Back from Luxor

Well, I’m back!  I got bitten to pieces, staying at the Maritim Jolie Ville, as everyone seemed to.  I have bites the size of boils!  The notorious “gyppy tummy” struck as well, affecting the last three days of my trip despite being paranoid about what I ate and drank.  I really must try to find somewhere to go on holiday that doesn’t involve either of these!

On the plus side I managed to get to see the tomb of Ay, in the Western Valley.  This is not listed either at the main ticket office, nor the ticket office at the Valley of the Kings.  But if you go to the latter, and ask for a ticket for Ay, they do have one, under that name.  You then go back to your driver in the car park, and point him at the broad rough area at the right as you look up the valley.  It often looks like overflow parking; but that is the entry to the Western Valley. 

The Western Valley is very silent, and not walkable.  You must get your taxi to take you up there.  You’ll need to collect the guardian en-route, and maybe a policeman.  There is signposting for the the tombs.  But it is well worth it!

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Holiday reading while visiting Luxor

As the days count down to my holiday to Luxor, I start looking at the thermometer.  It’s 5C here; in Luxor today it’s 25C.  

Of course one joy of going on holiday is time off the internet, and time to read books.  Probably we should avoid scholarly reading.  Last year I took a volume of Graf’s Geschichte der christlichen arabischen Literatur with me, but never read a line.  Holidays are for a break.  This year I’m taking guidebooks, and (if Amazon deliver them in time) novels.

I’ve not decided whether to do any sight-seeing, although I probably will.  Ancient Egypt is good; but what about Coptic Egypt?  Is there anything to see in this region?

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Visiting Luxor in December

This morning it was -0.5 C, and I had to scrape the weather off my car before going to work.  But I shall be off to Luxor in Egypt in a week or two, where the temperature today is 24 C in the shade.   Luxor (from al-Uqsa, “the palaces”) is an Egyptian village with a lot of hotels built on the ruins of ancient Thebes of the Hundred Gates, and across the river from the Valley of the Kings.

The 25% collapse in the value of the pound is not great news for me, and I was looking for Egyptian currency online when I came across a non-commercial site on visiting Luxor.  Luxor Travel Tips appears to be a gem. 

Since I went to Luxor last year, I was able to verify what they said about the layout of the airport on arrival, and what you have to do in what order.  It was bang on.  Recommended.

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