A short day and a plane ride
Another short day – Luxor day 1
Late start to the day we had to be ready to go to the airport at 1030hrs for a 1.40pm flight. Osiris Tours had laid on an airport escort to shuttle us through the lines and scans at the entrance to the airport – one of three scans before we were allowed onto the plane. Getting into Luxor one hour later we were once again met by a Tour Representative and the guide for the next four days. As I have noted before tour guides fall into two categories – one who doesn’t say much and sits at the front of the bus and the other type never shuts up and prolongs the tours because they like the sound of their own voices. This guy Khalifah is one of those.
Anyway nice that he is he arranged to meet us after a snack and take us to the Luxor Temple an impressive place – Read the wiki reference to get a good idea of the place. Going at night avoids some of the heat that is too much – at least 40 – 43 C in the afternoon. The visit took place as the sun was going down and as this location has a light show some of the lights came on and so I took some night time pics.
The Main Gallery was impressive – 14 columns five feet in diameter and standing 60 feet tall. We walked the whole complex and when we emerged to see the beauty of the Avenue of the Sphynxes. This Avenue travels in a straight line for about 2,700 metres (8,900 ft) between the Luxor Temple and the Karnak area and was lined with human-headed sphinxes.
Luxor is completely different to Cairo, laid back and cleaner with wider and less traffic clogged roads. The Hilton is a five star and the dining is great with Canadian prices – a big lunch for two cost $35. Tomorrow we will make sure we eat out of the hotel and try Egyptian.