In case you wondered where I've been...

[PhotoLady]

Just back from our recent travels - a few days ago.

We weren't too far away from Cyprus

EID Mubarak celebrations in front of the Luxor Temple.


Hot air balloons over the West Bank at Luxor just as the sun was climbing behind me over the East Bank at 05:00hrs


Camel trek up to St. Simeon's Monastery, Aswan, Egypt


The town of Esna as our Nile cruise boat was waiting its' turn to go through the Esna Lock


Horse and camel train in front of the Hurghada Hilton Long Beach Hotel at sunset


Just one of the 6 swimming pools at our Hurghada hotel


Our 2nd room upon our return from the Nile cruise - above the stairwell



*Edited to add photo comments*

[PhotoLady]

I was struggling to get hold of this little video I took as we headed further south in the motorized ferry boat we'd hired for a couple of hours one afternoon.

It was around 47 degrees Celsius that day and lots of locals from the city had made their way to the sand dunes and this fabulous stretch of beach. It came complete with Nubian sellers and a pile of camels.

A great afternoon for the humongous price of £12 GBP for all six of us!

https://flic.kr/p/2786upg

[Anarita John]

Lovely photos. Glad you posted them on the main forum and not Beyond Cyprus, as more people will see them.

Just as an aside, I can only post five photos in one post, but Jules has posted 6 and Max seems to be able to post hundreds.

[LouiseCastricum]

Hope you had a great time and welcome back!

[PhotoLady]

Anarita John, I don't use the "attachment" option when posting my images. They're embedded directly from the source hosting code It means you can add more images...

Lincoln, Egypt - of course! It's our Number 1 travel destination. This time we had 4nts in Hurghada, a 7nt Nile cruise from Luxor to Aswan and back then a further 3nts in Hurghada before we flew back to sunny Manchester.

Louise, thank you!
We had a brilliant time as always.... We made it our own, no escorted trips or excursions, we just did our own thing bartering the costs of everything we wanted to do - including a ferry boat across the Nile at Aswan and waiting time of an hour, 2 camels and two young boys to guide us up the sand dunes passing in front of the Aga Khan Mausoleum and higher up to St. Simeon's Monastery. We were the only people there as it's not part of any included excursion package. The whole morning cost us £11 for us both.

When we got off the motorboat back on the East bank we scarpered into McDonald's at speed to cool down in their air-conditioning

[harveywinning]

Lovely photos, brings back happy memories of Egypt. We went to Egypt again last year and did a similar cruise between Luxor & Aswan. It was great and we could do it again no problem, it's all so interesting. In the past we have stayed at a hotel in Aswan, its a bit tricky getting there but worth it. Great for winter sun and the Botanical Gardens are worth visiting. Most things are really cheap in Egypt, once you find out the real price. If all goes well we are planning to visit again next Feb/March. What's Hurgada like?

John & Estelle

[jagwheels]

Did the Paphos to Egypt flight a few years ago & one of the highlights for me was our last stop at a market in Cairo. One guy on the tour took charge & suggested we barter for something costing no more than 1 Egyptian Pound. I failed but he proudly wore a Tommy Cooper hat on the return journey bartered from 8 to 1 pound. We normally prefer to do our own thing but sometimes the group scenario is great fun

[PhotoLady]

What's Hurgada like?
John & Estelle

Hi John & Estelle,
Thanks for the appreciation! I've got around 400 photos on my camera and probably another 100 on my phone
The only reason we went to Hurghada was because there were no direct flights to Luxor from Manchester and we didn't want to have to drag all the way to London. We've been so used to taking our visits to Egypt directly from Larnaca during the 12yrs we spent living in Limassol so having to take the 5+ hour flight was enough already without adding London into the equation... The deal we took was the combination of Hurghada and the Nile cruise which we decided we would do for my upcoming big birthday later this year.

We're huge Egypt fans but - all of our visits have been spent either along the Nile at Luxor and Aswan since we took our first city break to Cairo in September 1991. In the early 90s we did a one night stay travelling overland from Luxor to Hurghada and the next day, a trip out on the Red Sea to Giftun Island for snorkelling and swimming.

To be honest, Hurghada would never have been a choice for us because "Egypt" does not summon up thoughts of sandy beaches, sunbathing by the pool and All Inclusive. Had the week not been split with the Nile cruise in between, we wouldn't have taken the option at all.
We spent the grand total of 30 GBP during the whole 7 nights we were staying in Hurghada and that was on a Vodafone data sim card, bus fares to and from the shopping mall and back to our hotel and a carton of milk in Spinneys supermarket. All our spending was during our time in Luxor and Aswan.
We couldn't fault the hotel, the food and amenities but it just isn't us and we have no intentions of returning. We're not into snorkelling, diving or quad biking in the desert either - so there was little to grab our attention. Our holiday deal included a short tour around Hurghada and the marina but again, it was okay but it all felt very manufactured which has always been our perception of any of the Red Sea resorts.

So, the upshot of our latest Egyptian exploits has made our decision that unless we can get a direct flight from North West UK into Luxor or Aswan we will stay away until then. There's an alternative that we may be able to get through one of the more northerly European airports such as Germany or Holland and if that's the case, it may be a solution when the Egypt bug grabs us again.

We don't want to have to go via Hurghada again as it's around 4 to 4 and a half hours by road across the desert. We knew all this at the time of booking and we got a good price with everything considered.

But, if you're a bit of a beach bum and like All Inclusive, swimming, watersports and the chance to see dolphins swimming offshore on a boat trip - it could just be your bag.

[PhotoLady]

Did the Paphos to Egypt flight a few years ago & one of the highlights for me was our last stop at a market in Cairo. One guy on the tour took charge & suggested we barter for something costing no more than 1 Egyptian Pound. I failed but he proudly wore a Tommy Cooper hat on the return journey bartered from 8 to 1 pound. We normally prefer to do our own thing but sometimes the group scenario is great fun

Ah, the Khan el Khalili bazaar is one of our favourite places! We've been there 3 times on various holidays to Egypt when we've dropped in on Cairo...
We brought a Fez back this time for our next door neighbour. The exchange rate at the moment is approx £1 GBP = 24 Egyptian Pounds.
We bartered it down from the asking price of 600 Egyptian (yeah, right) to just 50 Egyptian.
The last time we were in Egypt (Luxor and Aswan again) the exchange rate was £1 GBP = 12 Egyptian Pounds and although we could see that prices have changed a bit, they were nothing like we expected.

Prices in Hurghada however, are very different and even the couple of Egyptian charities I contacted there before we travelled informed me that all the donations make their way inland to Upper Egypt as there are very few poor Egyptians in Hurghada. In fact, many choose not to work but make a living by baksheesh and tips because the tourists are pretty lazy when they visit and give tips in USD, EUR or GBP. They can't be bothered to change their cash and so have no idea of the actual cost of products, services or the exchange rate.

I find that part quite infuriating..... why would you not use the local currency to give tips to people who cannot take it to a bank to get it changed?

We did as we usually do and took stuff for the kids and gave them to the children in the inland villages rather than those waiting for the cruise ships to arrive at the temples and docking areas.