Day 8 - Luxor

Our room at the El Moudira

We begin our day with a taxi ride from the cruise boat to the El Moudira Hotel. From her research, Nicola had discovered that each room in the hotel was different and the restaurant was one of the best in Luxor. We arrive to a reception from the desk clerk and baggage handler who takes suitcases to the room while we check in.

Even though, the hotel is relatively new, it looks like it could have been built in the 1800s. The buildings are mud brick leaving a smooth surface that can be painted on. Our room has the curved roof of a Bedouin style home with stained glass windows in the roof. The effect is most beautiful in the bathroom where coloured light is spread evenly and artificial light is not necessary. The bath has no shower curtain because that would ruin the clean curved line of the red-brown wall behind the bathtub.

El Moudira courtyard sitting area

We head down to the open-air seating area for coffee. We walk over broken pieces of glazed pottery cemented into the walkway. It's very smooth and slippery when wet but, since it almost never rains, not a problem. We round a circular pool and fountain situated and through an archway to a courtyard with round steel tables painted white and padded chairs filling much of the space. At one end, under the protection of an overhang, dark wood armchairs and ottomans are situated around long rectangular coffee tables.

Nicola sits on an ottoman facing the courtyard and I retrieve the waiter to get a couple of expressos. We enjoy the quiet  of the courtyard after the cacophony we'd grown accustomed in Egypt. To our right is the dining room and lounge and, on our left, is the front desk and the first of the guest rooms. 

Tombs of the Nobles (Holes in the ground.)

We're informed by the desk clerk that the taxi we requested has arrived. The driver is young and polite and helps us organize the afternoon.  He suggests we first visit the Tombs of the Nobles that were built in the hills that provide a boundary between the grey-brown inhospitable desert and the bright green exuberance of life next to the Nile. We agree. 

Our driver stops at a the office for tickets which is located nowhere near the tombs. When our driver stops in the relevant parking lot, we are immediately approached by a man in his early 30s wearing a long brown robe, turban and brown loafers. Our driver says he’s a guide and asks if he would like to hire him for 150 Egyptian pounds. We hesitate but then agree, probably a good thing because the tombs are spread across the hillside and not always easy to find.

We are told by our driver and guide that, until recently, families had lived in houses built on top of the tombs. Being one of the hottest places on the planet, they would use the tombs as a place to live and refuge from the heat. From the tombs, they would discover treasure, sell it on the open market rendering some very wealthy. 

The nobles buried in the tombs had been men with close access to the king like tax collectors or accountants
who kept track of agricultural output so that the king would know how much to tax. In Cleopatra’s reign, these bean counters became incredibly accurate at predicting agricultural output by the measuring level the Nile flooded in the summer. .

Pictures on the walls of each of the tombs told a story about the life of a noble and his family and provided guidance in the afterlife. The conditions of these paintings differs between tombs. Nevertheless, many are incredibly clear considering the centuries they’ve survived. Our guide, apart from helping us find the caves, is

Anubis - the dog figure - god of mummification

largely useless and so, I must depend on my splotchy memory from my readings prior to the trip to understand what's pictured on the walls. I recognize the god  Mut, pictured as a dog or a man with a dog's head was in charge of mummification. Osiris, killed by his brother Seth became god of the underworld. With the expected backsheesh paid to tomb guard, I am able to photograph these images I can later research. 

After visiting three different tombs, the guide directs us to the exit. We pass a shop where, at a table outside, a man, darkly tanned with age, wearing a long white robe but no turban, carves scenes from Egyptian antiquity into brilliant white, alabaster stone. He does so in such fine detail that I’m impressed. And so, after watching him for a few minutes, he invites us to have a look at other examples of his work in the shop. He has many examples of his handiwork and we begin negotiations for a midsize slab depicting the manufacturing of perfume oil. I hum and haw and decide to return after I've given the purchase some thought. The price drops by a third and the
man extracts a credit card machine from beneath his bench.

Medinat Habu below

Before getting back to our driver, the guide says that he’s going to leave us now and wants to be paid. I don’t
have change and so, I give him 200 Egyptian pounds. He complains that his price was 150 each which is a lie and which I shouldn’t have acceded to but, on this particular day, Nicola and I are just too worn out for a fight. Ironically, these are the same people encouraging us to tell our friends about what a terrific country Egypt is to visit.

The driver had suggested we next go to Medinat Habu, just down the road. Like the Tombs of the Nobles, this site was practically empty. Where are the crowds, we wondered. Not here. We shared the site with one other couple and their guide. Medinat Habu was the mortuary temple for Ramses III. I overheard the couple's guide tell them that Ramses had his craftsmen carve his cartouche of stamp deep into the rock so that the stones couldn't be requisitioned for use by a later king to build his own temple in the future. For this reason, many of the images and hieroglyphs were well preserved. Walking in relative solitude through the temple brought a connection with that past I hadn't felt before in Egypt.

Medinat Habu Interior

Nicola suggests we go for drinks at the Marsam Hotel and I gratefully agree. The restaurant is located behind the hotel on a large, gravelled courtyard shaded by giant sycamore trees. The majority of the tables are of a long rectangular shape suitable for large groups like the dozen or so French Egyptologists seated on the other side of the restaurant. We sit at a round table with only six seats, order two “Stellas” and enjoy this refuge from demanding hawkers.

Nicola made a reservation at our hotel for dinner that night. The dining room has at least a 12 foot ceiling and eight tables with seating for about 50. The walls are milk chocolate brown, the furniture all dates from the late 19th, early 20th century and light is provided by the soft incandescent glow of electric lanterns. A painting on the wall across from us depicts the solitary figure an Egyptian man, from the waist up staring into the distance. Rather than the typical wavering vocals of Egyptian music common to every other

Meinat Habu Interior Colour

restaurant we’ve been, this one plays Western jazz.

We order cheap Egyptian wine, a selection that our waiter in a white smock disapproves. For appetizers, we have the roasted egg plant with pomegranate seeds and for the main courses, I have the fish in honey-mustard sauce and Nicola orders shrimp smothered in an orange sauce, all absolutely delicious. Except for the interaction with the tomb guide, not a bad day.  

Medinat Habu Column
Ra, the sun God with sun on head
Notice the deep cuts in the stone

Marsam Hotel/Restaurant (And me)

Dining room & dinner (Nicola's montage)