Picked up at Al Moudira after breakfast by our guide, Katrin, a diminutive and very cute young lady, with English that is clearly a cut above what we've had with our other Egyptian guides (though their English was quite good, too). When we asked Katrin about it she attributed a good deal of her English to her devotion to TV, in particular to "Friends," her favorite. Clearly, we had a bond.
Our first stop was the temple of Ramses III, at Medinat Habu, with it's excellent hieroglyphs and the adjacent remains of his palace. Though not as spectacular as Karnak, the lack of crowds makes exploration enjoyable, and Katrin is able to explain at a leisurely pace.
In the car, we ask what Katrin's favorite places are, and she says that she loves the village of workers. At our request, she calls and adds it to our schedule. We are able to see the remains of the houses that the workers on the temples lived in. These people were employees, not slaves, and many of hem were artists. In fact, they gave Ramses III considerable trouble, organizing to form the first strike, when they were not treated well. We go into the steep tombs of two of the workers, which have strikingly bright colored decorations. After that, we walk out to the interesting small temple. This stop was well worth making (and adding $40) in cost for.
We stop for a cold Coke, necessary because of the continuing heat, en route to visit the mortuary temple of Ramses II, the Ramasseum, perhaps the most stunning feature is the broken monumental statue of Ramses II, which would have been 25 meters tall, and which inspired Shelley's My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look upon my work, ye Mighty, and despair!"
We go to visit the Tombs of the Nobles, where wealthy men were buried and, in particular, the tomb of Ramose an assistant to Achnatum, whose unfinished tomb affords a ready glimpse into how the tombs were constructed. Katrin takes us through all the steps and points out many of the features and details of the carvings and paintings.
The West side of the river seems to be a farming area. We pass through rather dirty village areas, though not dirty like India. Donkey drawn carts carry food for animals and some produce.
By now we are withering again from the 107-degree heat and happy to return to Al Moudira for lunch, shower and rest. By 4:30, we have recuperated enough to prepare for our pick up by Tony and travel to the East Bank, where we are met at the Luxor Museum by Katrin.
The Luxor museum is small, modern and terrific, containing some fabulous pieces that have not been sent to the Cairo museum. Among them is a hall of some twenty-nine statues in excellent repair found buried at Luxor Temple in the late 1980's, and displayed together. Katrin, in a bright, pink Mickey and Minnie Mouse t-shirt shows us around and is not at all bashful about pointing out her favorites. She loves the off-beat people like Hatsheput and Achnatum (need to go back to check some spelling). We have only about an hour and a quarter, and would happily have spent twice that amount of time.
We say good-bye to Katrin, who has been a wonderful guide, and drive on with Tony to make a quick visit to the grand Winter Palace Hotel that had one belonged to King Farouk. While the common areas and garden are very lovely, we're not at all sorry to have stayed at the Al Moudira, instead. We go to the restaurant Tony has recommended, but leave quickly, because the air conditioning has not bee turned on. Instead, we wind up at the Hussein Restaurant near Karnak Temple where we both have a really quite excellent meal.
On the way to and from our restaurants, we drive through parts of Luxor that seem to be alive at night. We really have not gotten a sense of either Aswan or Luxor as cities, because it's been far too hot to even consider exploring them. On the way to the airport, Tony tells us that his second daughter, Holly was born only eight days ago (which nets him an extra tip).
We've cleared all the Luxor Airport hurdles and are awaiting our flight to Sharm, which should board in fifteen minutes. Forty-five minute flight is uneventful, and we are met at the airport by our man in Sharm, Ahmed. We check in to our upgraded sea view room at The Four Seasons, which appears to be as spectacular as everyone has told us it is.
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