Luxor, in June...wake up early to enjoy!

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Luxor by lunch time, the temperature is in the range of the 45 degrees! So the trick here again is to wake up super early to enjoy a beautiful early morning. We are lucky, most sites around Luxor do open at 6am. This means an early 5am wake up call to be ready by the gate of sites at 6am. Most tourist buses only show up around 7.30am, so we have nearly each day sites just for ourselves.



We are spending two nights in Luxor. First day was a train arrival just on time for dinner. We are staying at the Winter Palace run by Sofitel. This is the poorer sister of the Old Catarat in Aswan. One more time, a top upgrade in the third best suite of the house...with a very nice private terrace with superb Nile views! This hotel hasn't yet gone through any solid renovation. We are sleeping in one of these old grandes dames of an other era. It's a truly nice experience, at half the price from the Old Catarat.



Our first dinner was in town in a Egyptian restaurant advised by the front desk. Only foreigners, but great food. We did the second dinner at the hotel, but here too they could do with more local food in their restaurants. The rate didn't include breakfast and it was as well for us as we would had to turn around our program have we had the breakfast included.



First morning, we are crossing the Nile on the public boat at 5.30am. Hop on a local tuktuk for the 9kms ride to the entry of the Valley of the Kings. We made it just before 6am. Some 10 other tourists are there too. But they are around 15 tombs available to visit, so each time, we have the place to ourselves. The ticket includes the visit of three tombs of your own choosing. I pay also some extra so we could visit the tomb of Ramesses V & VI. The other pictures are coming from the tomb of Ramesses IV, Ramsses III and finally the tomb of Tausert and Setnakht. Yes, seriously beautiful...just 22 years after my first visit!



Next, the run with the same tuktuk to Hatshepsut site. Not much to see inside this one, but the place is simply majestic. As you guess, we have the place to ourselves too. Enjoy the pictures, we did! And this was it for this morning, time to reach the swimming pool for some very relax time!



Next and last morning, we are the first, and only ones, to open the temple of Karnak. The place is massive, so having it for yourself is something pretty special. Well, this didn't last for long, by 6.45, the busses of Spanish tourists are flocking the site. I guess they have no issues with the heat as 90% of tourists on those sites are Spanish. Karnak is simply stunning. Not an issue to get lost into this huge site. We are taking a little horse carriage ride to the next, I name the temple of Luxor. Smaller, but beautiful statues all around. One more time, it was time to head to the swimming pool followed by a nice nap in our little suite.



Late lunch for us that day. We are flying late to Cairo. The airport is basic and the flight is full. We are staying for the night in an airport hotel before our very early flight to more adventures! More coming soon...

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Comments

[Home and Away]

Absolutely fantastic!!!
I was only able to visit the pyramids around Cairo so sure missed out. I really enjoy following your travels...luxury on a budget.