The Valley of the Kings is where most of the Pharaohs from the 18th, 19th, and 20th dynasties were buried. There are 62 known tombs in the valley – and based on what we saw and learned in Egypt, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that there were more!

Valley of the Kings is part of the ancient city – Thebes. UNESCO registered the area as a world heritage site. (UNESCO had also designated Luxor, Karnak, and Valley of the Queens were included as well).

Back in the day, there were a lot of grave robbers. So the plan was to conceal the tombs in a random valley – and create a tunnel system to confuse the robbers. The tombs were filled with items that would help the king in the next world – so there were lots of goodies in each of the tombs.

All of the walls were decorated with different gods and documenting the king’s journey through the underworld. Most of the tombs had been cleared out or robbed, all except for the most famous one. You know who!

King Tutankhamun (Tut!) Unfortunately, you have to pay extra to see it. However, if you saw our pictures from the Egyptian museum – you actually already got to see a lot of his things! His tomb had been covered by rocks, which helped preserve it from discovery until 1922!

Our tour included three tombs – which I think only took us about an hour. We visited Ramses IX first.

Next, we went to Rameses III.

The last tomb we entered was the Rameses I. The last one was definitely the steepest and the smallest. However, I think it was the most colorful.

And that was the end! We were on our way back to our hotel at this point – just one more picture looking back at the valley.

As we were walking out, we had decided to pick up a few souvenirs from the market. As Andy was reaching out to pay one man for our guide book, another man put a fake scarab in his hand. He was suggesting that Andy had to pay for it – and of course, Andy, thinking on his feet noticed the man had long sleeves. He quickly put the scarab in the man’s sleeve and walked away without any hassle as the Egyptians like to say. Moral of the story: never have an open hand in the market. 😂

We had checked out of Chateau Laffayette and made our way to Iberotel hotel, which was right on the river. Luxor was by far our favorite (and cleanest!) city that we stopped in.

This was our last night in Luxor before catching a short flight back to Cairo.

Upcoming Activities:
-Flight to Cairo
-Saladin Citadel