The reception of the Sonesta St George Hotel. My mum would be on a ladder pinging the chandelier to see if it was real crystal. The Xmas tree is fake and feels a bit weird what with gingerbread houses covered in snow given it's hot and sunny outside. Here I am in Luxor from Wed 26 Dec 2007 for a week as I promised Ewa we'd go on holiday to Egypt and a promise is a promise, despite me now having my hubby Andrew.
Can't beat some murals on the way to the delicious buffet breakfast with choice of toast, french toast, pancakes, any style eggs, any omelette made for you fresh, breakfast potatoes which got bigger as the week went on, hot meats, cold meats, cheeses, fresh fruit (pomegranate heaven), pastries, danishes, Japanese dishes, Egyptian dishes of which we all loved the tomatoes with herbs the most, cereals and home made preserves including carrot!
The girls taking photos of the Nile from the pontoon
Ewa relaxes by the pool
The pool attendant who could not be more helpful making sure you had everything you need. If you were hungry or thirsty a waiter was always on hand to bring something from the open air kitchen. The first lunch by the pool I had the most amazing big chunks of sea bass in batter with chips but when Ewa ordered it the next day it was very average.
Marta models the room
Andrew models as Hannibal Lector
To distract me from the passing building materials outside the window - they are adding a couple of floors to the top.
But if you ignore the winch there's views of amazing sunsets to make you weep. You want to be Nile view and overlooking the Olympic pool at the side rather than the water treatment works on the other side.
Time to get ready for an evening out to some fabulous Egyptian restaurant like Maximes (right out of the Sonesta - 3 eat yummy food for £10. Note no pork or alcohol is served) or one of the other hotels.
The Italian is the hotel was excellent but the pepper mill was a 2 man job
Ewa explains how delicious her cooking is
In the Old Winter Palace where Agatha Christie stayed but it was in Aswan where she wrote Death on the Nile. French president Sarkozy and his glamour puss girlfriend and Blair with the Cherie Witch wife were both holidaying at the Old Winter Palace while we were in Luxor. We liked the high ceilings but there was a dress code everywhere and people dining looked like Madames Tussards wax figures on show held in place with a poker up their arse. Not somewhere I could relax. Still if I wasn't allergic to caffeine and cream I'd have come by all the same in my finery for Afternoon Tea. Can't have been that good as Blair was coming to our gym facilities to work out. So Ewa's claim to fame is using the same machine as Tony. I did have a couple of massages which were quite nice but they were forthcoming with enough fresh towels to make it as hygienic after the last person as I would have wished. Foot massage had me floating.
Here we are at the Steinberger (formerly Nile Palace Hotel) which is next door almost. They advertise an Arabian Nights show at 20.30 every evening. When we were there on our last night it actually started at 20.15. That's Egypt for you. It was absolutely brilliant. Lots of varied acts in an outdoor courtyard with restaurants looking onto it. Even Ewa and I were dragged up to some dancing at the end which was great fun. I was pretty good even if I say so myself.
The whirling dervish gets his kit off and does it large above Ewa's new friends from by the pool. I loved seeing him. See videos
Here we are having lunch (cheap and good) at the rooftop restaurant of the St Joseph Hotel and here are Ewa's crazy shorts.
"I'm not always happy" said Mrs ToiletHead
The other thing you can always so is surf the web but you'd be a 'Sado' as the sign above the arch inside says
From the hotel you can walk into town or there's all the kalesh (horse-drawn carriages) or taxis who will take you for 10 Egyptian pounds. if you walk you'll get bothered by them every few metres so walk against the traffic to make it harder for them and don't show any interest at all. The best thing to do is walk down the street where the St Joseph is (very close to the Sonesta) and then turn left into the locals street where immediately after the playground you'll find the entrance into the bazaar where you'll have to ask for help rather than be badgered. It's great and you'll see where the locals buy fruit and their bathroom suites! You don't barter here in the same way as it is not overpriced to start with.
The Luxor Riviera
The Luxor Rubble
Coming back after our first day out where all we managed to do was book tours with the very nice very well priced Cheops just in front of the Old Winter Palace, buy a traditional galabia for Ewa and have a nice lunch in the cafe to the left of the reception area in Hotel Mercure. For the same money as Jollies we got private minibus and tour guides. Jollies were rude and wouldn't give a good deal on the balloon but Cheops did for £25 which is what we expected to pay. Thomson would like to charge you £135 per couple!!! and tell you there's is so much safer.
So when in Egypt what is everyone doing? Seeing the sights of course. We started with Karnak temple which is too far to walk by the way. We went in the afternoon to get the best sun down photos.
Here's Ewa, known by Luxorians as Mrs Cleopatra, who dressed up in her galabia for the occasion much to everyone's amusement. She had women asking her in Egyptian all afternoon asking where she bought her shoes from. Hannah our guide was anxious to get home and not keen on us taking pictures - especially when we were not listening to her every word. Oops.
Mrs Cleopatra does a stint as Mother Teresa
King Rameses no doubt but which one. This couldn't be the li'l dude with all the wives.
I'm speechless at the splendour
More photos at http://photos.andrewnorton.net/ but mostly of us
Circle three times for wealth (any day now for us) and seven times to get pregnant (didn't do that. We've got two already and have you seen what happened to university costs?).
Now to Luxor temple
Some remains of the 7,000 sphinxes that lined the route between Karnak and Luxor temples. The governement has a plan to open up the route bulldozing the police stations and dwellings in the way. To be completed in 2012. Then I will walk to Karnak.
The West Bank's Valley of the Kings where you find some key tombs. You'll have to go to Cairo Museum to see the treasures that were once hidden inside them.
Tut Ankh Amun's mummy was on show inside so of course for 80 Eygptian extra each visited the most famous but not most stunning of tombs. He was a small man and it was eerie seeing a dead body - bit like a horror movie. Mind you this is a recurring theme as last Sunday shopping in Reading was like a horror movie too - I was approached by something older and uglier than the mummy with make up nearly as brown but with long yellow hair and bright pink lips trying to make me try on trendy but badly made clothes. Yikes! I feel sorry for Tut and the other kings. Your whole life you have your workmen build your ideal resting place and then after death you get no peace. Your tomb is raided and your fingers wrenched off as thieves pinch your rings and then the faculty carts your body around the world showing it to complete strangers.
Inside a tomb which is one of the biggest. Rather than get rushed along amid hoards of people visiting 3 small tombs we chose to do one on the same ticket. Amazingly heavy sarcophagus. Paintings that look like they were done yesterday and tell so many stories. Guards that accept a bribe when they've caught you taking a photo and threaten to take your camera away.
Queen Hatshepsut's temple pronounced 'hat cheap suit' or 'hot chicken soup' by the Americans. She didn't want her 2 year old halfbrother to become king so like many royals before her came up with a my mother was impregnated by a god story to claim the throne. She also wore a false beard to gain respect. I'll try that and see if I get promoted. He, Thutmose III, when he came to power after her death ordered the destruction of records of her having existed hence the temple suffered serious family vandalism with only a few crests of hers left intact carved into columns.
Andrew's camera was set to vivid and I love how the pics look like postcards from a trip to Egypt in 70s technicolor.
Poles get everywhere, really do
Views from the temple I think are more breathtaking
On the way back having been taken to an alabaster factory
Hello there
One of the two Colossi of Memnon sitting together. An earthquake meant cracks appeared and when the wind blew threw them particularly at dawn it sounded like they were signing. And they sang for world visitors including many a Roman emperor. Then in 199 Emperor Septimius Severus didn't hear the sound and felt they were angry with him, so filled in the holes to make them complete again unfortunately ensuring we will never hear their song again.
Honey our guide for the West Bank who was fabulous.
We three kings traveling far and wide. Here we are and behind us you can see how Luxor temple is slap bang in the middle of the city
How did you get up there Ewa?
Carrying a load
This is the morning of our balloon adventure which I must blog about. There was a lot of mooching around from pillar to post wondering if we'd ever see a balloon. During that time we got a chance to see this temple 'Medinet Habu' and the Colossi for a second time,
Oh look - we found the balloon. Reel it in lads!
A bit of a balloon side begging. Next gifts of sugar cane
Give it some welly and let's get out of here. We've been sitting on boats and mini buses since 6.30am and it's now after 10.
A cuddle for the lovely 79 year old Dane from Adel who is possibly the happiest man on the planet
Up up and away
Villages of the West Bank were the most interesting part of Luxor for me. Like a regular nativity scene. The donkeys are so damn cute. Be nice to them please and don't you as a tourist ride them. If you are bad you get reincarnated as a donkey in your next life - a terrible beast of burden life. Note how many rooms don't have roofs. Last time it rained was Feb 2007 and that was for a whole 20 seconds.
View of the Valley of Kings from 1700 feet up
Our shadow
On the ground it is amazing who you find in the middle of the desert
Ground crew's equipment scattered like we've crashed
Richard Gere changing position in the basket
Once we land next thing we do is fly onto the back of the pick up - yes really
The balloon is wrestled to deflation
And sat in the balloon basket on the back of a pick up we ride out of the dessert through a quarry and rubbish dump. Hurray! Now that was the only bumpy ride.
And so to the big event of New Year's Eve. The Sonesta Hotel people really know how to throw a party. Cocktails and carrots.
Abducted by pirates. It's a pirate themed night!
In the tunnel of stars
I don't to wear that stupid hat
Yummy food served hot or cold as appropriate and perfectly cooked (even the meat tenderness and taste is to my liking which is a feat for one let alone catering for 350). Well done Sonesta!
The priates getting ready to pelt guests back with little paper balls supplied in our party packs
Some of the Arabian entertainment
Ewa gets adorned with every streamer the pirates can find - here's my little firend
Coming back from getting a prize on behalf of a waiter. it's worth staying up for the tombola as every other prize is a week's holiday e.g. on a 5 star Nile cruise ship.
Another crazy Ewa outfit as we wait to jet off. Yay - what a fab holiday! Everyone at the hotel was talking about coming back. We will for sure many times. There's so many sights still to see and the people are lovely in their own way, it is sunny and cheap.
