Luxor - Getting There

Sunset on the Nile

Lena and I had originally planned on going on a five-day Nile cruise, but somehow the days came and went and before we knew it, there wasn’t really much time left. Oh well, next visit!

However, we decided we had enough time to do a two-night, three-day stay in Luxor. Fortunately, Safi was able to give us the names and numbers of taxi drivers to take us there (there is a bus, but it wasn’t recommended!), plus someone who would organise a driver and an Egyptologist to take us round the various sites.

The taxi arrived on time and Safi waved us off. You’d think that would be it, but as it turned out, the driver had problems finding his way out of Sahl Hasheesh, so 15 minutes later, we were pretty much still at base camp. We made it out in the end, though. I felt a bit like someone that had been let out for a day, as I suddenly realised that I hadn’t travelled out of Hurghada at all since I’d arrived here in October (ie, not travelled out of Hurghada within Egypt).

For some reason, I thought Safaga was only a few minutes away, but it took quite a bit of driving to get there. Eventually, we turned into the mountains (yes, mountains!) and even spotted a safari van there (no idea what a safari does!). We speculated that you wouldn’t really want to be driving along those roads with someone you didn’t trust as you could easily get lost in the mountains if you were dumped there and it would be a furnace in the summer months.

We’d been informed that the journey would take 4 hours, but our driver sped along (as Lena said, he didn’t like to be behind another car) and the roads were fairly empty, apart from when we got stuck behind a gritter on a bit of the road that had been newly tarmacked – our driver’s frustration was at a peak at this point. Nevertheless, his car was comfortable and had beaded seats which stopped you from getting too hot as you sat and he was a very pleasant guy. I would definitely travel with him again.

Half-way through, we stopped at a large diner for a quick break. It was in the middle of nowhere and presumably must only serve those travelling between Luxor and Hurghada (and vice versa). There’s no train between the two towns, so road travel is your only option (or a flight, I guess). As soon as we stepped out of the car, a guy came up to us to try to sell us his wares, but once inside the café, we were left in peace.

I guess they must get coach parties, since the dining room was huge and the washrooms housed quite a number of facilities. It felt strange to be the only two people sitting there in that huge space. There were saloon doors into the toilets. Fortunately Lena noticed that, weirdly, the toilet paper was hanging up by the washbasins (I was searching the individual cabins for paper to no avail and never thought to look anywhere else!). On our way out, we were suddenly informed that we had to pay 1LE each for their use (there was a box specially made for this, so I think it was probably true!).

We continued our journey. On our way, we passed through a number of check points (or even “chick point”), but the driver was stopped only as we entered into Luxor.

My main surprise on coming into Luxor was how green it was, given that Hurghada is mostly desert. In Hurghada, greenery is a sign of wealth. In Luxor, of course, they have the Nile, so there were many fields of crops, and the streets were lined with trees and flowers, I think mainly yellow compared with the pink and white that predominate in Hurghada. It felt very different in almost every respect from Hurghada; it could almost have been a different country.

We were expecting to be met by the main organiser at the hotel, but instead he joined us in our taxi on the outskirts of Luxor and immediately asked for money. We were alarmed at first, but it all turned out to be fine. After a small resistance from the organiser, we agreed that we would be met at 10am the next morning to go to Valley of the Kings (they are used to going a lot earlier to avoid the heat, but we wanted to avoid an early rise!).

We’d booked a twin room with a full Nile view – most of the hotels are nearly empty in Luxor and prices are reasonable – so on that first night we ordered dinner in our room (or, rather, balcony) so that we could take full advantage of the scene before us. There’s something very primordial about the Nile; it’s still a working river and something about it tugs at your heart. Luxor has to be one of the most amazing places in the world.