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0700-1700 daily
E£6 entry
E£3 students
E£5 northern palace

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travelogue 2/22

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New Kingdom
18th Dynasty
Akhenaton
tutankhamun
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northern palace
northern tombs
tomb of ahmose
tomb of huya
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Northern Tombs

There is not much left of the magnificent city of Amarna, and only a few tombs are open to on the ridge above the remains of the site. Most tourists who come to Amarna (and there aren't that many, to be honest -- we never saw anyone else!) visit only the tombs.

There are six tombs open, although four are in a group and two are further along -- insist that you get to see those, too, as they are some of the nicer tombs. We ended up with an entourage of about 20 people while in Amarna, makes sure to ask the caretakers to see all six tombs.

In order, there is:

Tomb of Huya (#1), a Steward to Queen Tiy and Superintendent of the Royal Harem
Tomb of Mery-re II (#2), Overseer of the Two Treasuries; the
Tomb of Ahmose (#3)
Tomb of Mery-re I (#4), Father of Mery-Re II, considered one of the better tombs
Tomb of Pentu (#5) and Penhesy (#6)

The odd thing about these tombs (compared to the tombs of the nobles in Luxor) is that they spend far more time showing the pharaoh and his worship of the Aten then they show the actual owner of the tomb. Instead of the owner of the tomb worshipping the gods, he is shown with his family adoring Akhenaton and through Akhenaton, the single god of the Amarna religion.

Make sure to take a flashlight, and be prepared for a long climb up to the cliffs. There is a cafe at the bottom, where we met up with a group of schoolchildren who were heading up to see the tombs

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