Hatshepsut

(Baden's 1999 Mediterranean Jaunt / Overview)

Kodak Gold 200 / Pentax ESPIO 90MC (1999-12-03 ~10:00)
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Dayr al-Bahri temple was constructed by Queen Hatshepsut about 3500 years ago. It was incredibly impressive, as it was located at the base of a huge amphitheater in the mountain, which you see only a minute part, which gave it an impressive backdrop for the temple which was incredible in its own right. An amazing thing about the temple was that it was more or less superficial, and only about 3m deep into the rock.

I took this photo to include a typical Egyptian family in the foreground, to show their colourful mix of western and Islamic dress. You can also see the hoards of tourists on the stairway up to the second level, which was the only level open when we were there. I imagine that the crowds were similar, when in November 1997, Islamic extremists rode donkeys from over the mountains behind the temple, and went up onto the second level and onto the right side, where they opened fire with automatic weapons killing about 80 German and Swiss tourists. Security was much more intense for us, yet discrete, as all around high in the amphitheater, I could see soldiers in pill boxes.

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