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More from my Egypt trip in December 2009.
Hatshepsut’s temple points almost directly on axis to the Karnak complex several miles away across the Nile. A canal used to come up here from the Nile when the Nile ran much closer to this location than it does now. The temple sits in a natural ‘cirque’ or bowel in the mountains which offer natural protection and create a stunning and jaw dropping scene. Immediately behind it in the next valley over is the world famous Valley of the Kings. As she was female and not allowed to be buried in the Valley of the Kings, she had her engineers dig through the mountain at the rear of her temple and almost back into Valley of the Kings to have her tomb be placed there.
Learn: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatshepsut