Having visited so many corners of the world, I will always look back to our visit to Luxor as one of the best. We decided we wanted to rent bicycles and explore the city and ruins in this fashion. The four of us that were traveling found a shop that rented us four old bikes that I would estimate as being 20 or 30 years old. They worked and that was important. The scary part was that to take them we had to leave one of our passports as a "deposit". We were on our way.

Touring by bike enabled us to see parts of the city and countryside that otherwise would never have been seen. We drove through the country and had little kids running, following us for long distances, fascinated that a tourist had rode past their home. Homes that consisted of mud and cardboard. Kids, that even though they had no material possessions seemed to be some of the happiest, most content children I'd seen. We explored parts of the country that was frequented by cattle and cart, instead of cars or trucks. The bicycle gave us the kind of freedom that is usually not seen in a place such as Luxor where the local conditions are pretty rough and not one of the typical stops on the organized tours. The people are extremely friendly and anxious to assist.