Sunrise, Sunset: 24 Hours in Luxor

The great capital of ancient Egypt, Luxor is defined by the river Nile. The river bestowed its bounty in the riches coming downstream from Africa, and upstream from the Mediterranean. Yet if it was a road, the river also functined as a metaphorical barrier. The eastern bank of the Nile was associated with the rising of the sun and hence life in the minds of the ancient Egyptians; it was there that their towns and temples were largely sited. In comparison the western bank was the domain of the darkly-aspected god Set, associated with the setting of the sun and death. This is why tombs were often located to the west of the Nile, whether we are talking of the Tombs of the Nobles across from Aswan, the famous pyramid fields from Giza down to Dahshur... or the infamous Valley of the Kings.

Even in Luxor today the majority of the hotels and restaurants and almost all of the tourist amenities and civic infrastructure are located in the east bank town. It is here that you will find the great temples of Karnak with its monumental hypostile hall, and Luxor temple itself. The Luxor Museum is also sited here.

Across the river the West Bank is a parched terrain marked with skeletal ridges and gullies, like a giant's bony ribcage. It is here that you will find the necropolis of the ancients - not just the Valley of the Kings, but tombs of queens, nobles and even working men. Temple precincts here are all for the glory of their pharoanic patron, such as the Ramesseum, Hatshepsut's Deir el-Bahri, and the enigmatic Colossi of Memnon.

Being in Luxor for a mere 24 hours I had time for only a fleeting glimpse of the town's wonders - Karnak, Luxor Museum, the Valley of the Kings and Deir el-Medina. Do not try to get through the treasures of this town in so short a time. The list of sites I missed pains me - Luxor Temple, Deir el-Bahri, the Ramesseum, Medinet Habu, the Valley of the Queens. Plus I later found that on the very day I decided to bypass the fabled tomb of Tutankhamun, the mangled remains of the boy-king were being displayed to the public in situ for the first time.

At the very least you would need a full day on the West Bank - longer if you prefer to take things at a more sedate pace and want to wisely keep out of the midday sun. A further day will give you enough time to take in all the glories of historic Karnak, and its smaller sister in the heart of town - though again you might want to spread this out over a longer period to combat temple fatigue!

Quick Tips:

The first thing you must see in Luxor is Karnak. Much more than just a backdrop for a Bond movie, it is the pinnacle of religious architecture in Egypt. It is the blueprint for the temples we know in the west, from Athens to Rome to Bath. Its hypostile hall, a massive forest of towering stone columns, is cyclopean in its size. The remnants of gay colouration still cling to its walls, and stiletto obelisks can be glimpsed at the end of the hall's diagonal vistas. I would recommend a guide, or at the very least a guidebook, to get the most of the complex. Just don't anticipate a speedy one-hour viewing - it is endlessly enthralling.

Point two on any stop-over must be the fabled Valley of the Kings. Again, some kind of guidance is imperative as your ticket will allow you access to three tombs only (not including that of King Tut himself), and it is best to have an idea of what you want to look at. Out of the three I saw I would certainly recommend that of Ramses IV near the entrance with its brilliant illuminations and famous ceiling depiction of the Goddess of Night swallowing the sun after its day's progress. Likewise that of Tuthmosis III, certain to excite all wannabe Indiana Joneses with its hidden location accessable only via a steep stairway up to a secluded niche in the rock and a bridge over a deep pit, would be one I would recommend without a second's thought. (The other tomb I visited, Ramses IX, you can probably skip).

I enjoyed Luxor Museum, and it does contain the most beautiful statue I found in Egypt (a plum-coloured depiction of Amenhotep III), but it is not an essential part of a visit to Luxor. Maybe going back I would have skipped it and progressed to Luxor Museum. I certainly wish I'd managed to see more of the temples on the West Bank - the Ramesseum, Hatshepsut's Deir el-Bahri, or Medinet Habu.

I can also recommend a couple of places for grub. The Oasis Cafe is a genteel place cocooning you from modern Egypt and whisking you back to the '20s. For those yearning for home comforts I would recommend the apple pie. On the West Bank the LE25 set lunch on the verandah of Africa Restaurant is a steal.

But of course the biggest tip is... stay at least 48 hours!

Best Way To Get Around:

International flights now call at Luxor - I have a friend who tries to book himself a few days in the town every year, continually drawn back to its wonders. Moving on the train is probably a better option that travelling by road. The Egyptian authorities insist on travellers going in convoy so that they know where everyone is in case of emergency. Certainly independent travel in the Nile heartland between Luxor and Cairo is very much frowned upon. In contrast I found the riverside settlements south of Luxor friendly and hospitable. It is much more likely that this is the stretch of the Nile Valley you will be seeing, with the lovely riverside temples at Kom Ombo and Edfu. There are many tours that take in these sites en route from Luxor to Aswan, or vice-versa.

River-travel is the way to go. Essentially there are three types of boat to transport you up the Nile. I go into the pros and cons of the luxorious cruise-ships and the beautiful dahabiyas in my review of Aswan, 'Frontier of the Pharoahs', .

I travelled by felucca, a single-masted sailboat without amenities. There are no cabins, only a single shaded deck which is where you sleep. You are without toilets (you have to pull over to the banks and find a bush) or showers, or any sort of privacy. The only kitchen is a gas-powered stove. Yet here you scoot along just above the water, utilising wind and flow the same way Egyptians have for millenia. It is a very natural way of travelling, the best way of understanding the Nile.

Within Luxor you may use a variety of transport. While the centre is quite compact you would probably want to take bus, taxi or caleche (horse-drawn carriage) up to Karnak. Small boats will ferry you across to the West Bank. From there I travelled to the Valley of the Kings on a most unique mode of transportation - donkey. My mount, who I christened Bugsy, was smart enough to know where he was going but docile enough to let me guide him across to the side of the road. Admittedly, he did have a habit of trying to squeeze between two of his mates, leaving my knees up their bottoms, but this was a small price to pay for a memorable jaunt through fields of sugar-cane and alongside irrigation canals.

For a basic place to stay in Luxor the New Windsor should be okay. The rooms are a decent size, with small (and dark) ensuite bathrooms. They come complete with one of the quieter air conditioning systems I came across in Egypt too. And the hotel is exceptionally central, just behind the Corniche, in a short alley off Sharia Lahaib Habachi. It is less than a five minute walk north to Luxor Museum, and an equal distance from Luxor Temple to the south. There are banks, restaurants,internet cafes and even a pharmacy right on your doorstep.

Good things about the hotel include a great complimentary breakfast - one that includes cereal and milk. Criticisms would be the expense of any extras - internet costs LE10 for thirty minutes, and a moderate load of washing (pair of trousers, two t-shirts, a week's worth of underwear) ended up as LE75.

Those extras you can do without however. I suppose the most damning criticism would be the conduct of some of the staff. The two young doorboys were spotted filming female guests on their camera phones, which is really not on.

So for a basic, central hotel the New Windsor is certainly an option if you check your emails elsewhere. Just be on your guard when walking up the stairs.

The Africa Restaurant is on the West Bank, just up from the landing stages for the boats that take you across the Nile. It is a colourfully-muralled place on several levels, though for my money the shaded roof terrace is where you want to be, with a view out towards to the river.

We didn't bother with the faff of a menu. For lunches at least they have a set meal for LE25. At just over 2GBP this is one hell of a deal to refill you after traipsing through the barren valleys of the West Bank necropolis. For that price you get two courses of different plates to share - an Egyptian mezze if you will.

First course comprised salad, warm flatbread and mouth-wateringly piquant tahini amongst other dishes. Will-power is required to not overstuff yourself before the main courses come out: wild rice, potato in a tomatoey sauce, cooked veg in sauce, a stocky beef in sauce and fresh grilled chicken. When I innocently asked if there was any more beef the staff sprang into action - a second sizzlingly hot plate of it was quickly served up, all covered by the set price. So it certainly pays to ask! Drinks are extra, and I enjoyed a chilled juice made from guava (a taste not unlike a tart if floury pear).

I cannot fault this place. It is extremely good value, and tasty to boot!

You remember in the movie Casablanca they say "Everybody comes to Rick's"? I think in Luxor everybody comes to the Oasis Cafe.

Oasis Cafe is very nice and plush, if sedate. It is not the largest place in the world, being a series of interconnected rooms off a main lobby. The waiters wear tarboushes, there are 1920's photos on the walls, and they have the International Herald Tribune for reading. The clientele tend towards to the genteel rather than backpackers, and the prices reflect this. But what the American owner and his English friend have done is create a restful... well... oasis in the centre of Luxor's hustle.

The cusisine is well cooked and Western, which is welcome after a week of fuul, koshary and shish tawouk. Most people went for burgers, but I opted for steak and rice. The waiter offered me the choice of medium or well-done, but was perfectly happy with my request for medium-rare (maybe a sop to travellers' worries about whether they can trust the local meat?). Anyway, the steak was fab and juicy. In addition to the bed of rice it came with a plate absolutely full of side-salad. The burger-eaters seemed to enjoy the scran just as much as me - they were real two-handed jobs. Equally large are the fresh fruit juices: 'small' are LE10, large are LE15.

I was more than happy to have a proper dessert. What a delight. I was tempted by a selection of muffins, but went for home-made lattice-topped apple pie, made from the owner's brother's own recipe. It came served with vanilla ice cream, and was a little taste of back home.

Steak, apple pie, and two large orange juices just topped LE100, which is pretty expensive for Egypt, but I think it was worthwhile. For those missing home comforts the food here is top-notch, and the American owner obviously cares about the little things that go towards creating a restful and memorable environment. It is maybe more of a lunch venue than an evening dinner one, but I would certainly recommend Oasis Cafe.

It was not just the nobility who got in on the afterlife gig in ancient Egypt. The construction and decoration of their temples and grandiose funerary architecture depended upon a specialised class of masons and artists. Well, less a class than a caste really, as fathers passed their prerogatives down to their children. When they were not paid on time, the workers downed tools and waited for their godly overlords to hastily make amends. Trade union militancy in dynastic Egypt got results!

One of the privileges these workers had, was the right to create their own tombs in their off time. At Deir el-Medina, you can still see the remains of their township. The main attraction is the tombs they left behind. The colours that tint the walls are, if anything, even brighter than in the tomb of Ramses IV. The subject matter is also not nearly so po-faced - here you can see scenes such as cats fighting with snakes, dancers and musicians, and ancestor spirits - birds with the heads of humans. If this is the pop culture of the second millenia BC, it is much more entertaining and easily accessible than the spells, wards, and cartouches decorating the graves of their lords and masters.

"There is a row of sphinxes there. I don't know what that is all about. There is a big wall. Again, don't know why that is there. If you have any questions, ask each other. I will overhear other guides and tell you what they say. I am not a tour guide; I am a taxi-driver"

So began our guide Adl taking us around the massive temple complex of Karnak. He was, of course, joking, but his self-deprecation was a good counterpoint to one of the most impressive temple complexes in the world. It is maybe not as iconic as the Acropolis or as atmospheric as Angkor Wat, but Karnak is a sheer spectacle, and was the heart of the religious practices of ancient Egypt for thirteen centuries. Its central hypostyle hall alone, a forest of fat-bodied columns stretching to the sky, is big enough to contain both St Peter's Cathedral in Rome and St Paul's in London. For those pushed for time I think a guide is necessary to show you all the sights of greatest interest. For those with longer I wopuld recommend a leisurely tour under your own steam, followed up by a tour to put the site in context.

Sadly, we did not have that luxury. As a result Adl concentrated on showing us what made Karnak special - how the temple differed from those we had seen heading up the Nile valley from Aswan... as well as complaining about the damage done to the site by waves of barbarian invasions (principally, it seems, 'the bloody Kiwis'!) Processing up the avenue of ram-headed sphinxes that once used to connect the complex to Luxor Temple, you pass under the towering 43-metre high walls (the First Pylon). Earthern ramps behind them show how they were constructed layer upon layer. From here head left away from the crowds around the back of the Shrine of Seti II. On its rear wall you will see depictions of the, ahem, 'blessed' god Min in his permanently engorged state. According to the patter, touching his divinity will lead to a fruitful relationship.

Circling back to the entrance to the Second Pylon Adl showed us a fallen obelisk. Did we see flecks of colour around the holes? Yes? Well that shows that the obelisks we see today were once even more spectacular, as they were covered with beaten gold, shining under the Egyptian sun like beacons.

Passing by the obligatory colossus of Ramses II - tiny compared to other representations at Sun Temple of Ramses II or Memphis, you pass into the great Hypostyle Hall. I had previously only known this place as the scene of James Bond's fight with Jaws in The Spy Who Loved Me. But wow. It truly is one of the most awesome sights in the world. Covering 6000 square metres, stocked with a gross of towering palm-tree-trunked columns it is an incredible forest of sandstone. The carven columns miraculously still stand to this day, despite being held in place by nothing more than gravity. Originally the hall would have been roofed, with tiny high windows allowing beams of light to spear through clouds of perfumed incense and play over the graven images: a truly awe-inspiring glimpse into the mysteries of the Egyptian gods. Even today the roofless court is breathtaking. Visiting is best early in the morning (it opens at 6am)or late in the afternoon (it closes at 6.30pm) - this way you avoid the worst of the crowds, and get to see the great angled shadows of the columns as the sun shines in. Remnants of colour still cling to the hieroglyphs, and is astonishing to see red-skinned supplicants, cartouches highlighted in yellow, and Horus in his original falcon-grey.

It was here that Adl suddenly went all coy. Would we like to hear his theory about the true religious significance of this hall? Looking around to make sure we were not overheard he sketched a map in the dust and explained... well, it's not for me to say what he explained until he publishes his thesis. Suffice to say he gave us a new angle on the importance of the columns, allowing us to see this ancient ruin as it once was, as something functional, as something that had a very specific purpose in the rites of the pharoahs, rather than just a tourist attraction.

Enlightened, Adl then proceded to cater to our basic tourist needs, showing us the best angles from which to get our holiday snapshots - ranks of stone marching away from the lens like soldiers, gaps between the columns from where the needle-like obelisks of the female pharoah Hatshepshut could be seen jabbing up.

Adl then glanced at his watch, and lead us away from the central axis of the temple. Reaching a track amongst the stones he asked for a pair of sunglasses and a camera. Armed with these he showed us how to get the perfect image of Hatshepsut's Obelisk, silhouetted by the sinking sun.

Heading back to the main axis, he took it to its logical end, the sanctuary of Amun, the holy of holies. From here, formerly the site of the god's sacred barque there is a long uninterrupted view all the way down the temple out to the main entrance, the route flanked with walls recording miltary victories, and the tributes offered by the subjugated foes. Further behind on the same axis, can be found the so-called Chapels of the Hearing Ear. Once straddling the enclosure boundaries, these enabled the common folk of ancient Thebes to beg for their own holy salvation (they were not allowed within the actual temple precincts). These chapels now lie well within the temple however, as its boundaries pushed further out and the poor were excluded from communion with their gods - possibly the most notable sign of the caste system in pharoanic Egypt.

A second axis deviates away from the central route to the south. Here you can find the cachette court, scene of the discovery of some of Egypt's most stunning statuary, found only in 1987 (the statues can be seen in the Cachette Hall of the Luxor Museum and are well worth seeing). Beyond this there is a cool if murky sacred lake. There is also a giant carved scarab beetle representing the god Khepri. The guides' spiel say that if you perambulate around the scarab three times while thinking of your love they too will fall for you; seven times and you will be married. It is always great fun to count how ever many times people circle it.

Karnak is one of the great sights of the world, and I would say is the number one priority for anyone in Luxor for just a limited time. Entrance is E£50, but I would recommend an accredited guide to show you what you need to see. It is located north of the town centre. A taxi or caleche will cost around E£10, though there is a regular bus for a mere fraction of that price. You will need at least two hours to see this sprawling site in any amount of detail; Adl continually complained that he had only been booked for an hour, and that we had been longer than that already. Would we like to skip to the end, or see 'just one more' highlight? Of course, I'm sure he was secretly pleased that we clamoured to be shown just one more of his favourite parts of the temple. It is certainly the kind of place where you could get lost in wonder for hours!

At E£70 the Luxor Museum is overpriced - the Egyptian Museum in Cairo is only E£50, as is entrance to Karnak Temple. However it does have some lovely exhibits, particularly statues, murals and mummies, all labelled in English. It is also clean, well laid out, and fully-wheelchair accessible. An added bonus is that it is open until pretty late in the evening, 8 or 9pm, and so is a suitable location to visit if pushed for time.

For me, the highlights of the museum are located just to the right once you enter. Down a ramp is the Cachette Hall. There is a superb collection of statues on display here, found only in 1987 buried in the Cachette Court of Karnak to protect them from invaders. The pieces are individually spotlit and labelled like art exhibits. Top of the bill for me is at the far end, a plum-coloured statue of Amenhotep III. The 'bare flesh' is smooth and burnished, but his head dress, kilt, armbands and sandals have been left rough to provide a contrast of textures. It really is the sort of statue that needs to be touched - though obviously you are not allowed! With his bruised lips and almond-shaped eyes, his projecting beard throwing a shadow onto a hairless and not overly-muscled chest, this Amenhotep looks, well, alien. I would say that this is the finest statue I saw in my time in Egypt - and it wasn't even mega-bombastic like your Ramses IIs.

Other works in the Cachette Hall include a giant striking cobra, and alabaster sphinx, and a kneeling Horemheb.

Returning to the main museum there is a selection of other fine pieces, from different locations around Luxor. In particular look out for another statue of Amenophis III, this time in white stone, seated with the crocodile-god Sobek. This leads in to 'Thebes Glory', an explanation of the materiel and tactics that powered the expansionist policy of the New Kingdom pharoahs - notably a war chariot belonging to King Tutankhamun. Just up from here are a couple of royal mummies (no extra charge to enter, unlike in the Egyptian Museum): Ahmosis I, and what is assumed to be Ramses I (discovered in a rather unlikely location - Niagara Falls!).

Circling round to the upper level, there is a collection of exhibits illustrating aspects of Egyptian life - games, or furniture, or sailing. None of it is as immediately appealing as the stuff downstairs, save perhaps for a resconstructed wall from Akhenaten's heretical Aten temple. A busy diorama, it depicts a festival. Akhenaten and Nefertiti are shown with the disturbing physical characteristsics of the 'Amerna style', all pot bellies and elongated heads.

The Museum is expensive for Egypt - but I suppose it still only equates to £6.50 GBP. And some of the works on display are up there as the finest you will see in Egypt. I enjoyed visiting it, and I felt I used my evening in Luxor productively. Karnak and the West Bank necropolis are obviously the two main things to see in Luxor, but this museum is not a bad way to pass an hour.

The eastern bank of the Nile was associated with the rising of the sun and hence life in the minds of the ancient Egyptians; it was there that their towns and temples were largely sited. In comparison the western bank was the domain of the darkly-aspected god Set, associated with the setting of the sun and death. This is why tombs were often located to the west of the Nile, whether we are talking of the Tombs of the Nobles across from Aswan, the famous pyramid fields from Giza down to Dahshur... or the infamous Valley of the Kings.

It was not just pharoahs who were buried across from the ancient capital of Thebes (modern-day Luxor). There is a Valley of the Queens to its south, there are tombs of high-ranking nobles and functionaries - even the craftsmen and artists who worked on the funerary arrangements were allowed their own tombs by Deir el-Medina, their encampment. But it is the Valley of the KIngs that is most famous. The discovery and excavation of the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922 - an event that made worldwide headlines in the age of mass media - is the most memorable event, but its other tombs had been sealed, robbed, and reused for millenia.

Visits to the tombs are strictly regulated. Often some are closed for restoration, or just to give them a rest - every single visitor adds to humidity levels which can damage the dazzling artwork the ancients left behind to extol their glories.

A LE70 ticket lets you access the Valley, and allows entrance to three of the open tombs of your choice. At each your ticket will be punched - if you are lucky enough not to get it punched you effectively gain the opportunity to visit another. A guide or a guidebook is useful to enable you to decide which you want to see, as they have different qualities - some are deeper, some are more brilliantly decorated, some have more convoluted lay-outs. A board tells you which tombs are open on any given day. On my trip I saw the tombs of Ramses IV (brilliant decorations, including a feted ceiling mural), Ramses IX (showing how wall art had deteriorated from its high point), and Tuthmosis III (a tomb so laden with traps that it seems straight out of Indiana Jones). Certainly Ramses IV and Tuthmosis III's tombs are ones I would recommend without a shadow of a doubt. I will go into them in more detail later.

Entrance to the fabled tomb of Tutankhamun is covered by an additional ticket that costs LE80. You need to decide before you enter the Valley whether you will want to tour his tomb. The reports I had read stated that there is not much to his crypt other than its fame; his tomb was hurriedly constructed and not architecturally great, and all his grave goods were on display in Cairo where I had seen them. All that there was to view was his plain stone outer sarcophagus. I and the rest of my party decided not to stump up the extra LE80.

Once inside the valley we wished we had decided otherwise. Film crews found good spots, reporters did their pieces to camera, and we spotted Dr Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities bustling by in a hat (our guide was very dismissive of Hawass, accused of monopolising all progress in Egyptology and making himself a fortune off the back of it). It turned out that that morning, Sunday 4th November, the badly damaged mummy of King Tut himself was being returned to his tomb, where he could be viewed by vistors. It made frontpage news across the world in a way that his exhumation had 85 years earlier. And we could have been there on this historic day! Oh well!

The vistors centre at the start is well worth looking at. It has a superb glass diorama showing the topography (above and below ground) to the complex. A tourist train takes you up to the tombs themselves, though I chose to walk. The Valley is well paved, winding down bare sandstone gulleys. Occassionally security men could be seen atop the canyon walls, modern day guardians of the dead. The landscape is otherwish desolate and bone-dry - truly a place of the dead.

RAMSES IV - My first stop was actually one of the first tombs you come to, just off to the right of the main path. This tomb has superb artwork, the colours still glowing after all these years. If this had been an Indiana Jones filmset the audience would never have bought it - everyone knows tombs are dark and grim and forbidding. But the walls here and cheerful in their daisy oranges and whites, incised with heiroglyphs and technicoloured geese. These decorations were not pristine - patches were missing, and parts were overlaid with Coptic Christian symbols (figures of saints etc), as this was one of the earliest discovered tombs. In the tomb proper you find a gant granite kaaba of a sarcophagus, inscribed with magical spells. Above, the ceiling is decorated with one of Egypt's most famed images, the twin depiction of the goddess Nut (night)swallowing the sun after it had floated down the river of the day that issued from her nether regions. I would class this as one of the Valley's 'must-see' tombs.

RAMSES IX - The artwork here was indicative of the decline of artistry over the years. The frescoes here were two-dimensional rather than highlighted carvings. A steep corridor leads down to the pharoah's burial pit. On my visit the place stunk of turps as restorers were at work in here.

TUTHMOSIS III - The tomb of Tuthmosis III, the great innovator who (according to our guide) established the media, the secret police, and a whole host of other 'firsts', really WAS like something out of an Indiana Jones film. Down the end of the Valley there is a narrow ravine. A modern staircase now climbs to a high cleft in the rockface. Here an entrance leads down into a passageway. Traps are evident - you come across a deep pit which you cross via a bridge. This brings you to a hot vestibule. From here stairs lead down to the tomb proper, an unusual rounded chamber decorated with tiers of stick figures. His actual sarcophagus remains in situ, its lid slightly elevated. With a torch you can peer under the lid to see a depiction of a goddess who would have 'held' the deceased safely. Again, the spectacular setting and evidence of protective traps make this, in my opinion, a 'must-see' tomb.