DAY 5

Sunday January 11th 2004

We crawled out of our respective pits at about 2pm, emerging, blinking into a gloriously sunny day in Luxor.

We decided that this was going to be a day of rest, so we stayed in the room until 6pm. I made a brief sojourn over to the Le Meridien to see if Emma and Jules were around. We had arranged to dine with them tonight, as they were heading home on Monday.

On the way, I got collared by three caleche drivers and a man peddling papyrus pictures - all in the space of fifty yards or so!

Caleche - image courtesy of CJ McLaughlin - http://www.egyptinteractive.com/EgyptTour/Luxor.htm

After ten minutes of gently rebuffing their spiel, I had a look around the Le Meridien, but found no sign of the girls, so I headed back.

At 6pm, we descended to the Noble's Bar and relaxed with a bottle of the local beer, Stella. We were downing our second bottle when Emma appeared and told us that she and Jules were waiting in the Beban Restaurant downstairs. The Beban is a 24-hour Italian restaurant in the Sonesta St. George.

 

We finished our drinks and went down to meet them. After a delicious meal of Minestrone soup followed by a mouth-watering lasagne, we eloped back up to the Noble's Bar for a drink.

Beer mat from The King's Head, LuxorBack of self-same beer mat (note the hilarious spelling!)It was then agreed upon that we go to Murphy's Bar for more drinks. This was a 'traditional' Irish pub. Well, it had a pool table! Another round was bought at the King's Head Pub (an 'authentic' English bar) and I was getting slightly piddly!

At around midnight, the girls headed back to their hotel, as they had an early start on Monday. We exchanged hugs and thanks and went our separate ways.

Eddie and I had a nightcap in Noble's before retiring for the evening.

DAY 6

Monday January 12th 2004

We awoke at about 11am and decided that, after the rigours of the Cairo excursion, the rest of the holiday would be spent relaxing.

We had a lunch at Jeb's in the hotel and watched feluccas and cruise boats sailing the Nile.

A felucca on the Nile   A Nile cruise boat

A beautiful Egyptian bird of prey circled overhead. 'Do we look like a tasty snack?' I wondered. Across the river, the mountains that protected the Valley of the Kings slowly emerged from an ethereal, dusty haze. It was an impressive sight.

A bird of prey swoops low.

We examined the gifts that we had just purchased in the hotel souvenir shop. Nothing special, just a few trinkets to help remember our holiday by. Later we revisited the shop and bought some more knick-knacks before enjoying a coffee at Noble's.

We returned to our room to find that our departure details for Wednesday had been slid under the door by our Portland Rep.

At about 8pm, we went to the Beban Restaurant, where I devoured another lasagne and afterwards, I had a beer at Noble's, while Eddie had a coffee. He wasn't feeling very well, so we went back to the room. Luckily, we found an English-language channel (with Arabic subtitles) on the television.

DAY 7

Tuesday January 13th 2004

We awoke at 9:40am and had our breakfast. 'Back to the Future' was on the TV channel, MBC2. Great film!

After Marty McFly had finished his adventures, we went down to reception and paid our room service bill. It came to US$101.99. Not bad, I thought, considering we had used the service regularly and had made several telephone calls home.

We had a drinkette at Jeb's Bar. The breeze had really picked up and I was freezing, so we headed for the souvenir shop again and picked up some more paraphernalia.

Eddie in the Beban RestaurantSteve in an unfortunate pose at the BebanAt about 6pm, we strolled down to Noble's for a quick drink before dinner at the Beban. I had an absolutely delicious spaghetti carbonara. Highly recommended!

I fired a few more drinks down at Noble's before we returned to the Beban at 12:45am for a late-night pizza!

Then it was off to beddie-byes...

 

DAY 8

Wednesday January 14th 2004

The alarm awoke us at about 8:30am, but neither of us wanted to get up. Eventually, though, we winched ourselves out of bed.

This was the day we returned home and we had to ensure that everything was okay.

Skipping breakfast, we packed our bags and cases and decided to leave our toiletries for the local orphanage - honest! That's what they do: distribute shampoo, toothpaste etc. to an orphanage in Luxor that was set up by a kindly English lady, who had sold up all her belongings at home and had come to Egypt to care for parentless children.

We left a note of thanks for the staff, a small stipend and some cigars.

Now it was time to hand in our key. As our bill had been paid in full, all we had to do was hand the receptionist our key card. We did this, then set off down to Jeb's for a last look at the Nile.

I was feeling a little delicate, so I had just had water to drink.

The mountain range that hides the Valley of the Kings was particularly visible today. There had been considerable haze for the past few days and the distant peaks and crags had been barely visible. I took some more snaps:

The West Bank of the Nile  The West Bank of the Nile  The West Bank of the Nile

Our favourite waitress, Naghda, served us again and she said that she hoped we would visit again as we were 'very nice people'. Awwww, bless her! She's a great person herself. She always wore a huge, beaming smile, even when rushed off her feet.

At a little after 1pm, we waved goodbye to Naghda and went for a final meal at the Beban. We both chose the carbonara this time, but Eddie followed up with a large bowl of ice cream (which he couldn't finish - his eyes are bigger than his belly!!!).

The staff at the Beban said they were sorry to see us go, too. I'm filling up here!!!!

The coach to the airport was supposed to pick us up at 3:15pm, but it was about fifteen minutes late. Eventually, though, we were at the airport, being subjected, wisely, to intense security.

As a nice surprise, our plane arrived early, so we were able to board and take off about three quarters of an hour ahead of time.

The ride home was in stark, inverse symmetry to the flight in. Whereas the journey to Luxor had been in the daytime, which afforded some terrific views, our trip home was undertaken at night and all that was visible out of the windows were the occasional, distant city lights, far below. There was also a little more turbulence on the way back, which made for an interestingly bumpy ride home.

Our holiday in Egypt was a fantastic experience and if I got the chance, I would definitely return. Everybody should visit this magical land at least once in their lives and I am glad I had the opportunity.

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