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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Tejas, post: 7694344, member: 84905&quot;]I have been to Egypt several times. In the mid-1990s we stayed in Luxor for 3 weeks, exploring the whole region by bike and on foot away from the normal tourist streams.&nbsp; This gives you a completely different perspecitive. We climed into caves and crevices to see millennia old inscriptions that no tourist gets to see. We visited villages that looked like they hadn&#039;t changed in 3000 years. </p><p>We also visited Cairo and the Pyramids of Sakara, Gezeh, Dashur etc. In places like Dashur we were the only tourists and got a bit of the atmosphere that first explorers or grave robbers must have felt when they entered these tombs for the first time. </p><p>Last time I was in Luxor was 4 years ago. The country is changing fast: Chinese motorcycles have almost completely replaced donkey carts. I&#039;m sure the locals love it, but the magic of Egypt is vanishing fast.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>As for safety: Even in the 1990s - we visted around the time of the massacre at the Hatchepsut temple - it was problematic to travel further south from Luxor by car. When I was there last time there was an almost intimidating presence of police and military in Luxor, no doubt to ensure safety. The biggest nuiscance are all the hecklers who want to sell you something. </p><p><br /></p><p>For anybody planing to go I have two hotel recommendations: If you go to Luxor&nbsp; staying at the famous Winter Palace Hotel is worth the extra costs. Some of the colonial flair is still there. We loved it. If you go to Cairo, staying in the Mena House Hotel is also worth the extra costs. The Mena House is right next to the great Pyramids. It used to be a palace of the last king of Egypt. Similar to the Winter Palace Hotel in Luxor, the Mena House (main buildings) still has 19th century colonial flair.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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