After two years of continual travel, here is something else I think I will always appreciate and feel joy about – we are usually in locations where English is not the first language and there may be only one English word a person knows. That word is “hello.” To be walking down the street and almost without fail when coming across a local resident to smile and greet them with a “hello,” a warmer “hello” and smile is returned. Sometimes the “hello” may be accompanied more with a curious look, but whether it is the curious look or the warm smile, it is a fantastic experience. Maybe “hello” is now my favorite word in the English language.
Monday of this week was our last full day in Cairo. We stayed close to home. We did our final workouts at Nox Gym and said goodbye to our friends there. On the walk back to the apartment, we stopped in at Tres Bon and said goodbye to our friends there. Yeram (our AirBnB host) stopped in to wish us well on our journey. We ate our meals in the apartment and we finished watching the Elizabeth Taylor movie, Cleopatra, and then went to bed.
Tuesday was moving day and it was a smooth day. Our flight wasn’t until 3:30pm, so we had time to do dishes, complete our apartment check out items and pack. We got an Uber to the airport at 12:30, arriving a little after 1pm. We were in Terminal 1 and our flight was domestic, so it took a minute to figure out exactly where we needed to go, but once we did, everything was easy. The airport lounge is in the international section so we just hung out in the waiting area until security opened, and we could go to our gate. That wasn’t organized very well – four or five different lines of people needing to filter down to two lines at the scanner. Unusually for our experience in Egypt so far, the airport personnel were not the friendliest group of people we have ever come across. Once we got through security, we realized there were no bathrooms. So, we each went separately out of the gate area and had to come back through security. At least the security lines were short at that point. They started the first of four buses to go out to the plane around 3:30. We took the last bus and we were seated by 4pm and we took off at 4:15pm. The flight to Luxor was only 50 minutes and they served juice on the plane. We stayed at Golden Mountain Villa in Luxor, and they arranged to pick us up at the airport. The fee was $20, which was probably higher than we would have paid on our own, but it was located in an area in the west bank that isn’t as well known, and we didn’t want to deal with a driver not knowing how to get there. We settled into our apartment around 6:15pm and then walked to Blue Sky Restaurant on the Nile (west bank) for dinner. They were busy and it took a while, but they were very friendly and the food was good. The seating is upstairs overlooking the river – it was a good experience, and we left with plenty of leftovers for later in the week.
Wednesday morning started early for Sandy – she was up for sunrise not sleeping so good because of our colds. The advantage was that she got to see the Wednesday morning hot air balloons. She could always see about 21 balloons in the sky at a time, as they floated by nonstop for 40 minutes.
We went up to the roof for breakfast, and our hosts (Taha and Lisa) served a delicious traditional Egyptian breakfast spread. Lots of variety. We had falafel, an omelet, tomatoes, cucumbers, yogurt, juice, pita, cream cheese, and sliced hard cheese. We left a little after 11am for our day of exploration. First we stopped at the pharmacy and picked up some cough medication and some decongestant medicine. The total cost for our medicines? $1.67 We then met Mahmoud, who took us in his boat across the Nile to the east bank – we paid him 100 Egyptian pounds (roughly $2).
The first museum we visited was one of Sandy’s favorites. It is the Mummification Museum and it being her favorite is not related to the area of focus – it’s because it was one room and we were finished quick. It was interesting – they’ve done a nice job putting together the information to explain the mummification process and the rituals in a sensible order. Our next stop was the Luxor Museum. This had similarities to other history museums we have visited in Cairo, but it is of course geared toward the area around Luxor and the history of this city, which is a former capital and was such an important center of Egyptian civilization during the New Kingdom – roughly 3,500 years ago. I laughed recently when I considered America celebrating our 250th birthday this year and thought to myself how “cute” the Egyptians must think it is to celebrate such infancy. We wanted to confirm some of our plans for a trip we have later this week, so we went looking for the travel agency’s office, but when we got there – no office to be found. We ended up getting everything we needed through WhatsApp messages. We were both craving more western styled food for a late lunch or early dinner and Sandy had the great idea to go to one of the hotel restaurants along the Nile. We ended up at the Sonesta Hotel and it was perfect. Nice view of the river – I had lasagna and Sandy had grilled salmon, veggies, and mashed potatoes and then we contacted Mahmoud to come get us and take us back across the river. We were home by 5pm and relaxed at the apartment for the evening.
We scheduled a day tour of some sights on the west bank for Thursday. Taha and Lisa prepared a packaged breakfast for us (like what they serve on the roof) since we started our tour before breakfast usually opens. It was very nice to open our door and find our two bags for breakfast. Our driver was Romani and our guide was Tim Tim – they both did a great job. The first stop on our tour was Deir el-Medina. This is the village where the workers lived and I had not heard of it until seeing a display in the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza about its history. The workers were the ones who built the tombs on the other side of Golden Mountain in the Valleys of the Kings and Queens.
They also built tombs for their families, and we visited several of those. I am continually blown away by how the paint (and especially in these tombs) has lasted more than 3,000 years and is still so fresh. It’s incredible really.
After Deir el-Medina, we made the customary tourist stop at an alabaster factory and showroom. You see these kinds of things around the world – they put on a show of how goods are made and then you have the option to buy from the shop. The work is almost always beautiful, but for me, it’s not the ideal setting if I ever want to buy something. It feels a little too “in your face” and you almost feel guilty for not buying after seeing the work that goes into the product. I’m not a big fan of those kinds of stops and yet I totally understand the livelihood aspect, so I do hope there are many travelers who love that experience and buy lots of goods from these shops. Our next stop was the Medinet Habu Temple. We have seen a lot of temples and they are starting to run together a bit as they generally serve similar purposes – just for different kings or gods. This one is the funerary temple of Ramses III and it was built around the 12th Century BC. It’s very impressive and the stories that are told on its walls cover many of Ramses III’s military victories.
The next two stops were along the lines of the alabaster factory, but this time we had papyrus making and then a handweaving demonstration and shop. Again, it was very interesting, especially the papyrus making demonstration.
To finish up the tour, we stopped for lunch at Casablanca and ate a delicious buffet upstairs overlooking fields of sun drying tomatoes. The tomatoes were begging for us to go over and try them fresh from the field, but we didn’t go over. We learned they are exported to Italy.
We were home by Noon and had a relaxing afternoon – even got a nap in. Today was the first day of Ramadan and Tim Tim was kind enough to invite us into his home for iftar. Iftar is the meal at which Muslims break their fast each day during the month of Ramadan. He came to pick us up at 5pm and we rode on his little motorbike with him and his one-year-old daughter (yes, three adults and one child on a normal sized motorbike – Sandy was nervous knowing how they drive in Egypt). The timing was such that when we got to his house, we sat in the front room and his wife brought a large amount of food out to us. We ate on our own while Tim Tim went to the mosque for prayers.
When we finished eating, Tim Tim returned and then he got a Tuk Tuk to take the three of us to his restaurant and we had tea together. During our time through the day, Tim Tim wanted to educate us a lot on Islam. I think that is something very important to some Muslims especially during Ramadan. Once we finished the tea, we told him we were fine to walk back to our apartment. It was a fun experience. Back at the apartment we decided to watch the movie, Death on the Nile, and then went to bed.
Today is our last day staying here on the west bank of the Nile in Luxor. We took it easy all day. We enjoyed the breakfast spread again on the rooftop, we read on the rooftop for part of the day. I can’t remember if I have mentioned in our journal that the book I am currently reading is called A Thousand Miles Up the Nile by Amelia Edwards. She traveled by boat up the Nile from Cairo back in the 1870s and it is a travelog of her journey. I’m really enjoying it. We ate our leftovers from Blue Sky during the afternoon (pizza, beef, chicken, and mashed potatoes) and then we went for a nice walk along the corniche on the west bank. Later in the evening for dinner, we went to Sunflower Gardens, which is also a guest house. We had a mix of all kinds of Egyptian foods, and it was all delicious. I think the highlight was when our server wanted us to try an Egyptian dessert called Basbousa. It was so good – it’s going to end up on our recipe page hopefully. It was very light and fluffy and had a sweet taste with a hint of coconut and peanuts. Yum! It’s been a nice stay here in Luxor.
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