Luxor and Cairo, Egypt: Day Six (11/25)

Last day on the boat and the last Arabic word we learned was meya meya which means perfect, 100%.

Breakfast on board as usual but this time we were not woken up at 4 AM to the sound of the engines roaring. We just stayed docked in Luxor from the previous night.

Side note: I get extremely motion sick. Every time I have been on a cruise ship I have been miserable vomiting the whole time. I've been in the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, etc. so I def. have some cruising experience under my belt. On the Nile Cruise, I did not feel sick once even when there were some waves when docked. Awesome experience. It was like being on an extreme houseboat.

First stop, Karnak Temple. What a different experience it was to see Karnak at night and Karnak during the day. I'm glad we were able to do the Sound and Light show at Karnak instead of the Great Pyramids since with the one at Karnak we could walk around instead of just sitting for 1.5 hours.

Before our next stop, I have to digress. If you haven't had hibiscus juice you are totally missing out. On the way out we stopped a local market to check out spices and dried hibiscus. Totally amazing!

Second stop was Luxor Temple. The most fascinating thing about Luxor was the Christian artwork on the structures. It was the first and only mixed religion structure that we saw. It wasn't as grand as Karnak but it had a lot of intact King Ramses statues. It was also the start of the sphinx road. Once they uncovered the Sphinx road, they literally moved the city to uncover more of the sphinx road. It's quite a site to see and almost comparable to the Terracotta soliders in Xian, China but on a much smaller scale. The ability of the Egyptians to built such grand and large road/structures really does amaze me. Luxor's West Bank def. highlights this the best! Pro tip: Look up when you walk in and to your left. You will see a working Muslim temple. The entrance is on the 2nd story. It was because when it was built that was how high the sand/foundation was! One other thing to note is that the carvings on the wall are starting to change. Instead of being carved into the wall, they are raised outside the wall as seen in the last two pictures.

Lunch was at McDonald's! I've was craving something familiar and what better way than to go to McDonald's. Pro tip: Ask for an Egyptian flag. It's free!

Leaving Luxor was so sad. The airport was like a ghost town and the lounge was a joke. It was literally a convenience store inside the airport and the "sitting" area was also the smoking room. Seriously?

After we got picked up from the airport, I wanted to stop at a local grocery store. I absolutely love going to grocery and drugstores when I travel internationally. Don't ask me why, but I love buying local snacks and candies to munch on and bring home, if they last. Pro tip: If you are going to a grocery store and not open market, bring a local Egyptian, preferably male as they will charge you double the marked price saying it is tourist prices.

For dinner, we wanted a change of pace esp. after a long flight and an even longer drive through the city. Our guide, Mohammed graciously treated us to dinner at a local falafel joint near our hotel. Fresh warm pita bread with hot, soft falafel and the other with pureed Egyptian beans. Yum!

Upon check in at the very famous Mena House hotel, almost 2 hours from the time we got picked up from the airport, we were greeted with fresh hibiscus juice. Yah! More in later posts with the history and pictures from Mena House but literally our hotel is across the street from the Great Pyramids. It is also where Howard Carter (founder of King Tut's tomb) stayed as all as many dignitaries. How cool is that?