We next visited this masterpiece of simplicity in stone.

The fifth pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty, Hatshepsut meant: “Hat” is foremost "Shep" is to worship and "Su" is royal with the “T” making it feminine translating to: “Foremost of the Royal-Women Worshippers”

She assumed the throne around 1479 BCE when her nephew Djhutimos III was too young to rule.

Designed and built by her chief architect Senmut. and named Djeser-Djeseru or "the Sublime of Sublimes", this colonnaded structure of perfect harmony was created nearly one thousand years before the Parthenon was built.

Not only did this influence the scale and scope of the mortuary temples constructed after hers, the echoes of her design can be seen in all classic architecture plus the timelessness of its simplicity are fully instilled in the modern design movements.

Hatshepsut is regarded as one of the most successful pharaohs, reigning longer than any other woman of an indigenous Egyptian dynasty. Her reign was long and prosperous and inaugurated a long peaceful era.

The temple's walls document Hatshepsut's divine conception, her vote of confidence given by her father, her efforts to repair damage inflicted by the Hyksos invaders, the expeditions to Punt and the erection of the colossal obelisks at the temple of Karnak.

Scarves are a very big deal in Egypt. We had to find just the right ones.