Luxor in 3 days

Luxor hot air balloon (the most famous balloon flight in the world — flying over the West Bank of Luxor at dawn, with the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut's temple, Medinet Habu, and the Colossi of Memnon visible below): the logistics (balloons depart from the West Bank (cross the Nile by ferry (EGP 10) before dawn); approximately 30 balloon companies operate from Luxor (the largest hot air balloon operation in the world — on a typical morning, 50–80 balloons fly simultaneously over the West Bank, making the Luxor balloon flight the most dramatic air ballet in world tourism); the flight (approximately 45 min–1 hr; the balloon launches in the darkness and rises to 200–600m altitude as the sun rises over the Nile and the East Bank; the Theban Hills below are still in shadow; the first light falls on the tip of the Luxor Temple obelisk 15km away)); the safety (Luxor balloon flights have had accidents — the most serious was a 2013 gas fire that killed 19 passengers; the reputable operators (Hod Hod Soliman, Magic Horizon) use modern equipment and hold European safety certification)). USD 60–120 per person.

Valley of the Kings (Wadi el-Muluk — 'Valley of the Kings': the royal necropolis of the New Kingdom pharaohs (1550–1077 BCE); 63 tombs discovered (KV1 through KV63; KV = 'King's Valley'); the valley was chosen because the dominant peak above the valley (the el-Qurn — 'the Horn' in Arabic) is shaped like a natural pyramid (the Egyptians recognised the symbolic appropriateness of burying the pharaohs beneath a naturally pyramid-shaped mountain)): the tombs: (1) KV62 (Tutankhamun — the only royal tomb discovered intact (Howard Carter, November 4, 1922); the tomb had 5,398 individual objects (including the gold death mask (now in Cairo); the treasury chamber, the burial chamber with the granite sarcophagus): the tomb is very small (by royal standards) because Tutankhamun died young (c. 19 years old) and the tomb was hastily prepared; the burial chamber walls are the only painted walls in the valley of the Kings (most royal tombs have painted corridors but plain burial chambers)); (2) KV9 (Ramesses VI — the most dramatic painted tomb open to visitors: the complete astronomical ceiling of the burial chamber (the Book of Gates, Book of Caverns, Book of the Dead — all three major funerary texts painted on every surface)). Standard entry EGP 480 (3 tombs); KV62 extra EGP 600; KV11 extra EGP 300.

Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut (Deir el-Bahari — 'the Northern Monastery': the mortuary temple of Pharaoh Hatshepsut (Maatkare Hatshepsut — r. 1478–1458 BCE): the most important female pharaoh in Egyptian history and one of the most successful rulers of any gender (she ruled Egypt for 22 years as full pharaoh, not as regent, and presided over one of the most prosperous and peaceful periods in Egyptian history; she organised the most important trade expedition in the New Kingdom: the Punt expedition (c. 1478 BCE) — a sea voyage to the Land of Punt (the 'God's Land' — the ancient Egyptian name for the Horn of Africa or the southern Red Sea coast, probably modern Somalia or Eritrea) that returned with: myrrh trees, ebony, gold, aromatic resins, baboons, and exotic animals): the temple (the most elegantly designed building in ancient Egypt: a colonnaded three-terraced temple (each terrace accessed by a central ramp from the one below) set against the sheer vertical cliff of the Deir el-Bahari bay (the natural amphitheatre created by the Theban limestone cliffs); the architect was Senenmut (the most powerful official in Hatshepsut's court; possibly her lover)). Adults EGP 360.

Colossi of Memnon (the two 18m sandstone statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III (r. 1388–1351 BCE) that stand at the entrance to his mortuary temple (the temple itself has been almost entirely destroyed — the Colossi are all that remains visible above ground)): the statues (each colossus weighs approximately 700 tonnes; originally cut from a single block of quartzite sandstone (the quartzite from the Gebel el-Silsileh quarry south of Luxor; quartzite was the most prized stone in ancient Egypt for its hardness and golden colour)); the name (the Greek and Roman tourists (1st century BCE–3rd century CE) who visited the statues called them 'the Colossi of Memnon' (after Memnon — the Ethiopian king who fought at Troy in Greek mythology; the ancient Greeks confused Amenhotep III with the legendary Memnon because of the size of the statues)); the singing colossus (after an earthquake in 27 BCE cracked the northern colossus, it was reported to emit a singing sound at dawn (the sound was probably caused by the heating of the fractured stone by the morning sun — thermal expansion creating vibrations in the crack; the Romans came from across the empire to hear the 'voice of Memnon'; the sound ceased in 199 CE when the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus ordered the statue restored)). Free.

Medinet Habu (the Mortuary Temple of Ramesses III — the best-preserved mortuary temple in Egypt (better preserved than any temple in Luxor because the complex was occupied and maintained as a living city from the late New Kingdom (1185 BCE) through to the Christian Coptic period (500–1000 CE) — the continuous habitation protected the temple from the stone-robbing that dismantled most other ancient sites)): the inscriptions (Medinet Habu has the most detailed historical inscriptions of any Egyptian temple: the walls record the military campaigns of Ramesses III (the last great pharaoh of the New Kingdom) in extraordinary detail): the most important inscription: the Sea Peoples (the reliefs on the north wall of the first pylon of Medinet Habu record the Battle of the Delta (1175 BCE) — the most important battle in ancient Egyptian history: the 'Sea Peoples' (the confederation of displaced Bronze Age peoples from the eastern Mediterranean — possibly including refugees from the Mycenaean Greek collapse, the Hittite Empire collapse, and the Aegean island cultures (the Philistines were almost certainly one of the Sea Peoples groups)) attacked Egypt by land and sea simultaneously; Ramesses III defeated both the naval and land forces, becoming the last pharaoh to stop a major foreign invasion)). Adults EGP 260.

Tombs of the Nobles (the private tombs of the high officials and nobles of the New Kingdom court, in the hills above the West Bank village of Sheikh Abd el-Qurna): the paintings (the most detailed depictions of daily life in ancient Egypt: while royal tomb paintings focus on the afterlife journey (the Book of the Dead, the Amduat), the nobles' tombs show scenes from everyday New Kingdom Egyptian life (farming, fishing, banqueting, music, dancing, craft production, and the rituals of the upper-class Egyptian household)); the most important tombs: (1) TT52 (Tomb of Nakht — the 'astronomer of Amun': the finest 15th-century BCE wall paintings in the valley: scenes of wine-making (the complete winemaking process from grape harvest to storage jars), hunting (the nobleman Nakht shown spearing fish in the Nile marshes), and a banquet with female musicians playing the lute, double-oboe, and harp (the musicians' faces show individual portraiture — each face is different and specific)); (2) TT69 (Tomb of Menna — the complete agricultural cycle of a New Kingdom farming estate depicted in continuous narrative around the tomb walls). EGP 200 for the nobles' area.

Luxor East Bank souk (the traditional market streets of Luxor town — Sharia el-Souk (the main market street, between the Luxor Temple and the Luxor railway station): the craft tradition of Luxor): the alabaster workshops (the most important craft of the Luxor area: the Qurna alabaster (the calcite alabaster from the quarries in the Theban Hills — a translucent white stone with banded veining; the traditional material for Egyptian vessels, cosmetic containers, and statues (the alabaster canopic jars of the Valley of the Kings)); the West Bank village of Bairat and the alabaster workshops of the Gurnawi family — the alabaster carvers whose families have worked the same quarries and the same designs for generations); the Luxor papyrus (the traditional hand-made papyrus paper from the papyrus plant (Cyperus papyrus): (1) the papyrus is cut into strips (the pithy stem cross-sections (5–10cm wide)); (2) the strips are soaked in water for 3 days; (3) they are laid in overlapping horizontal and vertical layers on a flat surface; (4) the layered sheets are pressed under weights for 6 days until the natural starches of the papyrus bond the strips together — the result is a smooth, cream-coloured writing surface). Alabaster vase EGP 100–500; papyrus EGP 50–300.

Karnak Sound and Light Show (the nightly multimedia spectacle at the Karnak Temple Complex — one of the most atmospheric sound and light shows in the world): the show (the Karnak Sound and Light Show runs every evening (multiple language sessions: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Arabic); visitors walk through the unlit temple complex as the narrative unfolds (the columns, pylons, and obelisks are illuminated in sequence as the narration advances through the history of Thebes from the Middle Kingdom through to the Roman period)): the Hypostyle Hall at night (the 134 columns of the Hypostyle Hall illuminated from below in warm amber and gold light — the shadows between the columns at night create the most dramatic architectural effect in Egypt); the Sacred Lake (the finale: the audience is seated at the Sacred Lake (the 120m × 77m artificial lake of Karnak) as the reflection of the illuminated temple plays on the water — the most spectacular ending to any ancient monument visit in Egypt). Adults EGP 200.

Ful Medames (the most important food in Egyptian history — the national dish of Egypt and one of the oldest continuously eaten prepared foods in the world (the ful medames has been eaten in the Nile Valley since at least 2600 BCE (fava beans are found in Old Kingdom (2686–2181 BCE) archaeological deposits at multiple sites)): the preparation (dried fava beans (Vicia faba — the 'ful' (fool): the Egyptian fava bean is a specific cultivar (smaller and darker than the European broad bean) that has been cultivated in the Nile Valley for 5,000 years; the beans are soaked overnight, then slow-cooked in a large sealed pot (the 'dalla' — a conical earthenware pot designed specifically for overnight slow cooking of ful) for 6–8 hours until soft; the cooked beans are served with: cumin, lemon juice, olive oil or rendered butter, chopped parsley, and sometimes a whole soft-boiled egg); the Luxor ful (the Luxor version is slightly spicier than the Cairo version — more cumin, more garlic, with the addition of ground coriander (the ancient Egyptian 'coriander' spice — documented in Pharaonic recipes at Deir el-Medina (the workers' village of the Valley of the Kings craftspeople))). EGP 20–40 for ful; Egyptian mezze spread EGP 100–200.