Luxor, Day 1

The first thing Manu and I did when we got to Luxor was find my hotel, because we were filthy and neither of us had seen a bathroom in many hours. It isn't hard to walk from the train station to the east bank of the Nile, but there are enough taxi drivers, postcard salesmen and caleche operators to slow you down a little. The pyramids were intense, and Luxor is probably at about 50% of that intensity 24/7, with some major spikes. But it's beautiful! We walked past Luxor Temple and steadfastly refused to be drawn in by felucca captains, because there is a large ferry that takes people across the Nile at any time, day or night, for one pound each way. While waiting for the ferry to take off, my least favorite type of scammer tried to talk us up. I knew what would happen from the moment he sat down, but let it play out because it's interesting, if distasteful. The "helpful" Egyptian will ask you where you are staying, and then try to convince you that your hotel is closed, and that they can recommend a better one. Once we got to that point in the dance, I informed him that I had called the hotel that morning and that I knew he was full of crap. He was disappointed and maybe a tad embarrassed, because he stutteringly apologized and quickly fled the scene. But I bet he started the process all over again with the next tourists he saw.

It was a short walk to the Hotel El Fayrouz, where I am staying during my time in Luxor. If you are ever headed to Luxor, STAY THERE. The staff is nice, the hotel is beautiful and clean, and there is a garden restaurant that serves tasty food (and Coke in glass bottles, which never fails to make me happy). Isn't my room cute?


Even better, it's air conditioned. Manu and I ate lunch in the restaurant, which is quite comfortable.


We were soon joined by Frank, the hotel cat. He hopped up onto the bench behind me and immediately proceed to take a nap, wedged between my bag and me. He (and two cats who belong to the neighbors) regularly hang out in the garden restaurant hoping they will get table scraps. They usually sit and watch you patiently, but Frank is pretty bold and will go for your plate if you are eating chicken or cheese. He apparently is named Frank because an American patron of the hotel fell in love with him, gave him a name, and writes weekly to see how he is doing!


That night, while Manu was trying to kill time waiting for his sleeper train back to Cairo, we went to see the Luxor Temple, which is open until 10:00 PM and looks really awesome at night.


There weren't too many people there, just one group of tourists. I'm not sure what it is about colossal structures, but they look so much bigger at night. Neither of us can read hieroglyphs, so we spent most of our time gaping at how cool everything looked, although there were some pretty neat Roman wall paintings toward the back of the temple. They are faded out and it's hard to get a good picture of them, but they are there! One of the most fun parts of this temple to see at night is the avenue of sphinxes. Don't they all look so solemn with their faces lit up?


When I got back to El Fayrouz, I rang up a driver, Haggag, who was recommended to me by my friend Menna. He picked me up at 8:00 this morning for a sightseeing adventure, and he is a fabulous driver! He waited patiently for me at every site I visited, he is a friendly guy, and he quotes very fair prices. We stopped off at the Colossi of Memnon just to have a look. I honestly don't understand why the Roman emperors thought these were so great. After an earthquake created some cracks in them, they used to "sing," but the emperor Septimius Severus tried to repair them and ruined the effect!


My first stop was the tombs of the nobles, where there were NO tourists whatsoever. This is low tourist season in Luxor to begin with (things heat up again when the weather cools), but you also have to be in decent physical shape to enjoy this site. Once you have bought your tickets and made your way to the hill the tombs are on, get ready to hike. I saw the tombs of Sennefer, Rekhmire, Mena, and Nakht. There are more, but you have to buy your tickets before getting to the hill and you have to buy them in sets, so I decided to go light. Honestly it turned out to be the right decision -- a lot of similar motifs showed up from tomb to tomb, and if you can't tell what the writing on the wall says, there isn't much benefit to seeing every last corner of every last tomb. It is also very difficult to figure out where to go once you get there. Signs pointing the way are... nonexistent until you actually arrive at the tomb entrance.

The painted walls in those tombs were absolutely beautiful, and I really enjoyed Sennefer's ceiling, which was painted with bunches and bunches of grapes. These guys clearly lived the good life -- their tomb walls were coated with food, images of their families, and sexy dancing ladies. I also enjoyed seeing them because, in other similar tombs, you can find evidence of Christian habitation. Monks were known to repurpose tombs and live in them. One of the more famous examples is the nearby Monastery of Epiphanius, which began in a tomb and expanded from there. Alas, very little remains of it these days. I'd include photos of what I saw, but they are forbidden. I probably could have taken some if I had been willing to pay more baksheesh, but I was not so inclined. Here is a view from high up on the hill:


Just FYI, if you are not with a tour guide and have not forearmed yourself with some basic information about these tombs, do not expect to get new information out of the guards responsible for opening them and ushering you through. The ones I encountered were clearly bored and desperate. They led me through the tombs, pointing out fish, giraffes, and common Egyptian deities like Osiris and Anubis. And of course, after receiving one of these "tours," you are expected to pay out a little baksheesh, so it's smart to keep small bills and coins on you. I don't mind it too much -- these guys are restless, underpaid, and they really need the money. And right now there are no tourists for them to milk, so they are hurting bad. Only one guard tried to argue with me over the amount I tipped him, but I was already walking away so it didn't last long. I gave a little extra to the ones who set up mirrors to reflect light into the tombs so I could see better.

Once I made it back to the parking lot, Haggag was there waiting for me. He's obviously friends with a lot of people around Luxor -- some young guys loitering around the tourist office were yelling "Number one driver!" as we got into the car. I agree. Next stop: Deir el-Bahri, or the temple of Hatshepsut. She is the female pharaoh who appointed herself regent and kept Tuthmosis III under her thumb until she died (after which he defaced every image of her he could find). There were probably trees around this temple, once, but now it looks pretty stark (in a beautiful way):


What draws me most to this site is, again, monks. (Shocker, I know.) I think it's totally fascinating that they lived on Hatshepsut's upper terrace for a while, although unfortunately that has all been cleared away in hopes of showcasing the temple's "original" appearance.


And this would have been their view:


The whole site was surrounded by little caves that are probably tombs. I'd bet there is Greek and Coptic graffiti in some of them as well! My next stop was the Valley of the Kings, where I saw just that. Again, no photos allowed, but let me tell you, the tomb of Ramses IV is so much fun! There is a ton of Coptic graffiti in there, as well as some really cute paintings of saints praying. There was even a list of famous monks' names written on the wall, including Pachomius and his successors!

Both Hatshepsut and the Valley of the Kings are, unsurprisingly, MEGA tourist traps. You can't exit those areas through the visitor's center, the way you came in. You are instead forced to leave through a pathway lined with shops and their aggressive shopkeepers. "What's your name?" "Where you from?" "Buy postcard!" "By statue, five pounds Egyptian!" "Here, this for you!" "Big legs, very beautiful!" (Not kidding. That one was such an ego boost...)I felt like I was in a crazy video game, cutting a path through guys waving things in my face and trying to corner me! It's all in good fun, though. Nobody means any harm, and it's easy to get through as long as you just keep moving. Sunglasses help too, so they can't see your eyes. I like to wear them when I bargain, too, so the seller can't tell whether I want something too badly to walk away. I feel like a poker player!

After my morning of running around in the dust and heat, Haggag took me to his father's restaurant, which is right next to the tourist police and mortuary temple ticket office. While there, I had the most glorious glass of lemonade ever.