Egypt: Luxor Temples (16 December 2020)

I had heard varying stories on the quality of the sleeper train. However, having taken 3rd class sleeping Azeri trains, 20 hour Vietnamese trains and completed a whole host of interrailing, I was ready for what would come my way. Surprisingly enough the train was clean and I had not real complaints...at least until the train started moving.

The train is pricey by Egyptian standards - $80 for the overnight journey. Foreigners in Egypt can only purchase certain trains for their own 'safety', or maybe because sleeper trains are far more expensive and makes easy money for the country. Having said that, the train did pull up with two young police officers in the front wagon wielding AK 47s.

In my bunk was a fellow Brit from Oxford which helped to wile away a number of hours talking about travelling and Central Asia in particular. 

The sleep wasn't great. The train shuddered for all 10 hours. The rattling was incessant. And the driver was blowing the train horn for the entire journey. As we were in the first coach, the horn felt like it was in our room. Nevertheless I managed some sleep and we arrived in Luxor at around 5.30am.

Emerging onto the platform, there was only one taxi tout who was easily brushed off. Maybe Luxor wasn't as bad as I had read. However, upon exiting the station we were met by 10 touts who wouldn't take no for an answer. Me and the other Brit split and went our separate ways. I had an eerie walk to my hotel on the deserted back streets of Luxor, only with Caleche riders (horse drawn carriage), following me for different lengths of time berating me to jump in. I did manage to catch a lovely sunrise over the Nile:

After 20 minutes of walking I made it to the Winter Palace and was able to check in early and get some much needed sleep.

With a couple of hours rest, I set off for breakfast around a ten minute walk away. On this short walk I was hassled by around 10 touts - markets, caleches, taxi, sunset cruises. This would be a common theme in Luxor. Everyone is out for your money, which I assume can only be exacerbated by the lack of tourists currently in Luxor. The most annoying aspect is that they do not leave you alone. A 'la shukran' (no thank you) sufficed in other areas, but not Luxor. 'How did you know my name was la shukran'. You just have to get used to ignoring everyone and have them follow you for a minute before they give up.

I found my breakfast spot and grabbed falafel for breakfast - a great breakfast choice if you've not tried it!

In the restaurant I was sat upstairs by an open window. Even a floor up you do not get any peace. Caleche riders would shout for my attention as I'm eating and berate me for a rider later. I took the picture below not know that I was looking over Luxor Temple, I attempted to find this area next and totally missed the entrance.

As eluded to above, I tried to make my way to Luxor Temple but went the wrong way and missed the entrance entirely. At this point I decided to carry on along the Corniche to the Luxor Museum which may provide some respite from the numerous touts. The Luxor Museum was a sea of tranquillity and calm and made for a perfect break before continuing to the Karnack Temple at the opposite end of Luxor.

Arriving at Karnack, I was yet again only one of a handful of visitors. The car park, usually brimming with taxis, buses and tourists was completely empty.

Karnack Temple was constructed from 2000BC and the current site is absolutely huge. The most incredible part of the temple were the huge columns of the Great Hypostyle Hall. I am reliably informed that there are 134 columns in 16 rows, standing 24 metres in height:

Inside the temple I walked around for a couple of hours taking in the sites and getting some photos for the Gram courtesy of my tripod and Bluetooth shutter button - the joys of solo backpacking. I stopped for a Fanta - a pre-requisite for any hot day and paid a princely sum of 50EGP (around £2.50). Truly outrageous pricing, but the on café in the temple ground has a somewhat captive audience to toy with.

After a good few hours of walking in the sun, I decided that I couldn't face the 40minute walk back to the hotel, so I spoke to the some gaggle of taxi drivers. 30EGP back to the hotel was agreed and the conversation quickly turned to football and in Egypt that means Salah and Liverpool.

As I jumped out of the taxi, the taxi man who was always stationed outside the hotel had a moan at me for not using his taxi. You can't win in Luxor.

At this point the hotel was akin to a tranquil paradise. The Winter Palace was built in 1886 - an imposing yellow Victorian building that is in need of a lick of paint. A delightful 'century-old Royal Gardens' allowed an escape from the ever present Luxor hassle.

Back in my hotel room, I start planning the trip to the West Bank tomorrow and come to the realisation that the moany taxi driver out front could actually be of use to me. I speak to him and negotiate a price for a full day of West Bank site-seeing. The cost was around 600EGP (around £28). After a quick coffee/beer with the chap from the train, I head back to the Luxor Temple for the night visit.

For me, the night time visit with the lights didn't add too much to the wonder. If anything, I'd imagine daytime would have been better as a lot of the temple was in darkness.

After the temple, I headed to Sofra which came very well reviewed online. Again, I was the only person frequenting the restaurant on the evening. The meal was solid.

After eating, I stroll back to the hotel along the local side roads in the hope of avoiding any remaining touts.