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Luxor: Days By The Nile 

April 5, 2022 /

Being a visitor to Egypt brings with it one absolute certainty – you are going to have to live with the utterly constant pestering by would-be guides, taxi and tuk-tuk drivers, boatmen, tour operators, shopkeepers and individuals selling everything from tissues to tat and from jewellery to junk. And of course there’s those selling nothing and just asking for money. It’s a constant barrage that you have to conquer in order to do anything or go anywhere.

Doing business in Luxor

Add to that a complete mishmash of haggling over prices, blatant attempts at scams and a complex “baksheesh” (tipping) protocol and you have a cauldron of unfamiliar financial dealings which takes a certain amount of acclimatisation.

But there’s another side to it. Egypt is a country devoid of financial assistance by Government, leaving everyone to fend for themselves. The political revolution of ten or so years ago destroyed the tourist market on which so many had come to rely and, according to Walid, recovery had still only reached about 20% of pre-revolution levels when the disaster of COVID struck. The tourist dollar is very thinly spread now – so, naturally, everyone wants your business.

Walid at work
Walid’s oven

When we return from our day, Walid is, as promised, cooking dinner for us – not just Egyptian food, but Egyptian food cooked Egyptian style, in an underground oven beneath the garden. A circular “well” is in fact Walid’s self-built sunken oven, into which he has placed a layered cradle with food at each level: a whole chicken, vegetables and rice, all cooking over the coals at the bottom of the “well”. Juices from the top two have dripped into the rice and the whole meal is delicious.

Dinner under the stars

As he cooks we chat about politics (like most Egyptians he despises and mistrusts the Government), religion (his faith in the Quran is unshakeable), the power of prayer, the natural world, Ramadan and, most animated of all, how the current political regime have made life incredibly difficult for the ordinary Egyptian. He also reckons that if Mo Salah stood for President he would get 95% of the vote.

Valley of the Kings
Ancient tomb drawings
Ancient tomb drawings
Inside one of the tombs
Ancient tomb drawings

Such is the richness of ancient sites around Luxor that it would be impossible to do justice to all of them unless you happen to be a committed Egyptologist or archeologist with several months to spare, so we limit ourselves to two days of exploration. Hiring a driver, Mohamed (yes, another Mohamed), our first day incorporates the Valley Of The Kings, the Valley Of The Queens and the Temple of Hatshepsut.

Once again the wall paintings and hieroglyphics are incredible. These wonderfully preserved walls of art are effectively a time capsule, depicting the daily way of life as well as major events, legends and images of perception of the underworld. As we study tomb after tomb, cave after cave, our thoughts are drawn as much to the moments of discovery for 20th century archeologists as they are to those ancient peoples who created the city of Thebes. What wonderful moments of achievement the lives of the likes of Howard Carter entailed.

Temple of Hatshepsut

For our second day Mohamed has clearly delegated and Abdul turns up to take us to our next destinations, including more impressively huge temples, the grandest of which is not, as we expected, the Ramesseum, but Medinet Habu, in a different style from the rest and featuring what must have been a bold succession of grand courtyards. 

Medinet Habu – can you see Michaela?
Medinet Habu
Medinet Habu
Medinet Habu
Medinet Habu
Medinet Habu

We also take in a visit to what was Howard Carter’s house during the excavations which uncovered Tutankhamun’s tomb, now a modest museum charting the story of Carter and Lord Caernarvon through their Egyptian odyssey.

Howard Carter’s House
Phil being Howard

Friday April 1st and anticipation is tangible in Luxor as the first day of Ramadan approaches: we don’t think we had realised previously just what a time for celebration and joy it is. Mohamed and Walid both speak of family celebrations ahead, starting tomorrow on the first day of the festival. It seems that the joy of the festival and the feelings of devotion and edification that Ramadan brings, far outweigh the pain of not being able to even drink water for 12 hours or so each day, even when working as a guide in the blazing sun.

Ramesseum

It’s certainly hot now, too, the chilly winds of Cairo are a distant memory already as each afternoon breaks into the upper 30s and the hot desert breeze merely fans the flame. The desert, by the way, is an incredibly silent place: no rustling leaves, no birdsong, no human sounds…the airwaves are as barren as the arid ground. You just couldn’t get a more stark contrast than the open desert and the streets of Cairo.

Ramesseum

As we near the end of our time in Luxor, visibility shortens and the horizon becomes ever more blurred as the haze intensifies. The ever present clouds of sand and dust have been turned into a swirling mustard coloured mist as sugar cane farmers burn stubble fields in readiness for the next crop. In the early morning light the smoky mist swirls just above the surface of the Nile, then later each day moves away to hide the mountains behind its eerie cloak.

Photo’s of the workers tombs……

On the morning of 2nd April the streets are noticeably quieter though we don’t know yet whether this is due to the first day of Ramadan or because it’s Saturday, or both. On our side, the west bank, many shops and cafes are closed with shutters drawn and no sign of activity, traffic is light and the loudest morning sound is the unmistakeable call of the hoopoe. 

These first few days of Ramadan are, we have been told, times for families. For the first time in our days by the Nile, we see no sign of Walid today, and the family home is quiet. This is their time, not ours.

Ready for Ramadan

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