FELUCCA FRENZY ON THE NILE - Luxor East Bank, Egypt

.....our previous blog post about arriving in Egypt and our time in touristy Hurghada......

The majesty of Karnak Temple, Luxor

Luxor gave us energy from it's bustling streets and busy residents. The difference from the slower paced Hurghada was pronounced, and welcomed by us, somehow making us feel at home. The streets seemed slightly chaotic with honking minibuses and motorized tricycles, weaving bicycles and motorbikes, donkeys and carts, all set to the background noise of the call to prayers from the numerous mosques and the very loud voices many Egyptians have!

Setting up for the morning, Luxor East Bank

We settled into our Bob Marley themed hostel with it's friendly staff, and fantastically social roof top terrace. This was much more our scene than our fancy, but supremely comfy, digs in Hurghada. Our arrival coincided with the president Abdul Fattah el-Sisi's visit for the long awaited opening of the Avenue of the Sphinxes. While this was exciting for archaeological types, for us it meant that for a few days, many streets, shops and sights were closed, with an enormous police, military and security presence. 

Our Bob Marley-themed hostel, Luxor East Bank

These few days were quite happily spent chilling on the hostel rooftop, chatting with some real travellers, and catching up on much traveller news from around the globe- something we haven't been able to do in ages. 

Relaxing rooftop at our Luxor hostel

We did enjoy early morning walks, and exploring back streets, although the charm was more limited than our wonderful expeditions last year in Cairo. When the day got going, it was also exhausting to answer copious people asking about rides on caleche (horse and carriages), feluccas (sailboats), perfume shops, and what our names were. People were obviously used to foreigners around here after so many years of tourism, and were mostly very comfortable approaching us, which was welcoming, but also slightly wearisome after days of the same questions. We always tried to be polite and smiley, apart from when a shop or boat owner was being particularly pushy. After all, in an already poor country, the residents of tourism-reliant Egypt must have had a difficult past couple of years. We certainly loved the giant smiles on people's faces- particularly children as they giggled and waved at us.

An early morning wandering, Luxor East Bank

Spring onion seller, Luxor market

In our neighbourhood, Luxor East Bank

Back streets of Luxor East Bank

A proud butcher, Luxor

The Coniche was the main road that ran along the Nile, between the magnificent Luxor and Karnak Temples. A walk along involved politely refusing offers of a felucca boat, or a ferry crossing, or a trip to Banana Island, or a myriad of other offers literally every few steps. The further away from the town centre one walked, the more peaceful things became. 

Felucca on the Nile, Luxor

Having visited Luxor before, we didn't feel rushed to see all the sights immediately. The president's visit slowed things down, and the huge price hike for entrance fees had us choosing which sights we really felt an urge to revisit. 

Karnak Temple was a given. We remember the awesome feeling of grandeur at the place on our first visit, and dragged ourselves out of bed early one morning in order to walk to the temple and arrive at the 6am opening time. We were so glad we had made the effort, as not only was the light of the rising sun sublime, the were barely any other visitors there for at least the first hour. 

Nearly the first ones in the gate! Karnak Temple, Luxor East Bank

First rays of sun, Karnak Temple, Luxor East Bank

Karnak Temple is so huge and awe-inspiring, it is difficult to explain the scale, or indeed to take it all in when physically there. It had been added to, restored to and enlarged for 1500 years by many powerful pharaohs with varying ideas and styles, and all wanting to make their eternal mark. Most of what is left today is from the New Kingdom era (between 16th and 11th centuries BC- doesn't that blow your mind?!), and was the most important religious building of those times. Some older Middle Kingdom structures also remain further into the complex from as long ago as 1965 BC, and we found these to be in much worse shape and less decorative than other parts. 

Mixture of styles, Karnak Temple, Luxor East Bank

Pharaoh, Karnak Temple, Luxor East Bank

Goddess Hathor in the light, Karnak Temple, Luxor East Bank

Victorian-era graffiti, Karnak Temple, Luxor East Bank

Remains of once grandiose figures, Karnak Temple, Luxor East Bank

The main attraction as one entered was the magnificent Temple of Amun, the cult God of ancient Thebes represented by rows of ram-headed sphinxes. The standout monument was the astounding Hypostyle Hall. It's said the hall is big enough to contain both St Peter's in Rome and St Paul's Cathedral in London. Whether or not that is true, the space is truly colossal. The 134 papyrus shaped columns represented life, and many still retained ancient faded colours. They rose like giant trees in a forest, and pulled the eye upwards to the beautiful engravings and elaborate pinnacles. 

The view from the ground, Amun Temple, Karnak, Luxor 

Catching the sun, Amun Temple, Karnak, Luxor 

Great Hypostyle Hall, Amun Temple, Karnak, Luxor 

Detail at the top of the pillar, Amun Temple, Karnak, Luxor 

Ram-head lined entrance, Amun Temple, Karnak, Luxor 

As the tours and crowds started to arrive, we moved further out to lesser visited parts of the complex, which were pretty much deserted. We were particularly enchanted with the Temple of Khonsu, a beautiful, calm building with some clear engravings and tranquil feel. This was the place the son of God's Amun and Mut resided. We returned to the Amun Temple to sit and contemplate the beauty. For a while we watched tourist groups enter the main hall, listen to a two minute spiel from their guide, whilst simultaneously taking selfies, before being whisked away to another part of the temple, and then out the exit via the souvenir stalls. It's such a strange way to see things- we spent nearly four hours at Karnak, and revelled in every minute.

Diminutive baboon statue, Temple of Khonsu, Karnak, Luxor

Sublime glimpses, Temple of Khonsu, Karnak, Luxor

The God Amun, represented by a ram, Temple of Khonsu, Karnak, Luxor

Many faces of the Pharaoh's bearded prisoners,  Karnak Temple, Luxor

An unbelievable amount of inscribed stones just sitting about, Karnak Temple, Luxor

Lake with outlying off-limit temples, Karnak Temple, Luxor

Luxor souq was a busy street of clothes, kitchen ware, live chickens, fresh veggies and spices galore. We enjoyed the  feeling here, with good natured calling out to us and genuine greetings. 

Laid-back street seller, Luxor souq, Egypt

Cheeky little kid, Luxor souq, Egypt

Market stall, Luxor souq, Egypt

One strange thing that had thrown us at first in Egypt was the change of daylight hours. The sun rose around 6am, but disappeared before 5pm! It took a slight adjustment to our body clock in order to become used the change. The weather continued it's wonderful habit of hovering around 30 degrees during the blue-skyed days and cooling down to around ten at night. No fan needed. Perfect. Admittedly, we did check the weather in Belgrade from time to time, and the descent into a snowy winter convinced us (not that we needed it) that we had made the right move to leave in October.

Boats on the Nile, Luxor

Food and drink in Luxor was basic, but adequate. Once we had found a good cheap cafe we could hang out in and watch the street scene, and a fresh sugar cane/orange juice shop, as well as a few delicious food options, we were happy. We unknowingly stepped into a koshari joint on our the first day, and ended up with a delicious fresh lamb macaroni dish piping hot straight from the oven. Rich has a severe koshari aversion, after becoming violently sick on our first trip to Egypt after consuming the dish from an unhygienic place in the backstreets of Cairo. The meal, a mix of rice, lentils and chick peas is a national staple, but when it's left in a glass box in the sun for hours, as it was in this establishment, the results were less than ideal.

Lamb macaroni, Luxor

Happy at Karnak!

.......next, we cross the river to spend the two months of winter on the West Bank of the Nile......

SHOCKING SHEESHA SHORTAGE- Hurghada, Egypt

.....our last blog post from the end of our Balkan summer in Montenegro and Serbia.....

Much of the last two months in Montenegro and Serbia had been spent pouring over the internet, trying to decide on the best plan for onward travel, bearing in mind costs, weather, appealing cultures (to us), and mentality of the local people. Then, of course, there was the irritating issues of restrictions inside the destination and the hoops to be jumped through in order to enter a country which one must take into consideration these days. Egypt kept popping up as an option, and since we had loved the place on our previous visits, we decided it could be a perfect place to begin a new phase. 

Al Mina Mosque sitting on the water, Hurghada, Egypt

Once the decision had been made, there was a surprising amount of last minute running around to do in just a few days to facilitate an effortless exit from Serbia and entry into Egypt. 

It was a wrench to leave Serbia, the wonderful country that had saved us in 2020 and had been so good to us, as had the Balkans in general, for the past year and a half. Saying goodbye to our friends at the Sun Hostel in Belgrade was emotional, as we didn't know when we would see them again.

Rugged up, last days in Belgrade, Serbia

The journey to Egypt turned out to be relatively smooth and hassle free, and were glad at having put in the effort and research to make it so. We were ready with masks in pocket to put them on whenever we were asked to during the trip. But the whole time from the taxi to Belgrade airport, inside the terminal, checking in, boarding the plane, on the plane, arriving into Hurghada terminal, and finally at Egyptian immigration, no-one asked us once to mask up, and we were far from the only mask-less passengers. That was surprising, and a relief. 

Hurghada was pretty much as we'd imagined it to be- a dusty, tacky town built for the sole purpose of luring tourists to the Red Sea coast for swimming, diving and year-round sun. It mostly catered to Russians and Eastern Europeans fleeing winter, often staying in all-inclusive resorts. Most of the Egyptian hospitality and shop workers migrated to Hurghada from other parts of Egypt, and there was little of cultural or historical interest in the town. As a result, the whole place was lacking a soul, and was definitely the least interesting destination we had visited in Egypt. Having said that, it was brilliant to be able to fly directly to the south of Egypt from Belgrade and it was an adequate location to get our heads together from the previous month, and reacquaint ourselves with food, culture and language before heading out into more interesting locales. 

Having been terribly rushed in Belgrade, and not being familiar with the different areas of Hurghada, we had inadvertently booked a dud hotel. The man on reception was a grinning, wide eyed idiot- an Egyptian version of Manuel from Faulty Towers, and totally clueless about practically everything. After a couple of days searching Hurghada for something more suitable, we ended up at a fabulous guesthouse professionally run by an Egyptian/Filipina couple with five kids and an Indonesian nanny! Unlike our first choice, it was spotlessly clean, and the whole family was welcoming and spoke perfect English. Unfortunately, Hurghada was not a town for budget travellers, with very little accommodation at the lower end of the market, so we just bit the bullet knowing we would find cheap and cheerful digs more in keeping with our style in the weeks to come. 

Spice stall, Egypt

Our first priority was a visit to immigration in order to find out how long we were allowed to stay in the country. We had read contrasting stories online- it seemed to depend on the office and the whim of the officer. After lining up with all the Russians one morning, we were ushered into the modern facility, and swiftly given an extension of five extra months, making a total of six when added to the 30 days we had received on arrival at Hurghada airport. It was a relief to know we had plenty of time to explore the country, and also had some months before we would potentially have to start the dreadful process again of establishing which countries were accessible to us for travel.

Sightseeing was limited. The main street of Hurghada was full of flashing lights, Cyrillic signs, posh cafes and restaurants, sunburnt tourists waddling up and down and shops full of gaudy carpets, knickknacks and perfumes. A turn into the back streets immediately brought a more authentic feel with smaller, more basic establishments and cheaper prices. The whole town had a feel of a concrete construction site with rubble and dust underfoot and more buildings being haphazardly built to add to the already hundreds of apartments and resorts. Having said that, it wasn't all bad. It was lovely to have a smile returned on the street, and the town held some semblance of exoticism for us after being in the Balkans for so long.

Local man, Hurghada, Egypt

Touristy marina, Hurghada, Egypt

During our stay, we gained an understanding of how the beach situation worked in Hurghada. All the beaches were carved up and were in private ownership of the numerous resorts. In order to enjoy them, people (including locals) had to pay a hefty fee of LE 100-200, the equivalent of £5- £10 per person . We have only ever paid once to enter a beach, on Long Island, New York, and we have never gotten over the experience! Richard still talks about it. It seems such a foreign concept to us! We had heard there was one free beach in the southern part of Hurghada, and when we saw it, we saw why there was no fee. Although the water looked blue and clear, the shore was a mess with bits of random concrete laying around, and not at all appealing. Directly next door was an upmarket resort/residence where the manicured flower beds and perfectly swept beach could not have been more different. Unfortunately, it was rocky and no good for swimming, and we hate to think what the entrance fee there would have been! Having had an amazing time on the Balkan beaches during the summer this year, we didn't feel a desperate need to idle on the sand, and were happy to simply sit on our guesthouse rooftop. 

Uninspiring Hurghada beach, Egypt

A few swimmers, Hurghada, Egypt

Not impressed, Hurghada, Egypt

We launched straight into our beloved Egyptian cuisine. Our all time favourite ful (beans) was first on the list, accompanied by dips such as baba ghannoug (eggplant), hummus (chick pea) and tahina (sesame). Shakshouka (fancy eggs), salads galore, lamb shawarma and kofta (long meatballs) could all be all stuffed into delicious soft shammy bread. Fruits in season included creamy guavas and the absolute best mangoes we have ever eaten. Being well and truly into the habit of a (at least) daily visit to the café in the Balkans, we were happy to find plenty of local ahwas with strong Turkish style coffee and fragrant teas to continue this custom. What was devastatingly missing, however, were the shishas. People puffing away on a shisha was always an ubiquitous sight in Egyptian cafes, and was an adored pastime for us whilst travelling in Egypt. Unfortunately, it's yet another thing to be ruined by government Covidian policy. Sal, at least, was able to console herself with sahlab, a thick creamy, milky drink topped with nuts which is normally drunk in winter. Technically it was winter, although the constant 30+ degree days had us fooled!

Egyptian feast, Hurghada, Egypt

The Hurghada central market was fantastic- partially covered against the heat and piled high with outstanding fruit arrangements. There were a few portly butchers tending meat stalls with carcasses hanging out the front, but mostly it was stall after stall of fresh in-season produce. Guavas, mangoes, melons and grapes sat alongside peppers of all sizes and large, perfect cauliflowers. Having quickly re-learnt the Arabic numbers on arrival, we were able to decipher the correct and incredibly cheap prices easily. 

Alluring produce market, Hurghada, Egypt

The biggest pomegranates, Hurghada, Egypt

Butcher's stall with cheeky cat, Hurghada, Egypt

An abundance of goodness, Hurghada, Egypt

Artfully arranged fresh produce, Hurghada, Egypt

Another food market, equally interesting in a different way, was the seafood market on the shore next to the main mosque. No prices were on display here, as bus loads of tourists were overcharged for the novelty of buying fresh seafood and having it cooked straight in front of them. The range of seafood stuffed onto the market tables was staggering. Not having qualms about catching undersized or rare fish, fishermen could supply the market with every imaginable creature from the sea, including varieties of shrimp, squid, colourful coral fish and huge fish from deeper waters. We stuck with eating modest, but fresh shrimp sandwiches with dill and tahina from a basic little stall out the back.

Fish galore, Hurghada, Egypt

Smiling blue variety, Hurghada, Egypt

Chatting with the stall holders, Hurghada, Egypt

Yummy seafood sandwiches, Hurghada, Egypt

Nearby to the fish market was Al Mina Mosque, one of several new, but splendid religious buildings in Hurghada. We admired the white domes and spires from the outside and timed the visit well, coinciding with the midday call to prayer. It was extremely dismaying to see numerous tourists dressed in singlets and shorts ignorantly stepping inside, completely disregarding obvious cultural and religious practices. Unfortunately, this insensitivity was on display everywhere in Hurghada, and we even spotted the occasional person lingering in the streets displaying their bare-chest (men!) or in a bikini (women!).

Never before have we been in a town with such an enormous number, range and size of craft scooting around on the water. From magnificent ferries, luxury yachts and live-aboard dive boats down to squid fishing vessels with their gigantic gas lights on the rear, to tiny fishing boats. The harbours, marinas and boat building yards with their sparkling clear water and range of craft were fascinating to visit. No-one seemed to much mind us wandering around having a sticky beak.

Boat building yard, Hurghada, Egypt

Happy man working in boat yard, Hurghada, Egypt 

Harbour at Hurghada, Egypt

Different generations of fishermen, Hurghada, Egypt

Renovating an old boat, Hurghada, Egypt

Compact minibuses were the best way to get around Hurghada. Being a relatively small town spread out along the coast, only a few different routes were needed to be able to access most places of interest or necessity. Riding one consisted of flagging down any passing white minibus, jumping in and finding an appropriate seat (women generally don't sit next to men if it can be helped), passing LE 2 (£0.09) to the driver via fellow passengers and yelling out when one arrived at the desired destination. Simple.

Long distance buses were equally straightforward, as we found out on our departure from Hurghada, as we headed inland. An extremely organized and comfortable bus line took us the five hours to Luxor, in the south of Egypt. Firstly we crossed through arid, light-brown desert, with craggy peaks rising all around. An infinitely watchable route south along lush canals came next, with sugar canes fields on either side, and many small villages with donkeys and carts, and residents looking like they were living their lives in an ancient age.

The feeling of adventure at being in a new, exciting place overwhelmed us upon arrival in the middle of Luxor, and we looked forward to spending time in the burial lands of the Pharaohs.  

..........our move to Luxor and the commotion staying on the East Bank for a week.........