Our day began with a water taxi ride from our hotel to the West Bank of the Nile where we boarded our coaches for a short trip to the Valley of the Kings. We visited four tombs in total but the one we were anxious to see was Tut's. It is not very impressive when compared to most of the other Kings and Queens. That, of course, is because he died at such a young age before much work could be done on it. While his tomb contained incredible treasures, it is sadly missing the wonderful artwork of others. But it does contain his mummy now which none of the others do.
As I mentioned, tourism is way down and as a result the people selling souvenirs are even more aggressive than in the past. They actually were quite annoying but it was nice to see these places with only a few hundred people rather than thousands.
After the Valley, we had a quick visit to Queen Hatchepsut's temple and then on to Habu which was Ramses II's funeral temple. We had enjoyed an incredible dinner there back in 2007 that Silversea put on for the World Cruisers and it was interesting to see the place in daylight. Restoration continues here as in so many other parts of this country but most of it is being done by archeologists from foreign countries. It seems the Egyptian government is a bit cash strapped with their only major source of income being transit fees from the Suez Canal. Captain Corsaro informed us that the fee charged for the Silver Whisper yesterday was $200,000.00
After a quick photo stop at the Colossi of Memnon, we returned to the hotel for lunch before heading off on the long ride back to Safaga. We noticed a significant reduction in armed guards compared to previous visits. Not sure if that's because the new government is not as keen on protecting tourists or if the danger is not so acute now. Time will tell.
So it's back to the chore of packing now. We are docked in Alexandria and the temperature has dropped but the sun is still shining.
Ciao
D & K
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