Where it All Began!

Overnight we were moored near a quarry. What...did I just hear you say, "Boring!"? You are forgetting that we are in Egypt & I am yet to get bored!!!! This amazing quarry was where all the limestone blocks for the Temples in Luxor & further afield, were made & then transported down river ready for construction. It is also where obelisks like Cleopatras Needle in London, & the Obelisk in Place de Concord, Paris, were detached from the rock face! Before dinner last night, we all wrapped up warm before climbing aboard the tug boat. This took us to see the lights highlighting the chapel & shrines carved into the rock face, that we were to visit today. The thousands of workers who plied their skill here, were here for long hours & being religious people they needed shrines at which they could offer respect during the day. The main one is the Chapel of Horemhep, who was a General for Akenaton, then Tutankamun, after whom he became the 2nd King. He was well beloved of the people, which i suppose is why he is honored here. There were a few special things I learnt today; on the east bank (we were on the west, the east being unavailable for tourists)was the administration area for the site, it was here that scale models of the temples were created so that they could calculate size & number of blocks...the tools the men used were made of iron, bronze & granite, at the beginning & end of the day, each man's tools were weighed. They were only paid if their tools weighed less in the evening than they had in the morning!....I also learnt how they detached obelisks from the rock...carving man sized holes at regular intervals up either side of the planned obelisk, they then stuffed the holes with wood, and then put hot water on the wood, thus making it expand & in that expansion....CRACK. The same process was used to remove the base, but first they had to make tunnels at the outline of the base. Obelisks were always hewn from stone close to the water. they had an ingenious way of transporting them, waiting for the Nile to rise during flood. the carving wasn't started until the obelisk was lying on the ground adjacent to the base where it would stand. the whole process of creating an obelisk, including the transport took only 7 months, this had to be completed before the next lot of floods! We had a fair amount of clambering to do to see all the shrines, but were wrapt, because these places can only be accessed by water!! To get back on the boat, we literally, had to walk the plank....just as well the egyptian crew were there to help with their strong hands & senses of humor!!!