We were up at 4am for our 4.30 pick-up to get to the airport for our flight to Luxor. I had explored the option of doing the overnight train, but it was more expensive, got into Luxor at about 4am and most reviews said it was not a very comfortable night. I would have preferred to go by train during the day to enjoy the countryside, but there are active barriers for tourists to take the day train. In the end, I didn’t want to risk not being able to get either train option, so booked flights.
Everything went smoothly, with security screening every 50 metres! Once on board the flight, which was a prop plane, it became obvious that this is a tourist route. I don’t think there was a local on board outside of the crew.
Our apartment is located on the West Bank in Luxor and I had asked our host for a transfer to the property. Ahmed was waiting for us and the drive gave us our first glimpse of Luxor, including a drive past the Valley of the Kings. As we turned off from the highway, the roads became poorer, until we made another turn and the roads were no longer paved. We took a number of turns in back streets just back from the Nile until we came to the sign announcing our apartment – Sunset. The narrow, dusty, but foliage lined street would be a lot more peaceful than the street outside our Cairo apartment.
Our host, Hussein, greeted us and showed us to a room to store our bags – and offered us the use of the room until our apartment became available. Luxor is a lot hotter than Cairo, so being able to use the room and air-conditioning was hugely appreciated. As we had missed breakfast, we asked if the restaurant was open for breakfast, which it was. It’s a good menu and we opted for the Egyptian breakfast, which was a mix of breads, falafel, omelette and some other (yummy) dishes we couldn’t name.
We went for a bit of a walk to check out our home and local area for the next week. It’s a very peaceful, semi-rural area with lots of other apartments. Once our apartment was ready, we were gob-smacked at the size of it! It’s a crazy amount of space for two people and at $30 per night, an incredible bargain. The kitchen cupboards are crammed full of kitchenware, and there are homey touches that make it feel like home, rather than another rental. As a family run property, the service has already been special.
Our wanderings had taken us along the Nile river, which is lined with restaurants, so we headed out for dinner. As soon as we turn onto the ‘Esplanade’, the hassle starts – do you want a taxi? A boat? A tour guide? It’s going to wear thin, very quickly. One of the restaurants, Thebes, offered beer, so we were sold. It was a lovely setting, sitting by the river watching vessels going past, and enjoying the lights on the East Bank.
Our chicken curries were ok; Colin went with an Egyptian beer, Stella, and says one is enough. I tried a small sip – it’s different to the beer we’re used to, very light and just lacking…something.
We ate breakfast from the supplies we had picked up from the Hamada market during our wanderings and set off to find the ferry to cross the river to the East Bank. Our plan was to check out the other side and take it as it comes. The walk to the ferry was a constant barrage of taxi and boat offers (there are a lot of smaller boats that cater to the tourist dollar), but we maintained our polite rejections. There don’t appear to be many tourists on this side of the river, and with so much competition, everyone is desperate to get our custom.
The local ferry operates on a ‘we’re full, let’s go’ basis. The locals pay much less than we did, but at 20 Egyptian pounds ($2) for the return run, it’s still extremely cheap. With our return ticket in hand, we found seats on the next ferry and enjoyed a lot of attention. The only westerners on the boat, everyone checked us out; the children especially seemed to find me fascinating, and many of the women would smile shyly at me. Some of the men were not quite so friendly in their stares, but I’m not taking on that monkey.
As we had no plan, we fended off the offers of a taxi and started walking towards the Luxor Temple. The bridge we crossed spanned the avenue of sphinxes, which stretched a long way into the distance on either side. My research states that the avenue joins the Luxor Temple and Karnak – I didn’t realise the two major sites were quite so far apart. Even though it was quite hot, we decided to walk towards the Luxor Temple, hoping to enjoy some interesting things as we walked. The streets close to the Nile are paved and quite neat, but as you gaze down the side streets, they quickly become quite dark and narrow.
By the time we reached the Luxor Temple area, we were feeling a bit warm and wandered down an interesting looking side street where we decided to stop for coffee. Our experience of coffee in Egypt has not been particularly good, perhaps because they seem to drink Turkish style coffee rather than the wider variety of offerings we found in Morocco. We were warmly welcomed at the Horus café, which had the standard group of men drinking, smoking and playing games. Bravely, we ordered cappuccinos, unsure of what we would get.
Hmmm…our cappuccinos arrived. They were in glasses, had froth on top and were sprinkled with nescafe 43. Nescafe 43 seems to be the main coffee of choice here. For what it was, it was fine, although we were a bit miffed to be charged $10 for the coffees and two small bottles of water. Tourists, also known as walking ATMs….
We were so close to Luxor Temple, it would have been silly to not go in, but, wisely, we had lunch first. I’m embarrassed to admit we hit the McDonalds, but it was so good! Best view of any Maccas too. The air-conditioning was a blessing and we took our time before braving the heat. It’s only in the low 30s, but the humidity is about 60%, so all of the exploring gets a bit tiring.
Colin asked the evil blue dot to guide us to the entrance of the temple, so we set off, again fending off the taxi and horse drivers. We followed evil for a while, making our way around Luxor Temple. It soon became obvious that we were taking the long way, so we retraced our steps and entered the complex that was, oh, about 100 metres from Maccas! Grouchy, we bought our tickets and joined the throngs of tourists.
Luxor Temple is amazing. The pillars tower overhead and there are some areas that still have outstanding examples of carvings, hieroglyphs and statues. Luxor was known as Thebes, and the temple was constructed approximately 1400 BCE and is dedicated to the rejuvenation of kingship, rather than as homage to gods or pharaohs. Parts of the temple were built by Amenhotep III, while other parts were built by Tutankhamun and Ramses II. During Roman times, the temple and its surroundings were a legionary fortress and housed the Roman government for the area. It is hard to get your head around the engineering needed to build such a place, especially without the advantages of modern equipment.
We enjoyed the hospitality of Sunset’s restaurant for dinner and shared the chicken shish kababs. It’s like having a private chef – even though we have a big kitchen in our apartment, the meals at our restaurant are fantastic value, and Hassan is a great cook. Everything is made to order, so it’s home cooking at its best!
There is so much history in and around Luxor, and having seen one temple, we decided to head out to the Valley of the Kings to explore some of the 65 tombs that have been discovered there. Not all of the tombs are open to the public, and they rotate them which I guess helps preserve them. The general entrance ticket for 400 Egyptian pounds allows you to choose three tombs out of the nine that are open. Then you can pay another 120 pounds for each of three other tombs that can be visited.
Hassan helped us with a taxi to the valley. Abdollah was brilliant – friendly and chatty – and suggested that we buy an extra tomb for Rameses VI as he said it’s one of the best tombs to see. He dropped us off at the car park and we had to run the gauntlet of stall owners to get to the ticket office. If you want to buy cheap, tacky souvenirs, there are no shortage of them, but at least it’s just the persistence that is annoying; the exchanges stay polite if you just stick to ‘no thank you’ and keep walking.
With tickets in hand, we bought, for $1 each, a return electric buggy ride to get to the tombs. It’s not far – maybe 500 metres – but as the road bends, you can’t see how far it is. Besides, it’s not a lot of cash, and it’s just darn hot!
They call the Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the Tourists, and some of the lines were already long to get into some of the tombs. We knew it would be busy based on the number of buses in the car park. We walked past the line-up for KV2 (Ramses IV), hoping it might be better later on, and made our way to Rameses VI as there was no line. This tomb was started for Ramses V but was finished for Rameses VI and right from the start, we were blown away by the colours and condition of the carvings and hieroglyphs. Thank you Abdollah – great tip!
We managed to get some great photos and really enjoyed this tomb – it’s spectacular – built in the mid-1100s BCE, it is 104 metres long.
From Ramses VI, we made our way to the tomb of Tausert-Setnakht. This tomb was originally built by Tausert, a queen and wife of Sethos II who would later rule Egypt as Pharaoh. There are four distinct phases of construction, beginning when Tausert was still simply the queen. The second phase of construction occurred after the death of Seti II, under the reign of King Siptah, who allowed the construction to go on much as Seti II had instructed. During this period, a sarcophagus hall was created for the tomb, but was not designed as a king’s burial chamber. Around 1190 BC, Tausert became the co-regent of Siptah, accepting the royal regalia and began work on the second burial chamber with the proper dimensions for a king. Around 1187 BC, Queen Tausert ascended to the throne of Egypt as Pharaoh, and she ordered modifications to the tomb to reflect her exclusive royal status.
Setnakht, the father of Ramses III had created his own tomb, in the Valley of the Kings. His tomb was unfinished at the time of his death, and apparently against the final wishes of his father, Ramesses III decided to have his father interred in the tomb of Tausert, rather than his own. Ramesses III ended up taking his father’s original tomb as his own.
Next, we explored Seti II’s tomb, which was probably the least impressive of the tombs we entered. We’ve been noticing a lot of graffiti on the walls – much of it in Greek and Latin – so it appears defacing public property has been around for a long time.
The line-up for Ramses IV’s tomb was still long by the time we returned, so we joined the queue and waited our turn. The line moved quite quickly, and we were warned that it was hot inside by the flushed faces and waving fans of the people who were coming out. The tomb is only 89 metres long, apparently cut short when the pharaoh died quite early into his reign. It was really hot, so we grabbed a seat to cool down before tackling the sellers at the market, and Colin struck up a conversation with a few American tourists. They were lovely, and interestingly have been to Jordan three times – and love it.
All in all, the Valley of the Kings is fascinating. It’s not expensive, and so you could enter all of the tombs available, but again, the decorations, carvings and sights start to blur. Like visiting cathedrals or castles, it doesn’t take long before the memories become jumbled and you are just left with the emotion and overall sense of wonder, rather than specific details. Thank goodness for digital cameras.
We navigated the market and our driver was already waiting for us in the car park. Abdollah is a real sweetie – as we were driving back, a bus in front of us lost one of his wheel hubs. We caught up to the bus and got the driver to pull over, explaining what had happened. Then we turned around and eventually found the cover, Abdollah explaining that the bus owner would have to buy a whole set, so finding the cover would save money.
We enjoyed another fantastic dinner at our restaurant (yummy chicken pizza – definitely home made!) and met an English guy, Richard, who pretty much has made Egypt his home. He was ‘stuck’ in Egypt during Covid and said that other than tourists not coming, everything essentially stayed the same. I know where I’ll go if they try that rubbish again! Richard is a teacher, so we certainly had some common ground. It was nice to have a conversation with another traveller as we are not seeing too many travellers as we get around. Our apartment lifestyle isn’t conducive to meeting people – maybe a hostel or two is needed.
We are taking our time ticking off the ‘must do’ things wherever we are, so our next item to tick off was Karnak. It meant breaching the wall of hustle as we headed to the public ferry. Whilst we pay tourist prices, it was the same 40 pounds for both of us for a return trip, so, yes, we’re getting shafted, but at least it’s honest and consistent. The stares weren’t quite so obvious this time and the ferry filled quickly when a massive horde of children with what looked like their teachers boarded. An English guy sat with us after deciding to sit downstairs away from all of the children who had gone to the top deck. Another lovely conversation ensued, and we were fascinated to hear that he comes to Egypt twice a year as he is a member of an Ancient Egyptian Society.
Rather than tackle a hassle-filled walk in the heat, we haggled with a taxi driver to get a cheap fare to Karnak. More security screening and with tickets in hand, we made our way to the Karnak complex. I thought Americans did things on a big scale! These ancient Egyptians sure didn’t do anything by halves. Karnak is incredible, massive, awe-inspiring…more jaw-dropping ogling for our overwhelmed brains.
Karnak is made up of a mix of temples, pylons, chapels and other buildings, with construction beginning during the reign of Senusret I (1971 – 1926 BCE). Much of the wonders of ancient Egyptian history come from the Luxor region. Even as the second most visited site, the crowds were not too intrusive. We’re wondering how much of an impact the conflict in Israel is having on tourist numbers as it isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Apparently, a lot of the complex is closed to the public, some of which is still being restored. The areas of Karnak that can be explored is big enough – we wandered around the site for a couple of hours as it was. Historically, Karnak was developed over the reigns of an estimated 30 pharaoh.
After our exploration we thought it would be a nice change to try a different restaurant for lunch while we were out and about. Google maps indicated a good number of options so we headed out of the temple complex, following evil, only to discover all of them were within the complex. We prefer to avoid the tourist traps, and we eventually stumbled upon a nearby restaurant. It looked closed, even though the doors were opened. Eventually, staff greeted us and showed us into an empty restaurant – they hadn’t even turned on the airconditioning yet. We stuck to our policy of only eating where there are other people and left – it was all just very weird.
Back on the street the horse and carriage driver who had followed us all the way spotted us and waved, thankfully not harassing us for a ride anymore. We thought there would be little difficulty getting a taxi, but again, we were wrong. Other than locals honking their horns as they drove by, we were left with little option but to walk back to Karnak and find a taxi back to the ferry, which was easily done.
After more stares, and hassling, we were finally home. Our apartment has quickly become a tranquil oasis of peace. Our host, Hussein, organises taxis for us to pick us up from the apartment, which provides two-fold peace of mind – we know we will get a return trip and the prices are fair.
We bunkered down for a couple of days, catching up on the website and, yes, avoiding the hassle. There are still things to get out and see and do, but we need a break from great big slabs of stone! After some research into the Valley of the Queens, we opted to not go as the major drawcard is the tomb of Nefertari – but they charge 1400 pounds ($70) and limit your time to 10 minutes. By all accounts, it’s the best-preserved tomb in Egypt (she was the favourite wife of Ramses II), but considering other ticket prices have been around the $10 mark for unlimited time, the cost seemed unreasonable.
The temple of Hatshepsut gets good reviews, and with a fair ticket price of about $13, we set off to explore it. Hatshepsut was one of the few female pharaohs and history says she brought prosperity and advancement to the people during her rule. Ahmed picked us up and dropped us off – he’s a lovely guy and filled us in on some of the societal happenings. I was particularly fascinated about his openness regarding women – it is apparently very easy for him to ‘get’ a foreign woman, but very difficult to ‘get’ an Egyptian woman. The perception that foreign women are easy is alive and well, so it seems.
Hatshepsut’s temple was, again, amazing, but I think the aspect that really took my breath away was the surrounding cliffs. There isn’t a tree or blade of grass to be seen, yet the landscape is starkly beautiful.
We tried to grab a couple of cold drinks at the café near the temple – Colin, thankfully, refused to pay the price ($21 for a can of coke and a bottled fruit juice!) and we walked out, disgusted at the obvious cash grab. But there were plenty of people sitting down having a drink – come in suckers!
On our way to the temple, our new best friend, Adam, had done the sell-hustle, and as I’m keen to get a t-shirt, we made our way back to his stall. He remembered us, so I started on the haggle to get a half decent price. The trick is to have a maximum price in your head (in both Aussie dollars and the local currency) and work to that. Thankfully, I was prepared – Adam’s first offer of 800 pounds, or about $40, for a t-shirt was a disgrace. Then he tried to tell me that it was only $20 USD as the exchange rate had gone from 30 to 40. Silly man thought he had a woman who couldn’t do basic math in her head!
I was happy to pay 250 pounds (about $12.50) for a t-shirt, which is still more than it’s worth here. I thought I had no hope of getting the shirt for less than the original ask price, but I offered 250 and stuck to it, even as he dropped his price. I started to walk away when he wouldn’t come to my price and then got agreement. He didn’t even seem too upset about it. So I walked away with my shirt and he got a sale. Even Ahmed seemed to think it wasn’t too bad a price.
The power has been going off in the village most days at about 4pm. It hasn’t been too much of a problem, especially as the weather cooled, but it plays havoc with businesses. We’d waited it out and had headed downstairs to get dinner when the power went out again. We hadn’t even had a chance to let Hassan know what we wanted for dinner with our pre-ordered stuffed vegetables. He offered to cook dinner in the dark, but we were happy to wait.
We didn’t think we would have to wait for an hour though! Good things come to those who wait, so light returned about 7pm and we got our yummy stuffed peppers and cabbage, along with the chicken shish kababs. We didn’t realise that the servings of stuffed vegetables would be so big! There were six peppers and about 12 cabbage rolls – add two shish kababs and chips, and we had enough food to feed six.
Richard walked into the restaurant just as we started eating and we invited him to join us. We chatted until nearly 10pm. He’s a lovely guy and very interesting to talk with. He spends the northern hemisphere winter here, so he has a good handle on the modern cultural attitudes. By all accounts the market for toy boys is very strong, and feeds the notion that European women are all fair game. In fact, all European-types are fair game, after the story Richard shared of one of his first experiences in Egypt!
We spent our last afternoon sitting on the banks of the West Bank at the Nile View Restaurant. Colin asked if they had Heinekin beer, which they did. One stubby. I had a glass of white wine, and, feeling very mellow, we decided to have seconds. When he said one Heinekin, he meant it. So we opted to have white wine…until he poured one glass and finished the bottle. And that was that. No more white wine. Refusing to be defeated, I ended up having a glass of rose so Colin could have the last glass of white.
Our time in Luxor has, thanks to Sunset apartment and restaurant, been very relaxing, spattered with amazing history. The locals are destroying the very market they want to build with their disrespect towards women and the constant hassle to buy, buy, buy. Big ticket tours are safer and less threatening than the solo travel option. If the little guys want business, they need to change the way they operate. It’s a shame because Egypt is extremely affordable to do on your own. The tours are very expensive, so the two extremes must be barriers to a lot of people who want to come here – either pay top dollar or put up with a lot of hassle. Our compromise of finding a great place to stay with a host who has contacts to get you around has worked wonderfully. Hussein would have organised tours to the temples if we had asked, but then we would have missed out on things like the public ferry, which we really enjoyed.
We didn’t get to Aswan or Abu Simbel. I’m in two minds about that – we’ve seen a LOT of archaeological marvels, which is what you come here for, but eventually it begins to look the same. Egypt is more than its history and we’ve enjoyed our stay with this little family on the West Bank of the Nile, away from traffic and surrounded by dusty roads and rural properties.
Next stop – Hurghada.