Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut Temple and Colossi of Memnon
You will be picked up by your Egyptologist guide in the morning from your hotel or directly from Luxor International Airport to reach the West Bank of Luxor.
Discover the Valley of the Kings, a symbol of the pharaohs' glory. The pharaohs chose this valley as their royal necropolis after the pyramids of Lower Egypt were stripped of their treasure. The site contains 63 tombs excavated into the mountain rock, and the most famous one belongs to the young king Tutankhamun.
Venture inside a royal tomb and examine the coloured scenes on the walls, which will give you insight into the beliefs and funerary rites of the Ancient Egyptians. Here, you will understand that preparing for death was the first goal of a pharaoh. Therefore, the tomb was, for each king, the outstanding achievement of his life. The royal tombs remain a great witness to the prestige and greatness of the pharaohs.
Continue your excursion to the Memorial Temple of Hatshepsut. Upon arriving at the site, the impressive cliff will immediately captivate your eyes. But it is at the foot of this masterpiece of nature that the true wonder remains: the Hatshepsut Temple. Its exterior architecture matches perfectly with the refined cliff, and the building seems to have been sculpted into the rock.
Once inside the temple, you can examine scenes on the walls that tell the story of the female pharaoh who made Egypt strong and wealthy under her reign. You can notice that many figures have their faces damaged. These are representations of Hatshepsut that Tutmosis III wanted to erase. He did everything to remove the name of Hatshepsut from history. He ruined the faces of some of her statues and destroyed or removed her cartouches. Indeed, after her death, Tutmosis III became king and finally took revenge on his stepmother, who had stolen power from him.
Come to the last site on the West Bank, the Colossi of Memnon. Massive, proudly standing, and with their gaze fixed toward the Nile, the two Colossi of Memnon were the guardians of Amenhotep's memorial temple. This complex was the largest and most sumptuous in Egypt, and Amenhotep was revered as a god. After an earthquake in 27 BC, the remaining part of one of the colossi was believed to sing at sunrise. But this sound disappeared after the renovations. Several earthquakes and floods swept away this prodigious temple. Today, the area is a vast archaeological research site, still guarded by the two great colossi.
After the tour ends, your guide will transfer you back to your hotel or the airport.
