Luxor Pt. 1

We took the night train from Cairo to Luxor. We had a ticket that was completely in Arabic, with no indication of car number or seat number or anything. We knew what time the train was supposed to leave, but that was it. When it finally did show up about 20 minutes late, it was a mobscene trying to get inside from the platform. We finally ended up in a six-person car with the three of us on one side and four Egyptian men on the other. They all seemed startled that Lauren was in the same car as them. About thirty minutes into the train ride, after someone different had checked our ticket about 10 times already, we were instructed to move to car 1. The international car, they say, is guarded by Tourism Police armed with sidearms and AK-47s. A 1997 terrorist attack in Luxor that killed 63 Westerners has the entire country on edge and, since they pretty much rely solely on tourism, they are willing to do whatever necessary to protect us. So we had to move from car 6 to 1 via these rickety steel plates in between the cars that would bow downwards when you stepped on them. Sketchy, but exciting nonetheless. We finally ended up in a car with a very well traveled retired couple from South Africa and a middle-aged guy from Australia. The rest of the train was uneventful and we woke up about 6:30am to watch the sun come over the Nile and the palms.

When we got into Luxor we made straight for the Nefertiti hotel. The town itself is tiny compared to Cairo, as the only reason it exists is for tourism purposes. We were completely bombarded - way worse than in Cairo - by taxi drivers, horse carriage drivers, and anyone who wanted to carry your bag for a tip. The Nefertiti Hotel was located in a little offshoot alley from the main road and was really quaint and nice. The room set up was similar to the Mayfair with the shower positioned directly over the toilet and just a big drain in the center of the bathroom.

Cameron and I went out to explore the city while Lauren napped, but we rapidly discovered that Luxor is anywhere between 10-20 degrees hotter than Cairo at any given point. We walked from our hotel near Luxor Temple to the Western edge of town and then had to double back exhausted for some water and a nap. We woke up in the late afternoon after the hottest part of the day had passed (and prayer time, seeing that it was Friday, their holy day) to go and explore the temple complex at Karnax. About two miles north along the Nile, this used to connect to Luxor Temple by a paved road and dual rows of sphinxes, only a few of which now survive at each end. However, Karnak temple is absolutely massive and mind blowing. We walked around the hippostyle halls and columnades for an hour or two and took a bunch of pictures. In the spirit of my mom and dad, we even imitated some hieroglyph statues. Karnak was the administrative and political seat of the Old and Middle Kingdoms until the capital was moved to Thebes and / or Memphis, so the site itself was just amazing and had a whole lot of history attributed to it.


After dinner, we got a dinner recommendation from our hotel and just found a nice Korean food place near the Nile in the nicer part of town where the Sheraton and Hilton were. We knew we were getting up early for the West bank the next day, so we pretty much went home and passed out after our Korean feast.