Day Six (Part 2) - Valley of the Kings

After our brief visit to the Colossi of Memnon we headed for the Valley of the Kings. We parked the minibus and headed for the rather large queue at the ticket office. After a brief delay our guide returned with our tickets. A short bus-cum-train journey later we entered the Valley of the Kings. Our guide had informed us that our ticket allowed us to enter three of the tombs (you have to pay an additional £8.00 sterling to enter King Tutankhamun's tomb, which we didn't do. It is one of the smallest and darkest tombs so there didn't really seem to be much point). We left it to our guide to decide which tombs we should visit so he chose the tombs of Merneptah (KV8), Ramses IX (KV6) and Ramses I (KV16).

Unfortunately you are not allowed to take photographs in the tombs, a little disappointing but I can understand why. The light pollution from camera flashes was causing the wall paintings to deteriorate. With several million people visiting each year it wouldn't take long to destroy images which have survived over a millenia.

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Also, each wall of the tombs is protected by non-reflective perspex. There is a very obvious reason for this. I was absolutely shocked and disgusted to modern graffiti on some of the reliefs. Idiots had carved or written their names on the walls, over the paintings. What kind of a person goes to the Valley of the Kings and does that? My faith in modern humanity was not restored.

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The tombs themselves are amazing. To see such wonderous works of art and to imagine the workmanship that must have gone into actually building the tomb is mindblowing. There is so much detail in the paintings and carvings. The engineering and precision of the tunnels is amazing.

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I have now idea how long we were at the Valley of the Kings. Time seems to stand still. The people who were at one time buried here were responsible for the most amazing and interesting times in Earth's history! What a mind blowing place!

Day 6 - Deir El Bahari >>