Middle East Travel Diary 2010
I was able to have a fairly easy day today - a wise move given the extreme heat. I had two main objectives for the day; travelling from Cairo upcountry to Luxor, and starting my exploration of Luxor in the afternoon.
I took my life in my hands once again by taking a taxi to the airport. Starting price = 180 pounds. Agreed price after haggling = 60 pounds. Amount shown on the meter when we arrived at the airport = 32 pounds. To understand these figures, you divide by 5 to get US dollars, so at 60 pounds it was still fairly good value, especially given the theme-park-like excitement of the trip.
My flight from Cairo to Luxor was with Egyptair Express on an Embraer 170, a slightly shorter version of the Embraer 195 that I had taken from Amman to Cairo a few days earlier. These Embraer Regional Jets are wonderful little planes, with plenty of room in a 2+2 layout. I had a window seat with good (if hazy) views of the desert between Cairo and Luxor. Flying into Luxor, it was evident yet again what an important lifeline the Nile River is for Egypt. There is a narrow strip of green, irrigated farmland lining the banks of the river for a kilometre or two, and beyond that there is just expansive desert as far as the eye can see (which perhaps was not that far today because there was quite a lot of sand and dust in the atmosphere).
Having arrived, I can understand why. Mara has constructed the building herself, and it has huge high ceilinged rooms, with separate dining/living rooms, bathroom and bedrooms. Mara has arranged a driver for my travels tomorrow (important because my time here is so limited), and spent the time at check-in describing Luxor, including where to eat, what to do, describing ways to minimise (and hopefully even avoid) rip-offs, and I was even brought a welcoming cup of coffee after moving into my room - with a promise of cups of coffee delivered to my room whenever I like. Breakfast is also brought to your room at whatever time you request. There is free internet (provided you are within 3 metres of the hub, which sits on the reception desk). The rooms even have a minibar with cold drinks and snacks at almost supermarket prices to save guests having to carry food and drink long distances in the heat. This is one place I can recommend heartily.
I have a small travel alarm clock that includes a thermometer, and when I checked the outside temperature on the balcony of my room at 3:20 pm this afternoon, the temperature was still quite high at 53.5°C. It made me realise two things. First, official temperature readings seriously underestimate the actual heat you experience when you are outside on a summer day. Second, there was no reason to rush out to do sightseeing; time would be better spend for a while resting indoors, typing my daily travel diary, and waiting for the cool of the afternoon to kick in.
Luxor is built on the site of the ancient city of Thebes, which once controlled a vast empire. The city reached its zenith between 1550BC and 1050BC when the population reached about a million people. Even today, Luxor is a substantial city with a population of about half a million people. On a Sunday afternoon, even the city centre was strangely sleepy, aside from the touts and horse carriage drivers who seemed to have extraordinary difficulties with that very basic English word “no”.
A long avenue lined by sphinx marked the main approach to the temple (see photo to the left), although everything was closed for some unknown reason today. Nonetheless, I was able to circumnavigate the entire complex on foot via a path that encircles the complex. This enabled me to see the temple from all sides, including some quite close views of the beautifully fine carvings of ancient Egyptian life on some of the walls.
My afternoon visit to the centre of Luxor today was simply a taster of this great ancient city, which I will explore in depth tomorrow. My aim is to rise early, have breakfast at 6:30 am, and then depart at 7 am to spend the day exploring both the eastern and western banks of the Nile before returning to catch the 5 pm train to Aswan at 6 pm.
Sunday, 20 June 2010
Day 3 - Luxor, Egypt
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