Valley of the Kings
As you'll see in the pictures, the Valley of the Kings is one desolate place! I'm sure no one would think to scout around there looking for buried treasure (at least that's what the pharaohs were hoping anyway!).
While we were there we saw an excavation going on and wondered what they might find. Shockingly, when we got back to our hotel that night and were watching the news they made the big announcement that they had discovered the first tomb in the Valley of the Kings since Howard Carter uncovered King Tut's tomb in 1922 and it was the very spot where we saw them excavating! How crazy is that? They found a small pink gold coffin in the tomb as well as some other interesting items. You can read more about the things they found at http://www.kv-63.com/.
We got to go explore inside a few of the tombs while we were there. It was crazy to walk down into the ground and then deep into the hillside through these narrow passageways that eventually opened up into various rooms where the sacophogus and treasure were kept. The wall decorations were amazingly detailed and colorful. We were deep inside of one of the tombs when suddenly the lights went out! Creepy!
After our visit to the Valley of the Kings we visited an alabaster shop. Alabaster is a mineral that can be carved into beautiful statues, bowls, cups, etc. It was so interesting watching the craftsmen make the objects by hand (they even let my friend, Lance, try it out, but they cracked up at his efforts).
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