Egypt - Part 6 - Luxor Hot Air Balloon Ride

Today was another dream come true day for me – Hot air balloon ride 😊.

We woke up early in the morning at around 4 am. We were transferred into a mini van  and brought near a place, which was completely filled with tourist’s and the balloons were being inflated. It was an amazing site to watch during dawn with colorful hot air balloons.

Balloons were ready now and we were asked to get into each one of them one group after another. As it started slowly rising up in the sky, we were little scared and excited too. Mixed feelings in fact 😊. I am little afraid of heights but I felt completely safe the whole ride. Because once you are up, you will forget that you are so much height above land. Sun started rising as we were in the air and the view from the balloon was simply spectacular.

Luxor hot air balloon ride is one of the most beautiful hot air balloon rides in the world. From an air balloon, you have a perfect view on how the Egyptians strategically divided the fields. It is amazing to see how the green fields abruptly turn into plain desert.

It was a ride of around 30-45 minutes I do not remember the exact duration. Nevertheless, seriously worth it. Please do not miss it when in Egypt J. You get to see the ruins, excavations, valleys and the Nile River – breathtaking views of each one of these from top. Truly incredible.

As we started descending, we could see our van chasing our balloon and helpers running towards the balloon to help us get down and escort back to van. 

We got down  and certificates were given to us. We  clicked pictures with it highlighting our achievement😊.

Later around 8:00 am, we came back to cruise, refreshed and had breakfast. We checked out from cruise after breakfast and bid adieu to Alexander Nile Cruise, which became our second home during this trip and giving us an amazing never before experience.

We had 2 places to cover for the day which included visit to the west bank – Valley of the Kings and Temple of Queen Hatshepsut.

Valley of Kings – “Gateway to the afterlife”

This is a valley in Egypt where rock cut tombs were excavated for pharaohs. During Egypt’s New Kingdom, the valley became a royal burial ground for pharaohs such as Tutankhamun, Ramses 2, queens as well as priests.

This is the place where you can see preparations Egyptians made for the next world in which they were promised continuing life. Mummification was done to preserve the body so that the deceased's soul would be able to re-animate in it afterlife. Interesting theories unfold in this place in each tomb.

You will be amazed by the incredible construction of the tombs dug deep into the mountain, and their brightly colored and well-preserved decorations.

The road into the Valley of the Kings is a gradual, dry and hot climb. So make sure you carry sunglasses, cap, water and good shoes. Photography is not allowed inside the tombs. So you will be able to capture only the valley in your camera. No matter which tomb you enter, the paintings on the wall are vivid and thought provoking.

Temple of Queen Hatshepsut.

This is a mortuary temple dedicated to the longest ruling female of Ancient Egypt, Queen Hatshepsut. She was the only female Pharaoh of Egypt and this is her funeral temple near the valley of kings. The temple is decorated with statues, sphinxes, and reliefs, which have been meticulously restored over time.

Our bus stopped at the parking lot and it was a very long walk to the temple in hot sun. Some of our fellow lady travelers were already drained out by walking in Valley of kings and hence decided to stay back in bus. Rest of us started walking with our guide. 

This monument appears to come out of the rock cliff behind it enhancing the majesty of this place.   There are around 2-3 terraces here which you can take stairs and climb up. But we were too much drained out and had no energy left to explore the entire place. One suggestion, try to visit during dusk if possible.

The temple is stunning to watch but the carvings are damaged by queen’s successor/step-son (as mentioned by our guide) as an attempt to erase the history of only female pharaoh who dared to wear the crown. Hence there is nothing much of art work to see here.

We hopped onto our bus and set off to our last destination of our Egypt tour - Hurghada.