Luxor (Egypt)

My mum and I went to Luxor at the beginning of this year after getting a really good deal, we paid just over £300 for 7 nights half board accommodation with Cosmos staying at the St Joseph’s hotel. I have broken this review into sections and please bear in mind that is based only on my experiences. Anything that I have not covered please feel free to ask about and I will attempt to answer.

HISTORY
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As you are aware Egypt is full of history, Luxor is no exception. After the collapse of the Old Kingdom in Egypt, Egypt split into a series of power bases. One of which Thebes became strong enough to take on the Northern Capital and win to become the new capital, this was during the reign of Montuhotep II. Under Montuhotep’s rule a series of building began including a temple in Karnak and a funeral temple at Deir al-Bahri.

When Montuhotep’s rule came to an end the pharaoh’s of the next dynasty moved the capital of Egypt back to the North, however Thebes remained the capital of the south and also remained as Egypt’s ceremonial capital.

PLACES TO SEE
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Contrary to popular believe that the only thing in Egypt is Pyramids if you go to Luxor you will not see any Pyramids. However, most tour operators do organise trips to see the Pyramids as well as most of the sites which I mention below. A word of advice, before committing yourself to booking with your tour operator take time to go down towards the Old Winter Palace where you will find quite a few local tour operator’s who undercut the big tour operators quite substantially. For example a ½ day trip to the Valley of the Kings/Queens and the Temple of Hatshepsut (say it like Hot Chicken Soup really quickly), with our tour operator would have been £32 each. However, with a local tour operator it was only £17 each and that included a 12 seater air conditioned mini-bus to ourselves, a guide, a driver and entrance into all the sites as well as all the baksheesh (which I will go into in more detail) being taken care of, bit of a difference eh.

The sights which I will now go into are not all there is to see but just details the ones which I visited.

Fellah Tent
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I have to confess that I am not sure if this is the correct spelling but it is how it is pronounced, if you get the opportunity to visit a Fellah temt it is well worth it, it is basically an evening of traditional dancing and music with a banquet most of these also consist of a nile trip in a felluca (boat) to begin with.

Karnak Sound & Light Show
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First thing I have to say about this is it is very cheesy don’t expect too much and you won’t be disappointed. Hosted in Karnak Temple this is a walking tour though the temple to the voices of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, describing various points of interest and history of the temple and Thebes. Cost about £15 each with the tour operator.

Valley of the Kings/Queens and the Temple of Hatshepsut
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Two very important things to note about these are No1 set off early as, as the day goes on the heat gets unbearable, No2 take more than one bottle of big water you will need at least 2 for the entire day. Unfortunately I am unable to give you individual prices for the sites as, as I mentioned before we paid £17 each with everything included, however if not going by a tour operator or as we did you can go by taxi but make sure you take enough money for the tickets and for the baksheesh. Another thing to note is that if you want to take any photo’s in the tombs you have to pay extra. Oh and before I forget if you do opt to pay to use your camera in the tombs and a local offers to take your picture he will expect you to pay at least one Egyptian pound for this but you won’t know that until after the pic has been taken and he starts holding out his hand.

Valley of the kings.
We visited 3 tombs in the Valley of the Kings, unfortunately I couldn’t tell you which as after a bit every tomb begins to look the same, especially if you are too hot. They are however well worth the visit just for the hieroglyphics, we were lucky to have a guide who knew the history well and translated some of the hieroglyphics for us. A word of warning though make sure you wear comfortable walking footwear I wore trainers and was glad I did as the valley of the kings is quite hilly and a trek to walk around. Also cover up as on the west bank where the valley of the kings is the sun is hotter and you will burn quickly I wore a long skirt and light blouse, however the amount of sore red people walking round was unbelievable.

Valley of the Queens
Very much like the Valley of the Kings but the tombs were smaller and there is not as many.

Temple of Hatshepsut
This was my favourite site of the ½ day trip the temple is truly stunning, and when we visited the third floor had just been opened to the public. Unfortunately not many drawings remain of Hatshepsut, as her son destroyed them when he became pharaoh. I can not put into words how truly stunning the site of this temple rising from the desert is.

Luxor Museum
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Although most of the main pieces of history relating to Luxor have been moved to Cairo museum, Luxor museum still has a lot to offer, including statues, furniture, jewellery, pottery and coins. The museum is well laid out with good explanations of the exhibit pieces. Admission is roughly 30 Egyptian pounds. Words of warning though you will have to pay to take photos. Also be careful what you buy from the shop I bought a “silver” bracelet which looked to have a mark to show it was real silver however it couldn’t have been as when I got back home and wore it, it turned my wrist green.

Mummification Museum
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If you happen to be near Luxor temple this is a interesting museum to visit, but be warned don’t make a long trip to see it, it will only take you 20 mins to go round maximum. The museum exhibits are in one medium sized room. The mummification museum takes you through the history of making and some of the exhibits on display include mummies of a person, cat, crocodile and instruments used to scoop out the brain. Admission is roughly 20 Egyptian pounds with extra being charged for your camera. Oh before I forget if you are not paying the extra to use your camera you will have to hand it over to be kept until you leave, also it is standard practice that your bag is checked.

Luxor Temple
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Again this is another truly stunning site, the price of admission is 20 Egyptian pounds and you do not have to pay to use your camera. It was really nice to wander around and look at the avenue of sphinxes and the engravings. Unfortunately there are a lot of locals about who try to point out things, show you where to take pictures or even offer to take your picture again the will expect payment.

These were the only sights we visited but you can take trips to Cairo, Balloon flights, Felluca Ride, and trips to the Red Sea.

The next part of my review will cover the hotel we stayed in, baksheesh, kalesh’s, places to eat, general advice.

ST JOESPH HOTEL
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We stayed at the St Joesph hotel which is a 3 star hotel and is classed as mid-budget range. The hotel has 2 bars one on the roof which is where the pool is, and serves snacks and the other is the cocktail bar in the basement. There are 2 restaurants the one on the roof and the al la carte restaurant on the ground floor, there is also a jewellery shop and a gift shop.
The food is excellent at both the restaurants with a wide varied choice on the menu, have to say though the spaghetti bolognase is delicious, definitely one of my favs. You tend to find that the snack bar on the roof is busier as it does snacks, burgers etc.
The jewellery shop although dingy looking is really exceptional value, one thing to remember about buying jewellery in Egypt is that the price is based on the weight of the gold or silver and also on the craftsmanship. Genuine gold and silver has an assay mark, to be honest you are better off buying the jewellery from the hotel shops as they are less likely to sell you fake gold/silver which does happen a lot in the shops outside the hotels where they think nothing of selling silver plate as silver.
The gift shop had a wide range of gifts for sale and if you ask nicely the bloke who runs it will post your postcards for you and yes they do arrive where intended we were sceptical at first but were proved wrong. The item we found the best value which the gift shop sells and also makes a unique gift and souvenir were the papyrus the charge was roughly 5 eygptian pounds for a small one to over 100 for a really really big one, also unlike when purchasing outside the hotel you can be sold banana skin as opposed to genuine papyrus. I found that the hotel shops were also better value.

The room we were in was quite large, and had a balcony, ensuite toilet/bath/shower , and it was cleaned daily. The hotel staff were really friendly and helpful. While there my mum got bit by a mossie which became infected our room porter burst the bite and cleaned it for her.

BAKSHEESH
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This basically means tipping and it is common place in Eygpt, expect to pay Baksheesh everywhere you go from buying something in the shops to, having something pointed out to you by a local. It can be extremely annoying our first encounter of it happened when we stepped off the plane and went out to out coach our bags were grabbed off us and carried to the coach by a local (not employed by the tour company but we didn’t know this) a matter of a few feet away and you then have to tip bear in mind that when you just arrive you will only have big notes and they know it. Typically I just tipped 1 Egyptian pound but it can be annoying tipping for everything.

KALESH’S
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A word of warning to animal lovers you will find these upsetting, a Kalesh is a horse drawn carriage and unfortunately a lot of the horses are badly neglected and mistreated, and not fed enough or given enough water. Kalesh’s are everywhere and I can only urge you not to use them. Walking down the street you can often see the horses have open sores, their ribs are sticking through so much you can count the ribs, have their legs fastened together with rope, are not allowed to lie down. Most of them are never taken out of their shackles. To be honest the site of these poor animals made me very angry and sick. There are some which are treated very well but unfortunately these are heavily outnumbered by the amount abused. If going to Egypt use a Kalesh on your own conscience. If there is a hell it is where kalesh drivers go to become horses.

Taxis are readily available everywhere for just a few Egyptian pounds but agree the fare before getting in.

PLACES TO EAT
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There is no shortage of places to eat although we did stick to eating in the hotels, eating is really cheap and a meal generally cost the equvialent of £3. I loved the food in the Sonnesta St George. However, if you fancy some real British food while in Luxor then the place to go is 7 Days & 7 Ways which is run by 2 blokes John and John from Leeds. The menu ranges from Beefburgers to corned beef hash you can even have a Sunday dinner and what amazed my mum was “they have HP brown sauce”, you get hugh portions and the food is delicious for more info they can be contacted on goodgrubegypt@hotmail.com.

GENERAL ADVICE

Make sure that you take a first aid kit as a trip to the doctor can cost £25, ensure you drink plenty of water. No matter when you go it is going to be hot so ensure you use appropriate suncream. Expect to be hassled everywhere even walking up the street people will try to get you to go in their shop it can be very wearing. A word to remember is LA SHOCKRA which means no thank you. Don’t but any part of your body in the Nile it has a nasty bug in it which can in the extreme cause death.

A guide which I found extremely useful containing lots of good practical advice as well as info on sites and places to stay was the lonely planet Egypt guide well worth the £12.99.

There is roughly 6 Egyptian pounds to 1 English pound.