not las vegas, but (pardon the pun!) the real deal.
deep in the heart of 'upper egypt' we are unearthing the ancient sites and catching a few of the modern ones too! a much delayed twelve hour flight brings us in directly over the pyramids just before sunset (incredible!) and a final approach into cairo ... sprawling, mad, and yet somehow gentle. we seem to get shaken down by the security screeners at the airport, but we are unrelenting - jane, with her wry baghdadi ways, doesn't fall for it and we feign ignorance when they promise to rummage through our luggage. smiling brightly, we are idiot (savants!) ... and it works! we run for our connection to luxor - a simple one hour affair, and arrive somewhat exhausted. the hotel - great fun, a behemoth, overdone - and a delicious lebanese meal follows (thankfully!). jetlagged and exhausted, we stow the carry-ons and flop out, exhausted.
our first full day in luxor finds us up early - 6 am - and downstairs at the edge of the nile, relishing a huge middle eastern breakfast ... so yummy, gracious, and amazing to eat whilst staring out to the 'west bank' of this famous river. we have an appointment at the bike shop - arranged months in advance, despite fervent protests from the family - to pick up five cycles for a 50 kilometer trek on the other side of the nile ... the valley of the kings awaits! all is smooth, we meet our guide (jane's touch) and ride through town to reach our felucca which will ferry us across to our starting point. effortlessly, we make it to the other side, and ride through a string of 'pearls' - little rural villages dotting the sugar cane fields. donkeys, men in 'jallabias', veiled women - and everyone is smiling. the egyptians are warm and welcoming, but most surprising, are completely hysterical! they reply with an odd, dry sense of humor ... making us feel relaxed and at ease. we feel completely safe and free here - not quite what we were expecting - and perhaps other voyages have prepared us (or jaded us?). everyone thinks our family is 'sporty' (or are they saying sportive?) ... how ironic given jane and i with our spasdicated athletic nature!
first stop, valley of the kings, to see the tomb of king tut, and a series of varied sloping chambers leading to actual burial places. we are incredibly lucky ... the last few weeks, the temperature has been 110 to 115 degrees everyday. we hit the 'low' - a sunny and dry 85 degrees with a slight breeze and a cloudless sky - heavenly for our robust ride! kashi bars in tow, we return from the 'place of death' - amazing - and continue on to what we've all been dreaming about seeing - the temple of queen hatshepsut, built 'petra-like' into the huge mountainside. it is literally heart-stopping and unbelievable, and we can hardly contain our excitement ... for me, i have been waiting for this moment, and it's as good as it gets! we spend our time staring out across the alternately lush floodplain landscape and the the craggy dry rockfaces, soaking in the columned facade of the temple.
onward and upward, we pedal towards another temple - one we are not familiar with - the temple of habou. it's late afternoon, and we're sure that we are on our way to see something less than spectacular. the entry, at the end of the village, promises nothing - and we hand in our tickets only to be completely blown away ... incredible! a massively scaled structure with layers upon layer of hieroglyphics, histories piled one atop another - we thank andi for his upcoming bar mitzvah, the genesis for this trip and these experiences.
we pass the colossus of memnon, and head back for a sail across the nile, then homeward bound. finally, back at the hotel late afternoon, it's time to lounge by the pool, have a drink, and watch the sun die out over the west bank. it gets colder immediately and we scurry up to change again, and negotiate a driver to take us for a lit-up evening walk through luxor temple - worthy of anything you could conjure up (indiana jones? arabian nights?), it's equally awe-inspiring and enormous and impressive.
a thai dinner, with kids tasting our egyptian beer much to jane's horror (she in the wc - what can i say?) we dine, laugh, and sleep (well, i do - at the table!). exhausted, slightly sunburnt, and happy, we are ready for day 2!
tomorrow, the gym, temple of karnak, a bit of souk shopping, and onto cairo! the pyramids and sphinx await ...
love from luxor!
deep in the heart of 'upper egypt' we are unearthing the ancient sites and catching a few of the modern ones too! a much delayed twelve hour flight brings us in directly over the pyramids just before sunset (incredible!) and a final approach into cairo ... sprawling, mad, and yet somehow gentle. we seem to get shaken down by the security screeners at the airport, but we are unrelenting - jane, with her wry baghdadi ways, doesn't fall for it and we feign ignorance when they promise to rummage through our luggage. smiling brightly, we are idiot (savants!) ... and it works! we run for our connection to luxor - a simple one hour affair, and arrive somewhat exhausted. the hotel - great fun, a behemoth, overdone - and a delicious lebanese meal follows (thankfully!). jetlagged and exhausted, we stow the carry-ons and flop out, exhausted.
our first full day in luxor finds us up early - 6 am - and downstairs at the edge of the nile, relishing a huge middle eastern breakfast ... so yummy, gracious, and amazing to eat whilst staring out to the 'west bank' of this famous river. we have an appointment at the bike shop - arranged months in advance, despite fervent protests from the family - to pick up five cycles for a 50 kilometer trek on the other side of the nile ... the valley of the kings awaits! all is smooth, we meet our guide (jane's touch) and ride through town to reach our felucca which will ferry us across to our starting point. effortlessly, we make it to the other side, and ride through a string of 'pearls' - little rural villages dotting the sugar cane fields. donkeys, men in 'jallabias', veiled women - and everyone is smiling. the egyptians are warm and welcoming, but most surprising, are completely hysterical! they reply with an odd, dry sense of humor ... making us feel relaxed and at ease. we feel completely safe and free here - not quite what we were expecting - and perhaps other voyages have prepared us (or jaded us?). everyone thinks our family is 'sporty' (or are they saying sportive?) ... how ironic given jane and i with our spasdicated athletic nature!
first stop, valley of the kings, to see the tomb of king tut, and a series of varied sloping chambers leading to actual burial places. we are incredibly lucky ... the last few weeks, the temperature has been 110 to 115 degrees everyday. we hit the 'low' - a sunny and dry 85 degrees with a slight breeze and a cloudless sky - heavenly for our robust ride! kashi bars in tow, we return from the 'place of death' - amazing - and continue on to what we've all been dreaming about seeing - the temple of queen hatshepsut, built 'petra-like' into the huge mountainside. it is literally heart-stopping and unbelievable, and we can hardly contain our excitement ... for me, i have been waiting for this moment, and it's as good as it gets! we spend our time staring out across the alternately lush floodplain landscape and the the craggy dry rockfaces, soaking in the columned facade of the temple.
onward and upward, we pedal towards another temple - one we are not familiar with - the temple of habou. it's late afternoon, and we're sure that we are on our way to see something less than spectacular. the entry, at the end of the village, promises nothing - and we hand in our tickets only to be completely blown away ... incredible! a massively scaled structure with layers upon layer of hieroglyphics, histories piled one atop another - we thank andi for his upcoming bar mitzvah, the genesis for this trip and these experiences.
we pass the colossus of memnon, and head back for a sail across the nile, then homeward bound. finally, back at the hotel late afternoon, it's time to lounge by the pool, have a drink, and watch the sun die out over the west bank. it gets colder immediately and we scurry up to change again, and negotiate a driver to take us for a lit-up evening walk through luxor temple - worthy of anything you could conjure up (indiana jones? arabian nights?), it's equally awe-inspiring and enormous and impressive.
a thai dinner, with kids tasting our egyptian beer much to jane's horror (she in the wc - what can i say?) we dine, laugh, and sleep (well, i do - at the table!). exhausted, slightly sunburnt, and happy, we are ready for day 2!
tomorrow, the gym, temple of karnak, a bit of souk shopping, and onto cairo! the pyramids and sphinx await ...
love from luxor!
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