient Egyptians.
After spending about 2 hours at the Valley of the kings, we drove to Temple of Hatshepsut also known as Deir-el-bahari Temple.
Nestled at the foot of the mountains beneath the cliffs at Deir-al-bahari, this temple built by Queen Hatshepsut is an iconic attraction on the West Bank. Like Valley Of the Kings, there is a tram to transport visitors from the entrance to the steps of the temple.
After walking around the area for about an hour we decided to head back.
On the way back to the East Bank, we made a quick stop at the Colossi of Memnon. Other than the carefully reconstructed twin statue of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, there is not much to see around here.
It was another hour of driving back to the hotel from the west Bank. Late in the evening we had dinner at the Gerda’s Garden restaurant. After dinner, we took a cab to the Luxor Temple. It was already dark this late and the whole temple was beautifully lit up.
My parents were starting to get worried as the temple complex had very few visitors (probably less than 10) and we decided to call it a day and return back to the hotel to get some rest before an early flight next morning.