Luxor has often been called the worlds greatest open air museum, as indeed it is and much more. The number and preservation of the monuments in the Luxor area are unparalleled anywhere else in the world. Actually, what most people think of as Luxor is really three different areas, consisting of the City of Luxor on the East side of the Nile, the town of Karnak just north of Luxor and Thebes, which the ancient Egyptians called Weset, which is on the west side of the Nile across from Luxor.

This area is really dominated by the Luxor/Karnak/Thebes open-air museum, filled with awe inspiring monuments of ancient civilisation as well as some of the best preserved. As Weset it was the capital of Egypt during the New Kingdom; as Thebes it was described by Homer as "the hundred-gated city." Its later name, al-Uqsur, means "City of the Palaces."

Testaments to a desire for immortality, built for eternity in sandstone and granite, the temples, tombs and palaces still stand, surrounded by souks and luxury hotels. On the east bank of the Nile, in the City of the Living; Luxor and Karnak Temples greet the sunrise. The sunset on the west bank throws shadows through the City of the Dead; the Tombs of the Nobles, the Valley of the Kings, Queen Hatshepsut's temple.

We arrived in Luxor, after the 6 hour flight at 11pm local time, it was like walking into a sauna as soon as we got off the plane. A coach took us the 20 minute journey into Luxor and our hotel, The Emilio. When we awoke the next morning and saw our view from the balcony we were suitably impressed, Luxor Temple and the Nile (see above), were directly in our line of sight. The hotel was a very nice 3*, with pool on the roof, restaurant and disco, the pool was very well used, unlike the disco. As we went at the beginning of summer the heat was almost unbearable and we did most of our sightseeing early in the morning or at dusk. On the few days that we were out all day we took plenty of water, wore loads of suntan lotion and covered up the most sensitive areas of skin.

Getting around Luxor can be a lot of fun, hiring Caleches (horse-drawn carriages) and Taxis requires haggling and for most journeys we paid approximately £E5, £1 in English money. If you do hire a Caleche make sure the horse looks in good condition, the Egyptians aren't known for their kind treatment of animals, so the Horse Sanctuary sponsors some of the owners to take better care of them. We saw more than a few who looked like they were on their last legs being worked very hard.

Organised excursions can be taken from the reps in the hotel but we found that we saved up to £15 by doing it on our own. Our trip to Thebes cost £20 each including the return Falucca (boat) trip across the Nile and the hire of the taxi for 3 hours, taking in Medinet Habu, Dier el-Bahri and the Valley of the Kings, the orgainsed trip cost £37. We went with the organised Nile cruise to Dendara as it is too dangerous to go sight-seeing outside of Luxor on your own.