Balloon at Sunrise

It did not take much for Essam to convince us to part with a meagre 65 euros to take an optional sunrise balloon ride over the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens on our second morning in Luxor (it was after this he told us what time we had to get up!).


So at the spritely hour of 3am we got our 'wake up call' (the receptionist knocking on the door, which confirmed our suspicions that the pull-dial telephones in our rooms were most likely as old as the pyramids themselves). We flopped on a boat and cruised across the Nile to a patch of land near the Valley of the Kings for take-off.


We forgot our morning grumpy reluctance as soon as we saw the balloons alternately firing up and lighting up the sky, with an eerie morning stillness and silence surrounding us.


Our balloon gets fired up... the silence stops as it singes a various selection of eyebrows, ponytails, whiskers, nose and knuckle hairs.


Up in the infinite sky Alicia is concerned about feeling claustrophobic! (okay, the baskets were a cosy squeeze...)




It was cool to see how fast they rise and fall from a distance.




sorry, i couldn't choose which one.


Looking down on the remnants of the temple of Hatchepsut at Al-Deir Al-Bahri.


The Theban hills.


Fertile farming land next to the desert.


The sun rises rapidly!


...and we landed safely an hour later with a crew of approximately 20 locals to help us! (note the begging donkey owner: by taking a picture of him you've unwittingly entered a contract to have him follow you persistently 'til you part with a pound).


One of the locals.