Sunday, December 28, 2008
Friday, December 26, 2008
Xmas Party 2008
We had a fabulous time on Christmas night, numbers were down on last year (the credit crunch is affecting bookings) so rather than giving our guests a low key time we combined with Nile Valley Hotel and took our guests there.
We had our own table right at the front. They laid on a fabulous spread salads, soup, barbecue grill, hot food and deserts. We even got presents of local pottery which was a lovely touch.
The belly dancer was excellent and really got everyone involved. Apparently she is American and she really knew her stuff. The little girls loved it as did the men lol. The local drummer and her did a bit together and were really playing to each other.
The whirling dervish got them involved as well. Great fun I do find that act amazing. If you looked at his feet they do not move from the spot.
The entertainment finished with a local band who could have done the back for the Egyptian Diva Umm Kulthum. I totally loved it, put in loads of requests and even gave them baksheesh and bought the CD. We have booked them for our New Years party.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Cairo Eyes-Cairo Egypt.
Cairo Eyes-Cairo Egypt.
My man in Cairo has changed his website address. I have worked with him for 5 years and he is totally honest and reliable so for all your Cairo needs, speak to Waleed
My man in Cairo has changed his website address. I have worked with him for 5 years and he is totally honest and reliable so for all your Cairo needs, speak to Waleed
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Last Minute Holidays
We welcome last minute bookings for our flats and apartments in Luxor. There are some fantastic cheap flights at the moment and by booking last minute you can get a great deal. I just had someone book on Sunday for a flat and they are coming on Wednesday. Some of our flats are sold or on long term lets but currently we have 13 flats for rent with another 5 flats planed for 2009 so we can always find you a great apartment. Luxor is a fantastic place to visit all year round with constant sunshine, cheap food and drink and lots of history and culture to visit.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Boston Globe recommends Flats in Luxor
http://www.boston.com/travel/getaways/africa/articles/2008/12/14/wonders_and_warmth_greet_visitors_to_luxor/
LUXOR, Egypt - The tomb of the boy pharaoh Tutankhamun lies on the west bank of the Nile River. So do a host of other awe-inspiring remains of ancient Egypt, sights that help draw as many as 2 million visitors a year to the area.
Most tourists, though, stay on the more developed east side, in Luxor, an area also not without historic interest. It's where one finds the magnificent Luxor Temple, with its avenue of sphinxes, and the enormous complex of obelisks and ruins known as Karnak.
But as more of a tourist haven it's also where one finds McDonald's and the legions of taxi drivers, souvenirs hawkers, and street peddlers who inspired one guidebook to declare Luxor the "hassle capital" of Egypt.
That's why visitors seeking a more authentic experience tend to gravitate toward the west bank where one particularly good option for accommodations can be found in the sleepy village of Al Gezira.
Getting there is simple: Take the ferry, which leaves from the center of Luxor, across from the ruins of Luxor Temple. The ride takes three or four minutes and costs one Egyptian pound, or about half a dollar.
The village, which lies on the road to the Valley of the Kings and other sites, is home to Flats in Luxor, where you can stay in a clean three-bedroom apartment overlooking the green fields of the Nile valley, with the massive temple of Queen Hatshepsut visible in the distance.
Run by British expatriate Jane Akshar and her Egyptian husband, Mahmoud Jahlan, Flats in Luxor offers 21 air-conditioned apartments of various sizes at rates from around $50 a night. With plenty of room for a family, a quiet location, and a small pool, the apartments provide a good base for exploring the area's antiquities, as well as a chance to get a feel for village life.
One big draw of Flats in Luxor is Akshar herself, an enthusiastic and knowledgeable amateur Egyptologist and licensed guide, who can show visitors a side of Luxor's antiquities usually missed by the large tours.
At the nearby Hatshepsut's temple, for example - a spectacular edifice at the foot of the Theban hills built by the queen who ruled Egypt as a pharaoh some 1,500 years before Cleopatra - busloads of tourists streamed up the imposing main ramp. Akshar, however, shepherded her charges around to the colonnaded porticos at the side. There, with nary a tourist in sight, she took them on a leisurely exploration of a series of wonderfully-realistic frescoes showing the queen in the marshes surrounded by wildlife.
While Akshar is happy to guide guests through the sites for their entire stay, she's often booked. But the archeological sites in the area are easy to visit on one's own, with the help of a good guidebook. Akshar is happy to make suggestions about what to see and can help arrange transportation to various sites.
The Luxor Museum (admission about $15) is a good place to start. Located on the east side, it contains some of the area's finest antiquities, yet is a manageable size. A quick tour of its contents, including King Tut's war chariot, and haunting statues of Akhenaton, the heretical pharaoh who ruled just before King Tut, can be made in under two hours.
Close by stands the Karnak complex of temples (admission $10), for centuries the center of worship in ancient Egypt. A list of its assets from the time of Ramses III includes 65 villages, 421,662 head of cattle, 83 ships, and 81,322 workers and slaves.
Back in the center of the city is the stunning Luxor Temple, which in 1799 reportedly impressed Napoleon's soldiers so much that they spontaneously offered a salute when they saw it. Constructed by generations of leaders from Hatshepsut to Tutankhamun to Alexander the Great, the temple was once connected to Karnak, nearly two miles away, by an avenue of sphinxes.
On the Al Gezira side of the river, visitors have a wealth of impressive archeological sites from which to choose, starting with the fabled Valley of the Kings, honeycombed with more than 60 royal tombs, including that of King Tut. Don't expect to see Tut's riches here, however. Most of the treasures that were buried with him are in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Some of them are on exhibit at museums in Atlanta and Dallas, and will travel to San Francisco and Indianapolis next year.
Near the Valley of the Kings lies the temple of Hatsheput with its graceful colonnades, and the two famous Colossi of Memnon. Also worth visiting is Deir el-Medina, a village that housed the craftsmen who built the royal tombs, those in the Valley of the Queens, and many of the smaller, but still fascinating, Tombs of the Nobles.
Besides dispensing useful advice on visiting antiquities, Akshar can recommend interesting places to eat. After a visit to the temple of Hatshepsut, she might take visitors to the nearby Ramesseum Resthouse, run by the grandson of one of the workers who helped Howard Carter, the English archeologist, excavate Tutankhamun's tomb.
Back in Al Gezira, Akshar sent visitors off to Tutankhamun Restaurant, a rooftop bistro with a Nile view, south of the ferry landing. There, the genial owner, Mahmoud Sayed, formerly a chef at a five-star hotel in Luxor, offered a choice of interesting dishes. If he's making it, try the chicken curry with apples, banana, and coconut.
After detailing the evening's choices, Sayed is happy to chat with guests about their home country and their experiences in Luxor.
Those sorts of conversations happen often in Egypt. Egyptians are a warm and welcoming people, and seem genuinely friendly toward Americans. Despite terrorist attacks against tourists over the years here and elsewhere, Luxor feels safe. (Egyptian police patrol all the big tourist sites.) And Akshar scoffs at advice that venturing out on your own in Luxor is dangerous. Those who take that advice are missing a chance to taste a true slice of Egypt and have some fun, too.
LUXOR, Egypt - The tomb of the boy pharaoh Tutankhamun lies on the west bank of the Nile River. So do a host of other awe-inspiring remains of ancient Egypt, sights that help draw as many as 2 million visitors a year to the area.
Most tourists, though, stay on the more developed east side, in Luxor, an area also not without historic interest. It's where one finds the magnificent Luxor Temple, with its avenue of sphinxes, and the enormous complex of obelisks and ruins known as Karnak.
But as more of a tourist haven it's also where one finds McDonald's and the legions of taxi drivers, souvenirs hawkers, and street peddlers who inspired one guidebook to declare Luxor the "hassle capital" of Egypt.
That's why visitors seeking a more authentic experience tend to gravitate toward the west bank where one particularly good option for accommodations can be found in the sleepy village of Al Gezira.
Getting there is simple: Take the ferry, which leaves from the center of Luxor, across from the ruins of Luxor Temple. The ride takes three or four minutes and costs one Egyptian pound, or about half a dollar.
The village, which lies on the road to the Valley of the Kings and other sites, is home to Flats in Luxor, where you can stay in a clean three-bedroom apartment overlooking the green fields of the Nile valley, with the massive temple of Queen Hatshepsut visible in the distance.
Run by British expatriate Jane Akshar and her Egyptian husband, Mahmoud Jahlan, Flats in Luxor offers 21 air-conditioned apartments of various sizes at rates from around $50 a night. With plenty of room for a family, a quiet location, and a small pool, the apartments provide a good base for exploring the area's antiquities, as well as a chance to get a feel for village life.
One big draw of Flats in Luxor is Akshar herself, an enthusiastic and knowledgeable amateur Egyptologist and licensed guide, who can show visitors a side of Luxor's antiquities usually missed by the large tours.
At the nearby Hatshepsut's temple, for example - a spectacular edifice at the foot of the Theban hills built by the queen who ruled Egypt as a pharaoh some 1,500 years before Cleopatra - busloads of tourists streamed up the imposing main ramp. Akshar, however, shepherded her charges around to the colonnaded porticos at the side. There, with nary a tourist in sight, she took them on a leisurely exploration of a series of wonderfully-realistic frescoes showing the queen in the marshes surrounded by wildlife.
While Akshar is happy to guide guests through the sites for their entire stay, she's often booked. But the archeological sites in the area are easy to visit on one's own, with the help of a good guidebook. Akshar is happy to make suggestions about what to see and can help arrange transportation to various sites.
The Luxor Museum (admission about $15) is a good place to start. Located on the east side, it contains some of the area's finest antiquities, yet is a manageable size. A quick tour of its contents, including King Tut's war chariot, and haunting statues of Akhenaton, the heretical pharaoh who ruled just before King Tut, can be made in under two hours.
Close by stands the Karnak complex of temples (admission $10), for centuries the center of worship in ancient Egypt. A list of its assets from the time of Ramses III includes 65 villages, 421,662 head of cattle, 83 ships, and 81,322 workers and slaves.
Back in the center of the city is the stunning Luxor Temple, which in 1799 reportedly impressed Napoleon's soldiers so much that they spontaneously offered a salute when they saw it. Constructed by generations of leaders from Hatshepsut to Tutankhamun to Alexander the Great, the temple was once connected to Karnak, nearly two miles away, by an avenue of sphinxes.
On the Al Gezira side of the river, visitors have a wealth of impressive archeological sites from which to choose, starting with the fabled Valley of the Kings, honeycombed with more than 60 royal tombs, including that of King Tut. Don't expect to see Tut's riches here, however. Most of the treasures that were buried with him are in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Some of them are on exhibit at museums in Atlanta and Dallas, and will travel to San Francisco and Indianapolis next year.
Near the Valley of the Kings lies the temple of Hatsheput with its graceful colonnades, and the two famous Colossi of Memnon. Also worth visiting is Deir el-Medina, a village that housed the craftsmen who built the royal tombs, those in the Valley of the Queens, and many of the smaller, but still fascinating, Tombs of the Nobles.
Besides dispensing useful advice on visiting antiquities, Akshar can recommend interesting places to eat. After a visit to the temple of Hatshepsut, she might take visitors to the nearby Ramesseum Resthouse, run by the grandson of one of the workers who helped Howard Carter, the English archeologist, excavate Tutankhamun's tomb.
Back in Al Gezira, Akshar sent visitors off to Tutankhamun Restaurant, a rooftop bistro with a Nile view, south of the ferry landing. There, the genial owner, Mahmoud Sayed, formerly a chef at a five-star hotel in Luxor, offered a choice of interesting dishes. If he's making it, try the chicken curry with apples, banana, and coconut.
After detailing the evening's choices, Sayed is happy to chat with guests about their home country and their experiences in Luxor.
Those sorts of conversations happen often in Egypt. Egyptians are a warm and welcoming people, and seem genuinely friendly toward Americans. Despite terrorist attacks against tourists over the years here and elsewhere, Luxor feels safe. (Egyptian police patrol all the big tourist sites.) And Akshar scoffs at advice that venturing out on your own in Luxor is dangerous. Those who take that advice are missing a chance to taste a true slice of Egypt and have some fun, too.
Sunday, December 07, 2008
Cheap flights, cheap holidays
Wow just had some people come out here for £135 GBP, add that on to the price of a flat. £250 GBP for a week for 6 people and you have a super cheap holiday. Lots of last minute bargains for the new year. Definately a credit crunch holiday in lovely sunshine.
Friday, December 05, 2008
Details of Christmas and New Years 2008 Events
Flats in Luxor
Christmas & New Year Events
Christmas Party
7pm
25th December
Roast Turkey Open Buffet
-0-
New Year Eve
8pm
Egyptian Dinner
with
Whole Barbecued Sheep
and
Traditional Egyptian Dishes
Vegetarian Options
-0-
Entertainment on both nights includes
Belly Dancer
Sufi Dancing
Drum Band
Nubian music
Price 300LE
Children Half Price
Christmas & New Year Events
Christmas Party
7pm
25th December
Roast Turkey Open Buffet
-0-
New Year Eve
8pm
Egyptian Dinner
with
Whole Barbecued Sheep
and
Traditional Egyptian Dishes
Vegetarian Options
-0-
Entertainment on both nights includes
Belly Dancer
Sufi Dancing
Drum Band
Nubian music
Price 300LE
Children Half Price
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Tours of Upper Egypt now there is no convoy
Such good news as from yesterday the convoy system ceased around Luxor. This means you do not have to leave at a set time, travel at breakneck speed with no stops, visit the sites at the same time as 100's of other people or only have a short time.
For sites like Abydos this will mean lots of time and an opportunity to visit the entire site and no compulsory visit to Dendera.
For Aswan instead of just being able to visit Edfu and Kom Ombo on route you will also be able to stop at Tod, Moalla, Esna, Gebel Silsila and El Kab
I understand the Aswan to Abu Simbel convoy still operates but who knows that might change as well
For sites like Abydos this will mean lots of time and an opportunity to visit the entire site and no compulsory visit to Dendera.
For Aswan instead of just being able to visit Edfu and Kom Ombo on route you will also be able to stop at Tod, Moalla, Esna, Gebel Silsila and El Kab
I understand the Aswan to Abu Simbel convoy still operates but who knows that might change as well
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