To Dakhla Oasis

Tuesday 18 January 2011

The drive from Kharga to Dakhla Oasis is perhaps the most varied and interesting stretch of the New Valley road. We left Kharga City this morning for the long drive, only after discovering that Basim, the policeman who had accompanied us around the Kharga sites, was to travel with us in the mini-bus all the way to Dakhla. There didn’t seem to be any explanation for this extra security, if that’s what it was, it was just the way it had to be. We also had a police truck escorting us out of the city as far as Dakhla Governorate.

The Arabic name Dakhla means the ‘inner’ oasis, being further west and deeper into the desert than Kharga. We drove along the road that follows the ancient route of the Darb el-Ghabari, past sickle-shaped sand dunes, yardangs that look like sleeping sandstone lions, then fields of black conical hills that seem to extend deep into the desert. These strange natural hills look like prototypes for the pyramids and I’m sure this is where the pharaohs got the idea from. The road follows the distant slopes of the Abu Tartur plateau which rises steeply to the east.

Our first stop, about 140km from Kharga, was at the rock inscriptions just before the village of Tineida, at the entrance to Dakhla Oasis. Here, large outcrops of sandstone rocks rise on either side of the road, one especially notable as being shaped like a camel. Many faces of the rocks are covered in inscriptions and graffiti. I have seen drawings of prehistoric figures on these rocks and when I first visited the site in 2003 I’m sure there were at least a few surviving ancient carvings that we could identify. Today we could find nothing that we could be sure was old. The four of us covered every inch of the largest of the rocks but could see nothing but modern graffiti. It was very disappointing. Admittedly, the sky had clouded over and the hammered and bruised inscriptions that we did find, looked very shallow without the sun to define them. The dry harsh wind that is invariably blowing at Dakhla may have eventually destroyed them, but I cannot believe that rock inscriptions which have survived thousands of years could disappear in a few decades. It is more likely that modern graffiti has obliterated much of the original prehistoric art. This is pure vandalism!

Driving onwards into the oasis we began to see vibrant green fields of rice, wheat and animal fodder and of course date palms. We passed the village of Bashendi and the site of a recently discovered temple of Amun-Nakht at Ain Birbiya, knowing that it has now been back-filled to preserve it so we didn’t stop. We took a detour up the sandy track to Ismant el-Kharab, the ancient town of Kellis. The gafir here told us that a team was working at the site and though he offered to let us look around we didn’t feel it right to disturb the archaeologists.

The escarpment to the east of the road looked amazing as we contnued our journey. The palest apricot sand-covered slopes reflect dark, constantly-moving cloud patterns and look like they have been airbrushed in above lush green fields. We began to see men and women wearing the distinctive conical woven sun-hats traditional to Dakhla who were driving donkey-carts along the road, at last suggesting that we were nearing civilization. Dakhla has a totally individual flavour unlike any of the other oases and a wonderful feeling of tranquility.

Our next stop was near the village of Balat at the Old Kingdom necropolis of Qila el-Dab’a. It was only early afternoon but the clouds were thickening and the wind was raw and cutting as we left the parked minibus to meet the gafir. We bought our tickets for 25 LE and were shown around the site by a guard. There are remains of seven or eight large stepped mastabas here, most belonging to Dynasty VI governors of the oasis. When we reached the mastaba of Khentika, who governed the oasis during the reign of Pepi II, we descended a steep flight of stone steps into the beautifully painted and restored subterranean burial chamber. We also visited another restored tomb, or at least the sarcophagus, of a man named Bitsu which I hadn’t seen on my last visit. Some of the other mastabas can be seen only as low walls that mark out the area of the superstructures.

We would have liked to visit Ain Asil, the town site associated with the necropolis, but the track from Qila el-Dab’a was covered with sand and none of us especially felt like walking the few kilometres to the site as we were freezing by this time. Back in the minibus we drove on to our destination, the town of Mut, capital of Dakhla Oasis, and to the Mut 3 Hotel. Last time I stayed here a friend had dubbed it the ‘Mudhole Hilton’ because of its hot spring, one of several in Dakhla. At the hotel we were given chalets around the spring, which is in the form of a circular pool, though the brown sludgy colour could easily put anyone off going for a dip. Today however, the water from the spring was turned off so no-one was allowed to use it anyway. We were told that there had been rain in the oasis in recent days and the farmers who controlled the spring had turned it off to conserve the water as it was not needed for the fields.

We all had dinner in the main hotel building which is a short walk down the road. It didn’t look like there were any other guests today. Later, in the darkness, Sam and I sat muffled in our coats near the pool and watched giant bats sweeping over the water after insects and piercing the otherwise silent night with their high-pitched peeping noises.

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Sites and Museum of Kharga

Journal: Monday 17 January 2011

I woke up this morning and the sky was once more full of clouds that got steadily worse throughout the day. We even had a few spots of rain later. The Pioneer Hotel does a quite a good breakfast on the days when there are tourists to feed, as there were this morning and we all feasted ourselves from the buffet to fortify us for a day’s sightseeing. Outside on the lawn we found some recycling containers – never before seen in Egypt! They were empty however.

When we went outside to the minibus we were told that we had to have a policeman in the car with us as well as an accompanying police car – this ‘security’ was new in Kharga, and a bit of a nuisance because we had to pack ourselves in more tightly to accommodate him. Sam, who has been to Kharga many times, declared that she would spend the morning in the museum while Abdul took Fiona, Malcolm and I to our first port of call, Nadura.

Nadura is another of the Roman fortresses here in Kharga and just a couple of kilometres outside the centre of the city. Perched atop a high sandy hill like many of the others, it was probably used as a lookout post. Surrounded by the crumbling remains of the mudbrick walls of the fortress is a sandstone temple, at least what is left of it, built during the reigns of the emperors Hadrian and Antnius Pius. We saw a courtyard which once contained three rooms and part of a pronaos on the western side, but it was all very damaged. The remaining worn but still visible reliefs are a little confusing and appear to depict the Theban triad of Amun, Mut and Khonsu, though the most recent research by Yale University who have been documenting the reliefs, suggest that the temple may have been dedicated to Khonsu who dominates the reliefs. A Coptic church once stood within the space outside the temple and the whole structure was later reused as a Turkish fortress during the Mamaluk and Ottoman Periods. The great thing about Nadura were the spectacular views over the oasis and we could see the Temple of Hibis and the cemetery of Bagawat far below, nestled among the blue-green sea of date palms.

Back in the minibus we drove another couple of kilometres to Bagawat. This is a main tourist site and we stopped at the entrance to buy tickets costing LE30 each. A guide took us across to the tombs and silently showed us around. A huge site, el-Bagawat is one of the oldest major Christian cemeteries in the world and was in constant use until the 11th century. The area is made up of ‘streets’ containing tomb chapels and mausoleums with burials pits below ground, just like in ancient Egyptian tombs. Many are finely decorated with painted biblical scenes and ornate architecture, and domed roofs. We were shown two of the most famous and best preserved of the decorated chapels. The ‘Chapel of the Exodus’, one of the earliest structures, is decorated in two bands illustrating scenes from the Old Testament; Adam and Eve, Moses leading the Israelites through the Sinai desert in the Exodus, Pharaoh and his armies, Noah’s ark, Daniel in the lion’s den, Jonah and the whale and several other biblical episodes. In the second important tomb, the ‘Chapel of Peace’, themes depicted on the domed ceiling include the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary and other biblical motifs, each identified in Greek. The interior walls are also painted with many Byzantine frescoes of grape vines, peacocks, allegorical figures and inscriptions. There are a total of 263 tomb chapels here, but we saw only a few of the decorated ones. There is also a roofless mudbrick church with niches for lamps and icons on the rear wall.

What was to have been the highpoint of our morning was a planned visit to Hibis Temple, which I had recently read was now open to visitors. Indeed, I had been to Hibis on two occasions since the ‘Grand Opening’ and it has always been closed. Well today was no different and although I felt disappointed, I should have expected as much. This is Egypt. At least today we could actually see a team of restorers at work there. No amount of Abdul talking to the gafir could get us inside.

Back in the centre of Kharga we stopped at the museum to collect Sam. We went inside and found that she had spent most of the morning talking with the director, an old friend. We were all invited into the office and given cups of tea, while he telephoned various people to try and get permission for us to visit Hibis, but to no avail. Afterwards we spent a couple of hours looking at the wonderful exhibits in the museum, most of which come from the Kharga and Dakhla area. There are some beautiful artefacts, including some very early wooden books from Kellis and several stelae and statues from different periods. The large modern museum is laid out on two floors with Pharaonic exhibits on the ground floor and Islamic artefacts on the upper floor.

When we finished in the museum we drove into Old Kharga and had a walk through the suq. I have never been in this part of the city before and it was interesting to see some of the buildings that still contained parts of their original medieval architecture. Of course we were tailed by two plain-clothed policemen, but they kept at a distance behind so we didn’t mind. The stalls in the suq were mostly filled with the fresh produce of the fertile oasis fields, potatoes, aubergines, oranges and tomatoes – all bigger and fresher than I’d seen anywhere else. And of course there were several stalls and shops selling the dates for which Kharga is famous. I expected to feel a little out of place in the suq because tourists must be a rare sight, but the stallholders were quite friendly and didn’t seem to mind us staring at their goods or taking the odd picture.

We ate at the hotel in the evening, not from choice but because the police would not allow us to go out into the town. Sam and I have a habit of sitting in a coffee shop after dinner and watching the world go by and this could not be done here. But the evening was very cold, so it was probably just as well.

The Desert Road

Journal: Sunday 16 January 2011

The planned early start today didn’t happen until about 9.30am, after a few hours of cleaning the apartment, breakfast, finishing packing up and then loading Abdul’s minibus for our trip to the Western Desert. Eventually we were on the road at last and heading south to Armant then turning east at el-Rizeiqat checkpoint onto the road over the escarpment.

It’s around 240km from el-Rizeiqat to the checkpoint at a village called Bagdad where we join the main road that runs through the New Valley. The desert road is straight and featureless with endless stony sand stretching as far as the eye can see, seemingly devoid of any living thing. But at least the road surface was generally good – not always the case – and we were only slowed down by spitting gravel during a few kilometres where re-surfacing was taking place. The most interesting part of the drive is coming down over the Kharga escarpment, where we stopped for a few minutes to admire the view. The Kharga depression seen from here is a far-off strip of green, a distant patchwork and the promise of civilization to any desert traveller. On reaching Bagdad we turned south to the town of Baris and then onto a new road leading to the winding sandy tarmac track that would take us to the Roman Fortress and Temple of Dush.

Suddenly the large hill on which the fortress stands was there before us and we pulled up in front of a cluster of buildings at it’s foot. I’ve been to Dush before and then, like now, I was impressed by the site of the fortress and temples on this huge sandy slope. We met the gafir and bought our tickets for 25 LE each. Although overcast, the day was warm and made warmer by our tramp up the steep slope through soft sand on a path leading up to the temple.

The Fortress, Qasr ed-Dush, was completed around AD 177 on the site of the ancient town of Kysis whose remains lie scattered around the hillside. As a border town, the fortress was strategically placed at the intersection of five desert tracks and probably guarded the Darb al-Dush, an east–west track to the Esna and Edfu temples in the Nile Valley. As a result it was solidly built from mud bricks and heavily garrisoned during Roman times. Parts of the massive walls can still be seen.

The sandstone temple adjoining the fortress was dedicated to Isis and Serapis, the Greek name for Osiris. We walked through the monumental stone gateway with its dedicatory inscription by Trajan dated to AD 116 and noted also the graffiti left by nineteenth century travellers many of whose names are now famous. The forecourt is still paved though wind-blown sand has piled up in the corners and against the remains of its five columns. A pillared hall, containing four slender columns fronts the sanctuary where an offering table still stands. The best view of the temple is from the roof which is accessible via a stone staircase to one side of the sanctuary. The gold decorations that once covered parts of the temple and earned it renown have long gone, but there is still some decoration on the inner stone walls.

The area around the temple is covered by low mudbrick walls outlining ancient buildings of the town and the sandy ground is littered by a mass of red pottery sherds. We walked across to another intriguing structure, apparently another temple built from mudbrick and with a vaulted roof. This is undecorated and little is known about the building. After a while we made our way back down the slope. I noticed a lot of recently landscaped buildings which I imagine is a new dig-house belonging to the French archaeologists of the IFAO who have been excavating here since 1976. Last time I visited here we saw only a village of tents!

Driving onwards in the minibus towards Kharga City we asked Abdul to stop so that we could photograph a series of sand dunes – the largest ones to be seen in this oasis and a good example of how nothing will stop a dune when it is marching. Telegraph poles, roads and even villages just have to be moved out of their way. After another 100km we arrived at our destination which was the Solimar Pioneer Hotel for two nights.

West Bank Monument Area

Journal: Saturday 15 January 2011

I woke this morning to another cloudy day. I’ve never seen so much consistently cloudy weather in Egypt in all my years of coming here. The days are fairly warm, perhaps like a spring day in the UK, but the nights are cold enough to need two duvets on my bed. But enough of weather – an obsession of the English we are told. My main gripe is that my photographs look dull and flat when cloud covers the sun.

We all went up to the monument area and bought tickets at the ticket office. It amazes me that the man in the ticket office remembers me from years ago, even though my visits to Egypt are much less frequent now than they used to be. Fiona, Malcolm and I bought tickets for some nobles tombs, but Sam was going straight to Medinet Habu, where we would meet up later. The three of us began our day at Dra’Abu el-Naga.

The tiny Dynasty XIX tomb of Roy (TT255) was restored and opened to visitors a decade or so ago and that was when I last visited the tomb. Luckily I took photographs then, as they are no longer allowed. The colours and naturalistic paintings are superb and depict Roy, a royal scribe, with his wife Nebtawy in a series of agricultural and funerary scenes. The ceiling of this tomb chapel is especially beautiful with an undulating geometric textile design in yellow, red and black.

The adjacent tomb of Shuroy (TT13) is only a few metres away. Shuroy was chief brazier-bearer of Amun during the Ramesside Period. I think this tomb must have had more restoration since I last saw it as I don’t remember the paintings here being so beautiful. Shuroy’s tomb chapel is slightly larger than Roy’s, being T-shaped, with the modern entrance cut into the rear chamber. This tomb also has beautiful ceilings and typically Ramesside scenes. Tickets for the two tombs cost 15 LE.

Leaving the Dra’ Abu el-Naga tombs we decided to walk along the monument road. The sun had finally made an appearance. We stopped briefly to watch the activity at a big busy tomb excavation nearby, but there is so much happening in this area now that I wasn’t sure who was working here.

Many of the old alabaster shops have been pulled down or have now closed. It’s a sad sight, their cheery and colourfully painted exteriors have been a part of the monument road for so many years. A few of the larger ones still exist and one or two had tourist coaches parked outside, the stone-carvers busily chipping away, demonstrating their craft to the tourists, who probably don’t realise that many of the heavy statuettes and translucent vases for sale are factory-manufactured elsewhere. I photographed each building as we passed by – they too could be gone by the time I come again.

We walked past the entrance to Deir el-Bahri, the Temple of Hatshepsut, with its sign saying that photographs are not allowed, even from the end of the road, without buying a ticket! Walking along the sandy track past the huge Shoshenq tomb structure I was chased off by the gafir just for carrying a camera and not even trying to take a picture. We could feel his eyes on us all the way down the road. But I did take photographs of el-Qurn and the vast empty space that was once the village of Sheikh Abd el-Qurna.

Reaching the Ramesseum we decided on a break. I was feeling quite cold in my short sleeved t-shirt, and it was nice to sit in the sun in the sheltered cafeteria garden to warm up. After half an hour or so we carried on, looking at each of the destroyed temples in turn along the monument road. Not a lot has changed since last year, though I noted that more work has been done on the Tuthmose III temple by the Spanish team of excavators. Standing on the road we looked at the area of Tuthmose’s pylon on the eastern side of the road which has obviously had more uncovered and several rounded low mudbrick shapes have now emerged from the sand.

Eventually we reached the Temple of Rameses III at Medinet Habu and spent a couple of hours looking around. Few changes here either. I wondered how many hours and days I had spent in this temple – probably more than anywhere else in Egypt and every stone and relief is very familiar to me. Occasionally scaffolding has been moved to where cleaning is taking place and I can take a picture or two of a wall that has previously been obscured. Casual visitors to the small Temple of Hatshepsut are still not allowed to go inside due to ongoing work. We watched amazed as a group of young Americans spent their whole temple visit trying to capture each other in mid-leap positions on camera. Fiona decided she just had to emulate them!

By the time we left the temple we were all freezing as there was a cold wind and the sun had once more vanished. We all went into the Hapy Habu Cafe for a delicious hot lemon to warm us up before making our way back to Ramla and an evening of home-cooked dinner and packing up for our desert journey that begins tomorrow.

A Few Qurna Tombs

Journal: Friday 14 January 2011

Four days in Egypt and we seem to have been dogged by water problems. That is, water or the lack of it. Each day the water in our apartment has gone off for most of the day and sometimes at night too – something to do with the mains running along this stretch of the Ramla road. Malcolm and Fiona next door haven’t had a problem, so we think it’s related to the pump to our second floor apartment. This morning Sam and I woke to a flooded apartment, when I stepped out of bed I was ankle deep in cold water. It would seem that a bathroom tap had been left open when the water was off! Thank goodness for tiled floors. We spent a couple of hours with squeegees mopping up before breakfast, but at least the floors were spotless by the time we had finished.

This morning’s entertainment from the balcony included a hot-air balloon dipping and hovering only a few metres above the Nile. I love hot air balloons but I was grateful not to be in this one.

Later in the morning Fiona, Malcolm and I went over to Luxor on the ferry to change some money. The ferry boat was as usual crammed with locals and tourists alike, crossing the Nile at frequent intervals. This is a pastime I always enjoy because river life is so vibrant and varied and there was a great assortment of boats out on the water this morning. We didn’t spend long in Luxor, just went to Thomas Cook to change money, followed by a walk through the Winter Palace gardens that we all love so much. The gardens always seem so green and lush with flowering plants and dazzling shades of bougainvillea, the lawns fluttering with hoopoes and colourful finches.  Walking up to the new Aboudi’s bookshop we happened across a strange procession of Egyptian pharaohs. This was a band of men dressed in pseudo-ancient-Egyptian costumes and playing a cacophony of brass instruments. Hmmm… !

Back on the West Bank we took an arabeya up to the monument area. It’s quite a few years since I visited the Qurna tombs and I had not been in any of them since the village of Old Qurna was completely bulldozed a couple of years ago. The slopes of the Theban hills look almost naked without the colourful clusters of houses and while I deplore the villagers losing their homes I had to admit that visiting the tombs was much easier without the hassle of crowds of village children and packs of village dogs. However, to me the loss of homes in the name of tourism is despicable.

Our first visit was to the Tomb of Rekhmire (TT100) which is on the slopes of Sheikh ‘Abd el-Qurna area. Rekhmire was Governor of the Town of Thebes and Vizier during the reigns of Tuthmose III and Amenhotep II. I had forgotten just how fascinating this tomb is, especially the long passage with a steeply sloping ceiling that depicts all sorts of industries of Dynasty XVIII, mostly connected to the Temple of Amun at Karnak. The paintings here show the artisans at work on their crafts, with leather-workers, rope-makers, carpenters, metal-workers, brick-makers and builders. Sculptors haul stone to be used in the manufacture of two royal colossal statues. These are important scenes showing the methods of production of the crafts of ancient Egypt. The quality of drawing and the detail of the scenes is superb.

Further up the slope is the Tomb of Sennefer (TT96). Sometimes called the ‘Tomb of Grapes’, Sennofer’s burial monument is in contrast more roughly executed than that of Rekhmire and is famous for the undulating plastered ceiling covered with vibrant painted grape vines. Another important official of Dynasty XVIII, Sennofer was Mayor of Thebes and is depicted in the tomb chapel with his sister-wife Senet-nefert. This has always been one of my favourites and on entering the antechamber after descending a long deep flight of stone steps, the colour and freshness of the painted walls stuns me every time.

It was late afternoon by the time we walked across to the Tombs of Menna (TT69) and Nakht (TT52). Unfortunately we made the mistake of asking a local young man who passed by on the path if we were going in the right direction. It turned out that the first tomb was only a few metres from where we were and we thanked him for his help and said goodbye, but the man insisted on coming with us, staying with us and demanding money afterwards for his services which we had not requested or needed. While I am happy to give baksheesh for genuine help I find this kind of persistent pest a nuisance and must be very off-putting to tourists. He didn’t get his extortion money and I should have known better.

We had little time left to see these last two tombs, as it was almost closing time. They are often described as among the most beautiful Dynasty XVIII tomb chapels in Qurna for their well-preserved colourful painted walls depicting agricultural and funerary scenes. But of course photography is no longer allowed in the tombs.

Back at the apartment in Ramla, Abdul told us that he has finally got permission for us to go to the Wadi Gedid, the New Valley oases of the Western Desert which is the main part of this year’s trip to Egypt. It has taken several days and long waits in various offices for Abdul to get the necessary travel permission. Apparently one branch of the police and the big tour companies have done a deal and are trying to stop individual travel there from Luxor!

Kanais

Journal: Thursday 13 January 2011

Another day, another speos. This morning found us back on the road south following the route to Edfu that we had taken yesterday. Sam and I had visited Kanais last year, but as Fiona and Malcolm had never been there, I was keen to re-visit this little temple of Seti I in the Eastern Desert. Sometime in the past year I had heard that the inner chamber of the speos was now open and I was keen to see Seti’s important inscription in which he details the building of the temple. Sam decided that she would rather spend the day in Edfu Temple, so we crossed the bridge into the town to drop her off there before continuing eastwards 50km along the Wadi Abbad and the road through the desert from Edfu to Marsa Alam.

I recognised the location of the temple, on the right-hand side of the road, by the three tall aerial masts on a hill just before the site.Two guards were waiting for us when we arrived. Fiona, Malcolm and I went straight to the temple and I was delighted to see that the inner chamber had a gate rather than the bricked up entrance of last year. The guard opened the gate for us without being asked. When I went inside the reason it is now open became obvious from the scaffolding that filled the space, the walls and ceiling of this lovely little temple are being cleaned and conserved. Although some of the reliefs are quite worn and damaged, the cleaned walls look stunning. The colour is typical Seti I, grey-blues on a white background and the ceiling is particularly spectacular with yellow stars in a blue sky and a fabulous winged vulture motif down the centre isle.

In the entrance to the rock-cut chamber is the first part of Seti’s long inscription, dated to Year 9 of his reign. The text tells the story of how the king stopped here while making an inspection of his gold mines, from where the gold to furnish his Abydos temple was acquired. His journey had been long and arduous in the heat of the desert and the king decreed that a well be dug to quench the thirst of all desert travellers and for the gold-miners who must pass this way and a shrine that they may praise the gods and the king. To the right is the second part of the inscription, devoted to blessings on those who look after the shrine and the mines with which it is associated, and threatening those who allow it to fall into neglect with curses. A third inscription, to the left of the doorway, was intended to echo the dialogue of travellers who have benefited by the king’s benevolence.

The walls on either side of the chamber depict the King offering to various deities, while nine engaged seated statues are ranged in three alcoves on the far end wall. There are four square pillars in the centre, also with reliefs of the King and gods, though some are very damaged. The temple is dedicated principally to Amun-re and to Horus of Edfu, but the seven main deities honoured here are the same gods who have shrines at Seti’s Abydos temple.

Needless to say, we spent a long time looking at the reliefs, while the guard waited patiently outside.

While Seti’s speos is really lovely, the site at Kanais has another attraction. The high cliffs and large boulders surrounding the temple are covered in ancient reliefs and graffiti. Near the temple, high on the cliffs there are three stele belonging to men from Seti’s reign: Anena and Nebseny, Yuni and Panub.

I particularly wanted to have another look at Panub’s stele in which Panub is kneeling before an un-named goddess who is probably Astarte, mounted on a galloping horse brandishing a shield and spear. I had missed photographing this last year. This part of the stele is very worn but I managed to get a photograph through a long lens.

Meanwhile Fiona had gone off exploring and I eventually spotted her half way up the cliff face perched on a ledge looking at some high graffiti. Malcolm and I stuck mostly to the lower levels. Ancient carvings suddenly appear everywhere when you begin to look. My favourite ones are the very early depictions of curved boats. There are also lots of animals, particularly  elephants (brought through this wadi by the Romans), gazelle and birds. I could spend a whole day looking at these pictures, carved, painted or bruised by ancient travellers who have passed through the wadi. Of course there are quite a few more modern graffiti too.

Finally we had a look at the deep well said to have been dug on Seti’s orders to sustain travellers and workmen on the way to his gold mines. There is also a Roman fortified water station consisting of the lower parts of an enclosure wall in which a few chambers can still be seen. The sandy floor is covered with broken pottery sherds.

After thanking the guards and giving them their baksheesh, we set off back towards Edfu, collected Sam from the car park in front of Edfu Temple and then continued on the long drive back to Luxor in the glow of another beautiful sunset.

Gebel el-Silsila Royal Shrines

Journal: Wednesday 12 January 2011

After a much earlier breakfast today, by 8.00am the four of us were in Abdul’s minibus speeding south towards Edfu, through wide stretches of agricultural land on the banks of the Nile. Crossing the bridge at Edfu, we stopped in the park for a mid-morning cup of coffee and watched families with small children strolling along the little paths between tall shady trees.

South of Edfu the road climbs gradually up towards the sandstone quarries, passing through increasingly rural villages where men and women and children too were working in the fields or tending their animals. After around an hour the road becomes a bumpy sand-covered track full of pot-holes and begins to climb more steeply through a barren rocky landscape, but always with the river coming in and out of view to our left. Eventually we arrived at our destination, Gebel el-Silsila.

Sam and I came here last year but Fiona and Malcolm have not been before. As we pulled up alongside the ‘visitor centre’ we could see that a beautiful dahabeya moored at the river bank was just leaving and the gafir was arriving from the east bank on a boat. A family of three people arrived on a felucca at the same time, but apart from that the site was deserted.

Our first stop, accompanied by the gafir, was the magnificent Speos of Horemheb, a rock-cut shrine dedicated to the god Amun and a variety of deities associated with the Nile and Aswan region. This is a very nice shrine with some lovely reliefs, though many of them are quite damaged. One or two scenes in particular stand out, including the famous ‘Victory of Horemheb’ which depicts the king being carried on his lion-throne after a Nubian campaign, with his retinue and his Nubian captives. On the south wall the deities of the first cataract are lined up life-sized in a damaged but beautiful relief. Here we see Amun, the goddess Tauret in a rare human-headed form suckling a young Horemheb and looking very like Hathor, as well as the ram-headed god Khnum.

We left the speos to walk along the path beneath high sandstone cliffs and quarry-faces where smaller shrines of private individuals have been carved out of the rock. Many of these still have fabulous painted ceilings and lovely reliefs of the owners. Fiona, who among other things climbs rocks for a living, couldn’t wait to have a go at the less accessible shrines.

When we reached the main part of the quarry the gafir asked if we would like to see the Royal Shrines. What a question! Last year we had been told that they were impossible to get to, completely inaccessible except by river, so I wondered what had changed. I hesitated only briefly as the gafir headed towards a crumbling staircase, its steps each half a metre high rocks and from which I had been told  there was no way down the other side.

Reaching the top I could see that there was quite a decent path, not too steep, which wound its way towards a high rock known as ‘the Capstan’ and beyond the Capstan were the three Royal Shrines I had so wanted to see, perched right on the edge of the river. The shrines belong to Merenptah, Rameses II and Seti I (from north to south), with a quay in front of them, but Seti’s shrine and the quay were destroyed by an earthquake. As most of the quay had actually crumbled away into the water we had to watch our footing in order to get far enough back to photograph the shrines.

The fierce mid-day heat was bouncing off the cliffs as we climbed back up to the top of the gebel and then came down again near the Speos of Horemheb. My feet were agony by the time we got back, skin rubbed away by harsh sand because I was wearing sandals, and my out-of-condition leg muscles screaming from the climb, but it had been worth it. We were hoping to be offered a trip in the boat to the East Bank quarries, as we had been last year, but today we were told a definite ‘No – it’s closed’! I guess the gafir wanted his siesta.

It was a very long drive back to Luxor but there was such a fabulous sunset with blood red streaks of cloud reflecting in the river, that I hardly noticed the time it took. We all had a lovely dinner at el-Mersala Hotel on the West Bank, but again it became very cold as the evening wore on. I’m not used to cold weather in Egypt.