Down the river to Luxor

Any fantasies of 'Luxurious Luxor' (after a rather un-luxurious train ride), were dampened as soon as we saw the name of our hotel. It was very appropriately named! But beyond the hotel, Luxor was a very lovely place to chill for a couple more days and soak up some sun and history.


Day Four - The Valley of the Kings. We went inside three tombs - 11, 14 and 34.


The steep accent before delving down into the chambers of Seti's tomb.


Jackson's sneaky pics of the magnificently decorated walls inside (these are especially for you, Heath!).


The most recently discovered, and most famous tomb of Tutankhamun.


On to Al-Deir Al-bahari, and the temple of Queen Hatchepsut (who ruled by disguising herself as a man!). The main structural remnants of the temple.


It was discovered in the late 1890's and later reconstructed.


It's supposed to reflect the natural architecture of the hills in the background.


It's amazing that some of the colour on the walls still remains in the temples.


The Collosi of Memnon, statues which guarded the temple of Amenhotep III (which is no longer there - they were largely destroyed by earthquakes and floods).


We strayed from the group after lunch for an independent wander...


and ended up in the district of the locals.


From the photo this fruit and veg stall looks deceptively fresh and colourful. But up close you can see the locals have no qualms over purchasing fly blown, slimey rotten fruit, veg, meat and fish... this is probably why our stomachs were so sensitive to egyptian cuisine.


quite a common form of 'Luxor Traffic'.


Despite being pointed in about 20 different directions by horse-and-cart cabs promising to help us, we found the Bazaar. You must have the energy to deal with constant hasslers and the same jokes ("you lucky man, you have two wives! will you share?") over and over.


A cute little cafe in the centre of the market.


A little sheesha shop. Smoking apple tobacco is a popular recreational social activity in egypt.


A conniving little lemon-seller, who chased us through the markets persistently until we paid for his posed grin.


**cheesy, i know**


it was just so nice to have proper sunsets after the greyness of Amsterdam autumn.


Our guide Essam taught us the ways of the Egyptians by introducing us to a Sheesha smoking sesh (try saying that 10 times really fast!)

Day Five - we revisited the Karnak temple in daylight. It was added to by successive pharaohs.


The pictures carved into the walls tell the stories of the pharaohs who commissioned the building.


The history was very interesting and all, but we couldn't resist having a bit of *fun*.


The hypostyle hall, with 134 columns all engraved with hieroglyphics and one of the most beautiful examples of egyptian art.


The temple by evening, where we saw a 'sound and light show'.


Unfortunately the show was a cheesy voice over of translated english that would have slotted nicely into some seventies cult classics, but it was worth going to for the illuminated architecture.


The Luxor temple of Amun-Ra which used to be linked to the Karnak temple by a promenade of statues.




We whirled through at sunset before catching the night train back to Cairo.




Just to throw a contemporary creation into the history lesson - ATM at Luxor train station. would YOU put your bank card in here and expect to get valid currency out of it?!?


Cairo airport before the journey home. with a wad of notes left in our wallets, we set ourselves a challenge: 20 minutes, 10 egyptian pounds each (1.30 euros or $2). Objective: find the corniest souvenir possible. It was a more challenging endeavour than we thought, with the high airport prices, but we came away with my authentic Tutankhamun button, Jackson's practical thimble and Alicia's prize-winning bopping camel pen.