Joni's Jottings

Wednesday was our last day in Luxor and our last full day in Egypt. We left the hotel at 7am and booked a taxi with a lovely older gentleman, Mr. Mamdul, for our morning trip to Karnak Temple and our evening departure for the Luxor airport.  (We avoided the horde of younger, pushier men hanging … Read more

After a dusty morning traipsing around tombs and temples, the Winter Palace Gardens were a delightful escape from the afternoon heat. We enjoyed a tasty lunch at the poolside restaurant, watching other mad dog tourists bake in the midday sun. Wandering the grounds after lunch felt a bit like stepping into Wonderland.  After lunch we … Read more

Tuesday morning we left the hotel at 6:30 am to ferry across the to the West Bank for a visit to the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings and the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut (Deir el Bahri).   We hooked up with a lovely, chatty taxi driver from Gurna (the settlement that was on … Read more

We arrived in Luxor shortly after dawn on Monday, May 1, only 1 hour late, which is pretty good for an Egyptian train. Wast, the ancient Egyptian name for the city, was the capital of ancient Egypt from ~ 1500 BCE to ~ 1100 BCE. This was the age of empire, when Egypt controlled large … Read more

On Sunday, after a traditional breakfast of taameya and fuul, we walked down Sharia Al Manial to the Prince Mohamed Ali/Manial Palace and Museum, just a 1.5 km walk from Moshi’s house.  We walked along Sharia Al Manial, the main arterial street for the island of Roda. It runs mostly N-S and  curves on the east … Read more