Queen Hatshepsut's Temple, Luxor

...going to be going to Queen Hatshepsut's temple first, so as to avoid the other groups.

For any of you that are interested, Queen Hatsheput's Temple is located in between the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens and on a direct axis with Karnak Temple (look out for that later).

~What's this place all about?~

We arrive at the car park of Hatsheput's temple and can see it in the distance sticking ...
...to start~

Queen Hatsheput is believed to have reigned from about 1479 - 1458 BC. I was informed by our guide that in Egypt, they count BC as being the year that Christ was crucified and not the year that he was born.

As with a lot of ancient history, there are a lot of contradicting facts out there, so if anyone would like to correct me, please feel free to drop me a message and I will amend my review. Anyway.
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As some of you may know I have just returned from a week in Egypt, we started off in Luxor and this was the first site that we visited on our magical mystery tour.

Oh and sorry about the title, I was having trouble remembering her name and our guide told me to remember it as Hat, Cheap, Suit!

~Getting There~

We were booked onto a river cruise, and our boat was docked just outside Luxor Temple, that morning we were all woken up early for a 7am breakfast and then piled onto a coach. The trip from Luxor Temple (on the East Bank of the Nile), by coach to Deir El-Bahri & Egypt's famous West Bank takes about 20 mins, crossing the river by the only bridge in Luxor, aptly named Luxor Bridge. If anyone stays in Luxor, you will probably be staying on the East Bank, I don't believe that there are any hotels on the West Bank.

The land along the landscape along the banks of the Nile are lush and green, but all of a sudden, about 15 mins into our journey, it changes, everything is dry & baron. The first thing that we see to arouse our interest are on our right hand side, two massive statues - The Colossi of Memnon (but that's another review, for a few more pennies!).

Anyway, past the Colossi and then turn right, on your left hand side are the sandy mountains, and on the right is the dry, baron sandy grounds and beyond that greenery, there is so much to see, but again, that is another tale for another time!

We are told by our guide that we are going to be going to Queen Hatshepsut's temple first, so as to avoid the other groups.

For any of you that are interested, Queen Hatsheput's Temple is located in between the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens and on a direct axis with Karnak Temple (look out for that later).

~What's this place all about?~

We arrive at the car park of Hatsheput's temple and can see it in the distance sticking out of the side of the mountain, and our guide was right, hardly any other groups had arrived yet, it was 8:30 in the morning. As it was a slightly windy day, our guide decided that the coach was going to pull up so that we could all see the temple whilst he gave us a little lecture before letting us loose.

From our coach, we got a good view of the temple we were about to be visiting, a huge stone structure, that could almost be part of the mountain itself. It looked in pristine condition, our guide explained that it had recently been restored by a Polish team, unfortunately, the way that they had restored the building was to use completely new materials, about 50 - 60 years ago, hence it's brand, spanking new appearance. Also, the ramps leading up the various tiers of the temple were very new too, only 7 years old apparently. When I heard this, my heart sank. I came to Egypt to see things that the ancients had built. The only original features of the temple are the back walls & I think a small temple to the left hand side, dedicated to Hathor (depicted in the temple as a cow).

Around the temple in the mountains are lots of small holes, these are apparently the tombs of her lovers, Hatsheput apparently had many lovers and every time one of her lovers declared their love for her and asked for her hand in marriage, she would distance herself from them and they would most probably be assassinated.

To the left of the coach park is a sandy coloured building with a dome on the top, we are told by our guide that it is a university or school for guides. They need to spend 3 years at this school before they are allowed to go off and become guides, and during their first summer of training, they must work either on excavation sites around Hatsheput's Temple or restoration work on the temple itself.

Further up, heading towards the temple, is a stone arch, which we are told are the remnants of Senmut's temple, excavations appear in be a work in progress at the moment, the supposed architect of her temple, and apparently her lover for 7 years. According to our guide, he also had a slightly shortened life, after declaring his love to Hatshepsut.

~I'm going in~

After a bit of information, it is time to go in, our guide hands out our tickets & leaves us to our own devices and we have 45 mins. We disembark the coach and the way to the temple is past a row of stalls - watch out for this you get hassled, but more about that in a later review.

Anyway, past the stalls/mini market & you get to the entrance gates, I assume you can buy tickets from here, but I am not sure, show your ticket to the guard and you are let in. The ticket gate is set a way back from the temple itself, our guide had also provided us with little blue tickets which let us ride a little train thing, well it wasn't really a train, but one of those golf buggy things with carriages on the back - you know like the kind at Universal Studios or Disney Land.

Anyway, we get to the front of the temple and there are two cordoned off tree stumps, according to the little sign these stumps sticking out of the sand are stumps of trees that Queenie had bought to her temple from Punt*. Ok, so that is sort of impressive - really old tree stumps.

Anyway on to the temple, the ground level is closed off and there is nothing there, so let's start climbing this 7 year old ramp. Up close the temple is a little disappointing as it is so new looking, all the stairs on the ramp are even and easy to walk up. I get to the second level and make a quick bee line to the right hand side, the birth colonnade, to try and get a look at this original wall.

A bit disappointing again, as it is very faded (well I guess years under sand will do this to a building) and a lot of the inscriptions & images are badly damaged - due to Tuthmosis III erasing any images of Hatsheput. Heading back towards the left side of the temple it is pretty much of the same standard, a lot of the images are badly damaged or defaced (again by Tutmosis III).

Being unimpressed by the first level, I head up the next ramp to get to the upper part of the temple, it all just looks too new and shiny, the upper court (towards the back) is again a bit unimpressive, just because you know that it has only just been rebuilt. To the far lefthand side however there is a chapel dedicated to Hathor which doesn't appear to have been restored. I did manage to spot a picture of Hathor. There are various men dotted around to try and guide tourists with information (and hopefully get a tip), this particular little man did point out the image of Hathor, it is quite hard to see as it is now getting quite faded and I think that the light probably didn't help.

One other point to mention is that from just outside Hathor's chapel on the "balcony" type area, you get a good view of the Mortuary temple of Mentuhotop II, which appears to still be being excavated. I managed to take a quick look around in about 20 mins (walking slowly to kill time). I spent the last 10 mins perching on a wall smoking cigarettes.

*I get the impression that nobody quite knows where Punt was - according to ancient Egyptian texts, Punt is possibly near the coast of Sudan, some also argue that Punt could be in Somalia.

~Would I recommend going~

Ok, it was quite uninspiring, but I would have to recommend going, if you are not going as part of a package, like we did, and going to the Valley of the Kings, I would suggest going anyway, just for the experience, this is not awe-inspiring or mind blowing, but is a good part of history (more about Hatsheput for those that are interested in a min), and seeing as you are in the area anyway, you might as well go.

If you are planning a trip, I think that 45 mins is a decent amount of time to have, you definitely do not need any more than that.

Oh, and a small point to mention is that there are toilet facilities (in a porter cabin) just before the little market/stalls on your way out. I did actually use the toilet and it was very clean, I was extremely impressed.

I have tried to find out how much a trip costs, as ours was included in our holiday package, but can't seem to find any information anywhere, all I can tell you is that my ticket stub said 25 LE which is 25 Egyptian pounds, this works out to roughly £2.50 sterling. Having said that though, whilst in Egypt, I noticed that they have different prices for locals and for tourists.

~Gather round children, history is about to start~

Queen Hatsheput is believed to have reigned from about 1479 - 1458 BC. I was informed by our guide that in Egypt, they count BC as being the year that Christ was crucified and not the year that he was born.

As with a lot of ancient history, there are a lot of contradicting facts out there, so if anyone would like to correct me, please feel free to drop me a message and I will amend my review. Anyway.

According to our guide, Queen Hatshepsut was one of only 3 reigning Queens of Egypt, and one of only 2 actual Egyptian Queens, the third being Cleopatra, but apparently she was not Egyptian, but Greek. Our guide informed us that the only other Queen before her only lasted as Pharaoh for one day, but Wickipedia states that Queen Sobekneferu reigned for 3 years, 10 months & 24 days. Either way, impressive for "womanists" back in the day!

The only daughter of Tutmose I & Aahmes, found herself in a unique position when her two brothers died. When her father died, there were no male heirs, so Hatsheput's half brother, from an illegal queen was made the next ruler of Egypt. Since Tutmose II was so young Hatsheput married her half brother and became Great Royal Wife, and apparently had a lot of control. Tutmose II died young & he and Hatsheput had no sons, but Tutmose II did have a son, by an illegal queen - Tutmose III. Tutmose III assumed the throne, but Hatsheput still had a lot of control, finally in 1473BC she had herself crowned pharaoh.

In many depictions on walls, including one in Luxor Temple, Hatsheput is depicted as quite male, the image in Luxor Temple depicts her performing a ritual that Pharaohs had to perform once a year to prove they were strong enough to carry on ruling, with male genitalia, it is also said that she began dressing as a man.

Our guide also said that her Mortuary Temple was built between the Valley of the Kings & Valley of the Queens to prove that she was stronger than any Queen and as strong as any of the Kings that had reigned before her.

*on my criteria ratings, I have rated transport links as bad, as you need to probably hire a taxi to get you there, family friendly is average obviously depending on the age of your kids and how interested they are in Egyptology.

Thanks for reading guys, as mentioned earlier, ancient history is a bit sketchy so feel free to correct me on any points and I will amend xxx  

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