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Monday 28 November 2011

Saturday 8th October

Another early start today as our Scottish contingent headed over to the West Bank!!  The plan was to visit the Workers Village, Medinet Habu, The Ramesseum and Carter's House before heading to Al Moudira for lunch.  As these were all places that I'd not seen before, I was really quite excited about the trip. We all piled into the mini bus and headed off, stopping off to buy our tickets, then it was time for our first stop at the Workers Village ("Deir El Medina") where we also visited the tombs of "Sennedgem" and "Inherkhau", which are quite spectacular.  No cameras allowed in them though, so no photos of that part!!  

We all then walked through the village area towards the Ptolematic Temple dedicated to the Godess "Hathor", which was all very interesting, and I was again busy with the camera!!

Workers Village

Panoramic view of the Workers Village

Ptolematic Temple

Ptolematic Temple

Ptolematic Temple
Ptolematic Temple
It was only me, Suzie and her mum that had gone to see the temple, so we walked back up towards the Workers Village where we met the rest of the party and set off towards Medinet Habu.  I had already seen pictures of this place and had always wanted to visit, so it was fantastic to actually be there!!  The carvings here are so deep and just wonderful.  I'll include a small selection of photos here but all the main ones are in my albums on Webshots  http://community.webshots.com/user/marlscat







Just look at the load this donkey is carrying!!
The others in the party had gone off for a welcome cold drink at the nearby cafe while Suzie and I took more photos, and when we met up with them I found that I had missed a real good photo/video opportunity where they had been having a laugh and a dance around with the police guards, all singing an Egyptian pop song!!!  I wish I had been there to see that!!

After we caught up with the others by having a long cold drink, we set off again on our travels, passing by the Egyptian craft shop called Caravanserai where we hoped we could buy some presents to take home.  It was disappointing to find that it was closed, but our driver spoke to some of the locals and, like magic, someone appeared with the keys and opened the shop for us!  Wonderful!!  We crossed the wooden bridge over the irrigation canal and entered the shop, which was like Aladdin's Cave!!  You need to look past the dust to see the beauty of some of the objects for sale, but there is no hassle or pressure to buy.  Everything has a fixed and reasonable price and it was a pleasurable experience just to be left to wander around to choose our purchases.  So, if you pass by here and find it closed, ask your driver to ask the locals and someone will come along and open up for you.








After that little spot of retail therapy, it was off on our travels again, this time to the Ramesseum.  Suzie's mum had told me about the bee eater birds that lived here and I did catch sight of some.  I knew there was one in a nearby tree and focused in and took a photo but had no idea if I'd actually caught one on camera or not.  I was lucky, and I had, which was more by good luck than anything else!!

Bee eater
Almost the second after we got there however, a very persistent guardian attached himself to us like a limpet to me, Suzie and her mum, which was very annoying.  No amount of telling him that we wanted to be on our own seemed to get through to him.  However, after the inevitable hand out for a tip we told him that we were three Scottish ladies who did not carry money with them. Well, that seemed to do the trick, he stomped off in a total strop and left us alone to wander around and take our photos!!







Our next and last stop of the day was Howard Carter's House.  The house is now a museum and still has some of Howard Carter's possessions on show inside.  It was fascinating to see inside the rooms - like taking a step back through time, and photography is permitted, so I got a bit snap-happy again!!  After wandering around the rooms, which were remarkably cool considering we were there during quite a hot part of the day, we were then taken into a room where the 'ghost' of Howard Carter gives a 20 minute talk.  It was really quite interesting, but it's quite a confined space so I'm glad just the six of us were there as this room got quite hot and stuffy despite a fan being switched on. 

Just like a little oasis

Bedroom

Kitchen

Darkroom

Dining table

'Ghost' of Howard Carter giving a slide show

Hoophoe
It's such a shame that the cafe isn't open here now.  I had read so much about it prior to our holiday and was looking forward to lunch here, however for a little baksheesh, the guard made us a very welcome cup of tea (well, glasses of Egyptian tea, not tea as us in the UK would know it!!).

The empty cafe now it is closed - very sad
As you can imagine, after a busy morning of sightseeing, we were all getting a bit peckish so it was time to move on to lunch at the Al Moudira Hotel and, despite the disappointment of Carter's Cafe being closed, we had made a good choice!!

This hotel looks just beautiful and very Arabesque in design (I hope that's the correct description I've used!).  The staff were very pleased to see us and we ordered lunch which was just delicious.  As we wanted to have a look at the grounds and the pool area, a member of staff was summoned to show us around, which is just as well as we might just have got ourselves lost on the many pathways around the lovely gardens.  I'm not sure that I'd want to stay here for a whole two week holiday as it is a bit out of the way, but for a few days of pampering and relaxation I think it would be just perfect!!

A peek through the windows to the bar

Cool archways

Lots of leafy areas and fountains

The Scottish contingent!!

Luxurious lounge

Inviting pool
Quiet seating for meditation or reading
From here we headed back to the hotel for some rest and relaxation at the pool while contemplating where we would go for dinner that night.  We decided to go to Puddleduck once more and say goodbye to Jill and Mick as this would be our last dinner on the East Bank having arranged to be at a 'farewell dinner' with Suzie, her mum, Mr and Mrs KV-Explorer and Mr and Mrs Bob62 the next night on the West Bank.

We again had a fantastic meal at Puddleduck and said our goodbyes.  On the way back to the hotel, apart from buying our rolls at the local bakers (still 2LE for eight rolls), we stopped off at the ice cream seller and bought some ice-cream - yummy!!  I wish we had done this before!!

Decisions, decisions - what flavour to choose??
As ever, you will have guessed by now that it was straight back to the hotel for a nightcap and I think I was almost sleeping before I even got back to the room that night as I was so tired after a long and satisfying day of sightseeing!!

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