Journey Impressions: Luxor

Luxor: approx. 0.36 m inhabitants (2009)
Egypt: approx. 81.5 m inhabitants
Population growth (2008): 1.9%
People per km²: 81
Gross national income per person in 2008 PPP: 5,460 USD


03.11.2010 Luxor: After quite a hair-raising drive through Luxor, we arrived in Hotel Steigenberger, where we had to clear up some problems with our rooms. Martin had been given a lovely suite, while I got a small smoker's room. Once I'd finished dealing with my business on the Internet, Martin showed me his room and it was clear that something had to be done, although I don't like moving rooms in hotels. The reception gave us the following reason for the room allocation: They believed that Martin was the pilot and I was the co-pilot and therefore gave us different rooms. We then explained that both pilots wanted to have the same category. This doesn't just apply at Steigenberger, but in future hotels too.

Once we'd cleared up this minor problem, we looked for somewhere to eat. Then we decided to visit the two important monuments in Luxor. Thomas Cook recommended an experienced historian as our guide. Of course she knew so much and couldn't get everything across in so short a time. Finally, we decided to limit our trip to visiting the Valley of the Kings and Tutankhamen's temple with its vast garden of columns that Ramses II completed during his reign. We visited several tombs in the Valley of the Kings, including Tutankhamen's. After almost five hours in the burning sun, we then decided we'd prefer to end the visit to the temples and historic sites and have a cappuccino instead.

Unfortunately I couldn't persuade Martin to take a tour of the city in a horse-drawn carriage. Funnily enough, it's usually me that doesn't want to do that kind of thing. In the past, if my wife Marie suggested a tour like that - for example in Vienna - I always said no.

We completed the evening with a trip on the Nile, on a pretty dilapidated boat. The two skippers actually managed to take us to the other side of the Nile bank, then go against the current and then to return with sails set to the mooring. But in our view, a trip on the Rhine or the Elbe was a lot more romantic than this tour on the Nile with such a dilapidated boat, passing by equally dilapidated examples and all the rubbish on the banks of the Nile. Both we and several other people were quite disillusioned with these impressions.

We rounded off the evening with a delightful, welcoming meal on the patio at Steigenberger hotel directly on the Nile and under a wonderful starry sky.