It was a bit of a schlep up the dusty hillside to the tomb's entrance, and we were pooped out and perspiring after just a few minutes. But it would be well worth the effort, our guide promised, though I had my doubts.

Surely anything really worth looking at would have been included in the group sightseeing during our week's river cruise on the Nile?

But, he explained, the final resting place of Senefer, one-time Mayor of Thebes, among the Tombs Of The Nobles in the Sheikh Abd el-Qurna district on the West Bank of Luxor, was far too tiny to accommodate big numbers of tourists.