We arrived in Luxor at 7am on a sleeper train. We’ve used sleeper trains before in SE Asia but this one wasn’t as good. It was noisy and not as comfortable but still a good deal. Our ride even met us on the train to help gather our bags. Alyssa met some Egyptian girls on the train that she really hit it off with. Coincidentally we bumped into them in the Tomb of King Ramsey the 5th the next day.
It was a Monday morning and our cruise didn’t set sail until Tuesday at 3pm so Kahled had arranged for us to stay on the ship a day early since it was in port already. We checked in, showered and joined our guide. He took us to spend the afternoon exploring the east bank of the Nile including the Luxor temple and the Temple of Karnak. Our guide was full of info and fun stories and the temples were as grand as expected. We had some extra time between the tour and dinner so I hired a horse drawn carriage to take us through the old town market at sunset where Alyssa did some shopping and we enjoyed people watching while drinking Egyptian mint tea. By this point we were exhausted and looking forward to some rest. In Luxor we ate all our meals on the cruise ship buffet style.
The following morning were picked up at 4 am, given a box breakfast to go and shuttled to a ferry where we crossed the Nile to meet up with our hot air balloon captain on the west bank. He gave us a quick safety lesson and assured us he wouldn’t crash like the balloon on the news two weeks ago. Our ride lasted about 45 minutes as we flew over the Valley of Temples. The sunrise over the temples was spectacular and seeing the area we were about to explore from above was really special. Riding in a balloon was a first for us and we loved it and can’t wait to do it again in Tanzania. We spent the rest of the morning exploring the west bank and the Valley of the Kings from below before the temperature reached 110℉. At both locations we were able to enter each temple and tomb with no line. We were told that this time of year the lines were 5 hours long for each exhibit before covid. Epic day. After lunch we napped only to get up for dinner and find out we had left port and were half way to our first stop along the Nile. Stayed tuned.
