SATURDAY MARCH 10th - LUXOR
the foursome of myself, Jan, alan and Dereck headed ino the Souk at Luxor to buy some gifts and souvenirs. The traders are a bit of a pest and notorious for their pushy tactics - the only ay to cope is to smile or ignore them completely but keep walking. I had inmind to buy some scarves and at the very end of the Souk we found a small stall and were told 'no hassle' by the owner - although this wasn't strictly true ias it turned out, but I did buy some nice scarves and paid an acceptable price. Emerging from the Souk, the impressive site of Luxor Temple faced us with the Nile and Wst bank behind. Feeling thirsty after our haggling ordeal, we wandered along the road to find the Winter Palace Hotel for a 'posh' drink. the hotel is a landmark of Luxor, famous for being the winter lodge for King Farouk and also the preferred hotel for Lord Carnarvon and other foreign visitors over the last 120 years or so. The pale yellow building has an imposing stone stairway off the street and was crying out for a photograph! Not being guests at the hotel and looking a little shabby we weren't expecting to be allowed inside, but hoped for some tea on the terrace overlooking the Nile. However, once through the tall revolving wooden doors into the tranquility and air conditioned lobby we were met by a porter who looked us up and down and eventually agreed to let us take a look inside the hotel for a few minutes. It's pretty smart, but not unaffordable - it still has that colonial atmosphere of restrained elegance. Jan and I took our chance to use the very posh loos (luxury after the river bank!) and then we all enjoyed a cold drink on the terrace outside. It was a brief moment of luxurious respite before rejoining our 'no frills' (but fun) adventure with Explore.
Our next stop was Luxor Museum.
A pleasant walk along the Corniche (ignoring the endless heckles to take a Felucca, taxi or Calesh) brought us to this very modern museum mid afternoon. Fully air conditioned and beautifully laid out with superb lighting, this place was far superior to the Cairo Museum, but lacked some of the treasures of Cairo. However, there were some amazing examples of statues, wall decorations (incredibly intricacy of the painting) and 2 mummies: Ahmose and Rameses I. Inside a smaller wing are a dozen statues which were recently dug from Luxor Temple and found in almost perfect condition.
Outside the museum it was almost dusk and we were all a bit tired and flagged down a Calesh to take us back to our hotel. He promised 'a good price' and then demanded the equivalent of £8 for a trip of less than a mile! I argued that not even a London Cabby would charge that much! We gave him more than it deserved but not that much. At least his horse was reasonably well cared for.
Later, we had a very nice group dinner by the river and then walked back through the Souk again and bought yet more scarves! then an early night in advance of my Balloon Ride!
SUNDAY MARCH 11th
Another 5am alarm call - for my Balloon ride! Still dark outside I met Mike, Tim and Dereck in the lobby and were soon collected in a minibus and taken to the motorboat. Abord the boat we were one of around 20 other people all on the balloon. The crew provided hot drinks and we listened to a briefing from the pilot - a very nice man who proudly wore his Blue Peter badge! (he took them up in 2005 for the BBC). Once across the river, the buses took us to the launch sight, not far from the Hatshepsut temple close to the village of Gurna which is going to be flattened for excavation of tombs underneath. This was to be my first ever balloon ride so was quite nervous but excited. I have a little fear of heights, but didn't worry too much. I was one of the last to get into the enormous basket which involved using holes for your feet and clambering over.
The basket was oblong and sectioned to prevent tipping and our pilot had the middle with his gas canisters and burners.
All around us there were balloons taking off, some already high in the sky. The dawn was rising and despite some haze it was a good sky. Very quickly we lifted off the ground, without any real motion and within 10 seconds we were quite high. At this point my stomach turned and I thought I'd made a mistake - but it wore off and I really enjoyed the feeling of drifting and looking around at the sites below us. The burners were incredibly hot and at times and really uncomfortable so I ducked to avoid the blast of heat.
Our height reach 2000ft and it certainly felt high! We were above the other balloons with spectacular views across the Nile, Valley of the Kings and out into the mountains of the west. It was strikng how the green land abruptly stops and becomes desert, showing the importance of the Nile waters. I was able to pick out many of the sites we'd already visited on our tour, and took loads and loads of photos and short films. We found the house that Howard Carter occupied during his excavations - surrounded by trees near to the road we had ridden on donkeys the week before.
Hatshepsut temple looked amazing from this high up, and the path of our valley walk looked far steeper and higher than I remembered! After 40 minutes floating over the tombs and temples of the west bank the pilot headed us towards the Nile and dropped low over some farms and mud houses. The sounds of cars, donkeys, farmers below drifted up towards us, and kids waved.
We gained height again for a short while before coming down slowly to hover just 2m above the ground. The pilot skilfully used the burners and airflow to position the balloon in the perfect landing spot which was so smooth that I hardly noticed. A crew of men grabbed the basket and brought us gently to earth. To celebrate we had a traditional dance and a song from the crew, followed by certificates and a tshirt.
SATURDAY MARCH 10th - LUXOR
the foursome of myself, Jan, alan and Dereck headed ino the Souk at Luxor to buy some gifts and souvenirs. The traders are a bit of a pest and notorious for their pushy tactics - the only ay to cope is to smile or ignore them completely but keep walking. I had inmind to buy some scarves and at the very end of the Souk we found a small stall and were told 'no hassle' by the owner - although this wasn't strictly true ias it turned out, but I did buy some nice scarves and paid an acceptable price. Emerging from the Souk, the impressive site of Luxor Temple faced us with the Nile and Wst bank behind. Feeling thirsty after our haggling ordeal, we wandered along the road to find the Winter Palace Hotel for a 'posh' drink. the hotel is a landmark of Luxor, famous for being the winter lodge for King Farouk and also the preferred hotel for Lord Carnarvon and other foreign visitors over the last 120 years or so. The pale yellow building has an imposing stone stairway off the street and was crying out for a photograph! Not being guests at the hotel and looking a little shabby we weren't expecting to be allowed inside, but hoped for some tea on the terrace overlooking the Nile. However, once through the tall revolving wooden doors into the tranquility and air conditioned lobby we were met by a porter who looked us up and down and eventually agreed to let us take a look inside the hotel for a few minutes. It's pretty smart, but not unaffordable - it still has that colonial atmosphere of restrained elegance. Jan and I took our chance to use the very posh loos (luxury after the river bank!) and then we all enjoyed a cold drink on the terrace outside. It was a brief moment of luxurious respite before rejoining our 'no frills' (but fun) adventure with Explore.
Our next stop was Luxor Museum.
A pleasant walk along the Corniche (ignoring the endless heckles to take a Felucca, taxi or Calesh) brought us to this very modern museum mid afternoon. Fully air conditioned and beautifully laid out with superb lighting, this place was far superior to the Cairo Museum, but lacked some of the treasures of Cairo. However, there were some amazing examples of statues, wall decorations (incredibly intricacy of the painting) and 2 mummies: Ahmose and Rameses I. Inside a smaller wing are a dozen statues which were recently dug from Luxor Temple and found in almost perfect condition.
Outside the museum it was almost dusk and we were all a bit tired and flagged down a Calesh to take us back to our hotel. He promised 'a good price' and then demanded the equivalent of £8 for a trip of less than a mile! I argued that not even a London Cabby would charge that much! We gave him more than it deserved but not that much. At least his horse was reasonably well cared for.
Later, we had a very nice group dinner by the river and then walked back through the Souk again and bought yet more scarves! then an early night in advance of my Balloon Ride!
SUNDAY MARCH 11th
Another 5am alarm call - for my Balloon ride! Still dark outside I met Mike, Tim and Dereck in the lobby and were soon collected in a minibus and taken to the motorboat. Abord the boat we were one of around 20 other people all on the balloon. The crew provided hot drinks and we listened to a briefing from the pilot - a very nice man who proudly wore his Blue Peter badge! (he took them up in 2005 for the BBC). Once across the river, the buses took us to the launch sight, not far from the Hatshepsut temple close to the village of Gurna which is going to be flattened for excavation of tombs underneath. This was to be my first ever balloon ride so was quite nervous but excited. I have a little fear of heights, but didn't worry too much. I was one of the last to get into the enormous basket which involved using holes for your feet and clambering over.
The basket was oblong and sectioned to prevent tipping and our pilot had the middle with his gas canisters and burners.
All around us there were balloons taking off, some already high in the sky. The dawn was rising and despite some haze it was a good sky. Very quickly we lifted off the ground, without any real motion and within 10 seconds we were quite high. At this point my stomach turned and I thought I'd made a mistake - but it wore off and I really enjoyed the feeling of drifting and looking around at the sites below us. The burners were incredibly hot and at times and really uncomfortable so I ducked to avoid the blast of heat.
Our height reach 2000ft and it certainly felt high! We were above the other balloons with spectacular views across the Nile, Valley of the Kings and out into the mountains of the west. It was strikng how the green land abruptly stops and becomes desert, showing the importance of the Nile waters. I was able to pick out many of the sites we'd already visited on our tour, and took loads and loads of photos and short films. We found the house that Howard Carter occupied during his excavations - surrounded by trees near to the road we had ridden on donkeys the week before.
Hatshepsut temple looked amazing from this high up, and the path of our valley walk looked far steeper and higher than I remembered! After 40 minutes floating over the tombs and temples of the west bank the pilot headed us towards the Nile and dropped low over some farms and mud houses. The sounds of cars, donkeys, farmers below drifted up towards us, and kids waved.
We gained height again for a short while before coming down slowly to hover just 2m above the ground. The pilot skilfully used the burners and airflow to position the balloon in the perfect landing spot which was so smooth that I hardly noticed. A crew of men grabbed the basket and brought us gently to earth. To celebrate we had a traditional dance and a song from the crew, followed by certificates and a tshirt.
