Sheila's Words - Egypt for the First Time! Part 3

48 hours in Luxor (18^th – 20^th January 2015)

Smoke rising across the Nile at sunset

Just a quick note: I’ve finally realised what’s been niggling me about calling the staff at El Andalous ‘workers’, although ‘workers’ is probably the term used by the Egyptians themselves: it’s that it reminds me of the downtrodden Morlocks (in The Time Machine by H.G.Wells) serving the blessed and the fair-skinned. It’s true there is something in the set-up at Sahl Hasheesh that has a whiff of the colonial era, but without, I hope, sounding Orwellian, things are much more equal and friendly.

Back to Luxor!


I was in Fiona’s hands and trusted her itinerary implicitly; she hadn’t let me down so far.

I wanted to be surprised so I didn’t even read Fiona’s blog entry on Luxor before going; I’ve done that now and I feel a bit jealous about her and Lena’s dinner on the bedroom balcony, overlooking the Nile, but, in our case, it would have been too chilly, anyway.

There is a pleasant, smoky smell at dusk and on the opposite bank you can see grey smoke intermingling with the red colours of sunset. We were told this was a counterblast against the mosquitoes.

At the Sheraton where we stayed (yes, the Sheraton, Luxor’s best luxury hotel! no fewer than 6 stars!) we did gulp down milkshakes on the balcony one afternoon, in between temple-trailing, but never really lingered there to soak in the majestic sight that is the Nile. (It’s worth pointing out that they didn’t apply an extra charge for room service to our final bill.)

I got up many different times at night but didn’t want to slide along the trundling shutters to take a peek. On reflection, it would have been better just to draw the curtains. It’s difficult to contain your excitement when the timeless Nile is just below you!

Fiona’s already written about our rather dramatic exit from Sahl Hasheesh on Sunday morning and the ensuing excitement of rural Qena, I can only say that the sense of drama increased as we entered the metropolis of Luxor.

There’s this constant symphony of tooting horns which made me wonder whether the warning toot conveys any meaning whatsoever or whether it’s just part of the communal fun of driving together. Cars and calèches (horse-drawn carriages) plunge down the roads in equal number but cars seem to make a point of brushing-with-death overtaking. People glide in and out of this chaotic traffic rather nonchalantly, I thought, given the danger. The horses, too, were unperturbed by the onslaught. Frequent graffiti about the Revolution seemed to up the tempo even further.

Modern Luxor is a town that has obviously seen better days. The Sheraton was quite splendid but there was a hint of shabbiness even there.

The huge terrace in front of Karnak formerly tried to contain hordes of eager tourists. When we arrived early on Sunday night for the Sound and Light Show ( think sixties’ epic with the portentous voices of the likes of Richard Burton bouncing off the stunning monuments but no discernable story as such), we were told to wait at the ticket desk until there were, at least, ten people for the show! Thankfully, for the organisers, there were eventually more than 50. In its heyday, they were turning people away.

The Valley of Kings on Monday wasn’t at all deserted as we’d supposed. It was, to our surprise, the Egyptian school holidays (I’ve been unable to find out the exact dates. Fiona?) and there were many Egyptians about. They have been told by their government to support internal tourism; I was surprised that even adults seemed to be unaware of the fragility of carved hieroglyphics on walls and columns and would lean or brush against them willy-nilly.

Me at the Sheraton with the Valley of Kings in the background

We got there at about 11am and I was in a thin muslin shirt and despite the bright sun, the slight wind was piercingly cold. Everyone else was covered up. I didn’t realise the taxi driver would be with us all day (not nearly as expensive as you might imagine) so I could have left a jacket in the car – it did get very warm later.

After first being led through a string of tourist shops by the guide, we had to take a little tourist train to advance just 100 metres into the valley. The 4 EGP fare was, no doubt, the reason. The guide then sat us down, out of sight of the tombs (that we were itching to see) and did a lengthy sales pitch for some postcards, but then when it came to exploring the tombs themselves, proceeded to hurry us. I was unable to say no to the pointless postcards (quite pricey at 50 EGP = £5); I think it was tiredness manifesting itself as stress - and a proclivity to obey.

The first tomb, Rameses IX, was freezing and I had to hurry it. The second one across the way (Merantapeh) was hot and humid and quite empty and the third one (Rameses VI) was quite warm too. I haven’t quite worked out if the various temperatures in the tombs are to do with where the morning sun is directed.

I found it amazing that these painted and carved tombs were so well-preserved with all this hot air and breath, day in and day out for the last century or so. With your 100EGP ticket you can only see three tombs (but you can buy more tickets) and I think the guide did point out the ones that were the most intact – she wasn’t allowed to come in with us, ostensibly because a guide’s breath will decay the tombs further but, oddly, not tourists’ breath (which seemed daft at first but then hot air does come to mind when I think of that particular guide).

I would have liked to have broken away for the 15 minutes needed to explore two long, meandering pathways - cut into the mountains - that led to different tombs and get a better feel of the valley.

There is not much left in Tut’s tomb, apparently, and that’s 100EGP a visit but I passed by the entrance (duly feeling a frisson).

Although, the Valley of Kings is big and imposing, and a dream come true, it was smaller than I expected. Unfortunately, photos were prohibited, anywhere in the valley.

One of the kaftanned tomb keepers followed us in to explain the paintings but Fiona warned me that his friendliness would be requiring ‘baksheesh’, so against the dictates of your upbringing you have to walk away rudely.

I was lucky enough to be quite alone once or twice at the bottom of the tombs (long, straight passages that slope down to a larger burial chamber (except for Rameses VI, which has a little kink because the ancient builders came across an even more ancient tomb!) and like many before me, I marvelled at all that richness and culture buried away under the sand - far from human eyes - for so long - and felt very privileged to be there and to savour these extraordinary remnants of an ancient and powerful civilisation.

Yet at the same time as I was wowed, I sharply felt my own insignificance in the bigger scheme of things. Three millennia on, people’s implicit faith in an afterlife has not diminished; I wonder what they will think of us three millennia hence - if anything remains to testify to our passage on earth. Sorry, sermon over!

Medinet Habu

We later did Medinet Habu mortuary temple (but they’re all mortuary temples!) which is a jewel, and Karnak again (Fiona wanted to see it by day but I was worried it might spoil the hallucinatory effect of the night show), and, I must say, that zig-zagging around the 134 enormous columns (amassed in the centre) in the slanting sunlight is quite exciting – my courage had failed me the night before when they were swathed in darkness.

I started to walk around the red scarab by the sacred lake seven times (as no-one was around initially) making my wish as the legend dictates but midway a large family of Egyptians came along to spur me on, a young boy cheerfully taking my arm, but I broke away at ‘saaba’ (= seven) and they happily waved me away! I think Fiona was quite bemused by it all.

We then finished with ‘Luxor Temple By Night’ but during the day we also fitted in quick stops at Hatshepsut temple (to sneak in a panorama shot – you’re actually supposed to pay) and the Colossi of Memnon.

It was only when we sat down for the hotel buffet that evening that we realised how tired we were. The waiters always acted as if only buffets were available, presumably to avoid serving. The choice for the buffet was dizzying, as much as it was compelling, and part of me just wanted a basic meal set down before me.

At night, all the various sights of the day were flashing before my eyes as if I’d seen them on TV and not actually been there. I would definitely recommend not hurrying Luxor but there is something to be said for the intensity of the visit. And don’t let your guide delay you taking photos when it’s nearly 4pm, the light fades into dusk very quickly.

We had time to do Luxor museum (on the Corniche) in the morning before getting the taxi back home (it’s small but has a wide variety of well-presented treasures). Upon arriving at the Corniche on the hotel shuttle bus, I remarked on there being no one around but I spoke to soon, like vulture to prey, a flurry of calèche, shoe-shine and felucca hawkers all descended upon us noisily from out of the blue, but we ducked into the museum. 

We got offered a reasonable 20EGP calèche deal back to the hotel so we took it, but the driver, soon after we clambered in, had second thoughts and kept turning round to demand 10EGP extra as ‘baksheesh for the horse’. 

Fiona freestyling it into a caleche as the driver muses

I didn’t realise that the hotel page boy would bring our bags down to reception from our rooms (I’m not used to the 6* life!) but he did put them into the taxi for us. As we followed him, a group of cheery, elderly musicians with flutes and tambours (stationed outside the hotel to pipe up whenever someone appeared) improvised a song with the single word ‘bai-ee’ repeated; misled by the heavy accents, it only dawned on me in the car that they were saying ‘bye’.

It’s time for me to say ‘bye’ too and I know I’ve waffled on when I could have cut this down and been more comprehensive. There is also a vague word limit but as I’ve written all three blogs in practically one go (and I’m not used to writing) I’m flagging and so I’ll leave them as they are and hope you may, nevertheless, glean some useful information from them.

A last word to thank Fiona (mightily) for my stay and also Safi, Nicole and others who helped make my first trip to Egypt so memorable! I’ll be back!

Link to other photos: In progress (Fiona will provide the link later)