After a week or more on the oases trail, in the heat, dust and strong sun I was dreaming: oh, when I will finally reach the big, civilized city I will drink a big glass of ice-cold beer… Mniam, mniam… 🙂
Happy Land Hotel has a nice roof terrace so after taking a shower I climbed the stairs hoping to make my dream true. First I saw the romantic full moon but then – a plaque in English on the wall: Consumption of alcoholic beverages including beer on the terrace is forbiden! If you bring it from the shop drink it in your room!
I call this hotel Holly Land Hotel (Moslem Holly Land) – yes, it is clean but it is hard to say that it is friendly. I came in the evening and announced, that want to stay here 22 hours – till my evening flight on the next day. The hotel was empty. They wanted me to pay for two nights anyway… Friendly…
I have been in Luxor in 1976 and I must say it is now the different town. Now the tourist in the street is non-stop bothered by sellers, drivers, horse-carriages, feluca captains, beggars… In Asyut I paid for the taxi ride 3 EGP, here they want from the locals 10 EGP and from the foreigner – 20 EGP!
I was walking to the famous Karnak temple… At the gate they wanted 100 entry fee. When I found the ticket office hidden between shops I recognized that it cost only 65.
Karnak is still great – I was happy to be again in the shade of the famous Hypostyle Hall. Can you imagine 134 columns having 10 m in circumference and beeing 24 m high?
It was extremely hot day with a thick haze over the Nile – the visibility of the West Bank was poor – so I did not go there. Night flight to Cairo, and onward to Warsaw…
