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Insider
guide to Luxor
September 21 2006
If you're about to visit Luxor, read on.
Sarah, our Egypt correspondent, has some hints,
tips and advice for you.
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| History
Luxor
is totally magical and has bags of things for you
to see;
• Luxor Temple – a short walk from your
hotel. Leave your hotel and turn left to walk along
the Nile (the Nile road is called the cornice) and
you’ll eventually see the temple.
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by Sarah |
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• Karnak temple – Truly stunning. Enormous
grandiose temple that really makes you feel like
Lara Croft. You can visit during the day or at night
for the ‘Sound and Light Show’ where
you are guided around the temple as they light up
key parts. This is a taxi ride away and certainly
not something worth doing with your rep who will
drastically overcharge you. Ask at hotel reception
for when the English language show is on if you
want to go.
• The West Bank – Lots to see here.
Valley of the Kings (with Tutankhamun’s Tomb
etc), Valley of the Queens, the Ramesseum (another
temple), The Colossus of Memnon (two enormous statues
that used to guard the entrance to a temple before
it was washed away during floods), and the Temple
of Hatshepsut (a stunning temple carved into a rock
face in honour of the first female pharaoh).
Be warned, it is very hot over here and a visit
can be quite exhausting so get up really early if
you want to do it. You can negotiate a price with
a taxi driver to take you, or book through your
rep, or use a local agent (some good ones near the
Winter Palace).
• Luxor Museum – a small museum but
interesting nevertheless, worth a visit.
Food
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by Sarah |
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Egyptian
food can be an acquired taste and can seem a little
bland – but give it a try!
• Kushari is pretty inoffensive, tasty,
filling and cheap. It’s a mix of pasta,
lentils, rice in a spicy tomato sauce topped with
fried onions. It’s like fish and chips to
us and there’s a pretty decent place on
Station Street called Abou Ashraf I think.
• Traditional Egyptian food would be something
like a bunch of plates of salads, dips like Tahina
and lots of flat bread. Followed by chicken or
some kind of meat with rice – lots of local
restaurants will offer this.
• Pigeon is eaten a lot. Not my bag lol.
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Molokhiyya – a slimy dark green looking
soupy dish that you eat by dipping bread in. Sounds
vile but is actually quite tasty.
• Fool – a stewed bean dish –
one of my favourites, you may find it in your
restaurant for breakfast. Scoop it up using bread
with your fingers.
• If all that scares you there are McDonalds
(by Luxor Temple), Pizza Hut and KFC (turn right
out of your hotel and you’ll find them near
the Sheraton Hotel.
• There’s a lovely Italian restaurant
called La Mamma’s, outside at the Sheraton
Hotel next to an ornamental pool with Pelicans
and flamingos. Really fab food here but prices
are higher – but worth it – great
pizza and pastas.
• There’s also an Indian restaurant
inside the hotel that’s recommended.
• The Meridien and Sonesta (big 5 star hotels
when you walk down the road on the right from
your hotel) have nice restaurants too –
Japanese, Chinese, Lebanese, Italian etc
• Icecream – the best is Moevenpick
swiss icecream eaten at a place called ‘Crocodile
Island’ This is where the Moevenpick hotel
is, and it’s a lovely place for a wander
around, for an icecream, beer and views of the
Nile. It also has a zoo (with a crocodile, hence
the name) and it’s all free to wander round
and visit.
Nightlife
Ok, now there isn’t a lot in the way of
nightlife in Luxor. What there is is funny rather
than fun. Popular places are;
• The King’s Head Pub – leave
your hotel and turn right. It’s on the opposite
side of the road just past a small hotel called
St Josephs. It’s also two floors up but
you can see it from the street. Go through a small
Cheapish drinks and food and strong air conditioning
to keep cool. Lots of locals and tourists go.
• Murphy’s Irish Pub – Further
doen the road past the Kings Head and down a small
side street on the left. It’s on 3 floors
with a ‘disco’ at the bottom and always
pretty popular. Nice atmosphere usually and decent
food.
• Sinouhe – the ‘disco’
– just a little further along from the Kings
Head, also up a flight of stairs – this
can be very entertaining or dead as a doornail.
Nobody really rolls in til midnight or later.
Expect RnB mixed with some Arabic tunes, and lots
of local lads looking like they’re in G-Unit.
• Tut Hotel – Another disco in the
basement of this hotel – again, can be heaving
or have absolutely no one there. This one is in
the basement of the Tut Hotel which is a short
walk from your hotel – straight over the
traffic island on your right.
• Sheraton has a nice bar inside and a terrace
bar overlooking the Nile outside. Also a really
tiny disco here.
• Etap Hotel – further up the Corniche
past Luxor Temple has a small but usually popular
disco (always has a free Bellydancer show too).
• Metropolitan – a nice place to hang
out day or night. This is a bar/café right
next to the Nile (opposite the Winter Palace and
down the stairs to the river). It’s owned
by a guy called Mahmoud Edris who also owns most
of Luxor.
Other
things to do:
• Cairo – 10 hrs away by train –
local agents do ‘overnight trips’
which includes a train overnight from Luxor to
Cairo where a guide will meet you. You’ll
see the Pyramids, Cairo Museum, and your choice
of the Citadel, khan el Khalili Souk (a big market),
Cairo Tower etc. At the end of the day you’ll
get back on a train back to Luxor. It’s
much cheaper with a local agent than through Thomsons
or flying.
• Aswan – very pretty town further
south down the Nile. Aswan Dam is here and cataracts
– big rock formations in the Nile.
• Red Sea – oh my god it’s gorgeous.
If you’re feeling flush and don’t
do Cairo as an overnight trip, here is wonderful
and to be honest Thomson prices aren’t that
unreasonable.
• Felluca – a wonderful sail boat
that takes you down the Nile – really nice
to do at sunset, and felluca captains will ask
if you want to go to Banana Island – a small
island with bananas! Nice and relaxing. Haggle
on prices and make sure you are talking Egyptian
pounds not English, and the price is for the boat,
not per person. Same applies to taxis and anything
else.
• Caleche Ride – Horse drawn carriages
that you’ll see everywhere around town.
You can use them as a taxi or take an hour or
so tour of the town.
• Other hotels – You can go into any
hotel to look around, or eat or drink, but most
will charge to use their pool. The Winter Palace
is a stunning building with beautiful grounds
worth a look at. Sheraton, Sonesta and Meridien
are big 5 star hotels with nice restaurants.
• Sheesha – Egyptian water pipes that
you will see lots of men smoking. Very mild and
fun to try in different flavours.
By
Sarah for Extrageographic, 21 September 2006.
See
also: Sarah's
Talk like an Egyptian (Extrageographic)
Links:
Luxor, Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxor
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