Valley of the Kings
Walked a few blocks to the Nile on trip to the Valley of the Kings. Boarded a small boat, in the dark, going up a narrow plank, for a 10-minute ride. Walked to small town and met three donkey men who got each of us on a donkey. We were all in stitches and the drivers kept saying, “shush, shush” I asked them why they were telling us to be quiet and they said they didn’t mean us they were talking to the donkeys to make them calm down. After that my poor donkey heard “shush” from me for the next hour until we stopped for breakfast.
We went into some of the king’s tombs. There are 64 pharaoh’s tombs and 57 tombs in the valley of the queens. They are so beautiful you can’t describe them, with statues, hieroglyphics and carvings still in beautiful colours. All the statues everywhere in Egypt had their noses broken. They believed that their spirits came back through their noses and a famous queen ordered all their noses to be broken, including the sphinx, so she would be the only one to return. The Christians also did a lot of damage by using the tombs as churches and by carvings their crosses, etc. in the walls and statues. Of course all the treasures from the storage rooms had been stolen.
After seeing three tombs, it takes at least two hours; we had to climb out of the valley. It was steep and hard clambering over the rocks and sand in the heat. When we finally got to the top we were not too pleased to be pestered with peddlers. Back came the donkeys. I took one look at the single trail along the high cliffs and told the head Arab, Abdul, that there was no way I was riding a donkey over those trails. He told me he would look after me. He gave his donkey to the other Arab and led me over the cliffs.
Pretty good for a 71 year old
He spoke perfect English so was very interesting and I relaxed and started to really enjoy myself. He gathered fossilized sea sells to show me that was how the floods were during Noah’s time. He had a wife and three kids and three donkeys with a small farm. I asked him if he was considered well off and he replied, “Yes, thanks to the blessings of Allah.” We rode for about an hour to the bottom of the cliffs. Abdul then got on his donkey and still led mine as we followed the group through his village. His friends in the village were calling out to him and laughing as we rode by. I asked him what was so funny and he said they asking if he was bringing home a second wife and that they were going to run and tell his wife I was coming. It was great fun and of course everyone teased me about my friend “Abdul.” Shane videoed it all, especially me getting off and on the donkey. I tipped Abdul $10.00, the best money I ever spent.
Nile River
We took the boat back across the Nile and sat on balcony outside my room and sun bathed while the rest went shopping.
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