I left my heart in Luxor

Luxor has been calling on me for a while now and finally we found an excuse to visit the authentic land. Another wedding invitation and with it was an egyptian experience of all the lost sensations that we have missed while living in Cairo.

The men of power in Luxor have done an amazing job, cleaning it, preserving it and making it shine like it was meant to. In the Old Winter Palace I experienced a royal stay. I felt like I was a guest of my beloved King Farouk. His room is there and everything he used, his telephone and his paintings fill up the walls. A majestic feel fills the ancient hotel with the wonderful garden. the high ceiling gives you more room to breath and the architectural beauty gives extra space in every way for your soul to move with your body with ease. Classic furniture and class just fills the place with grace. Being there I wanted to ditch my nikes and put on a classic dress. I wanted to be in high heels all the time. The royal stairway to the rooms was dramatically formed to give the place the royal feel that it already exudes.

I could picture King Farouk roaming the hotel, taking his tea between the palm trees of the beautiful terrace, and taking a walk with his queen in the garden that cherishes every tree and even has the date it was planted written in front of it.

The Sofitel has done a great job to sustain this ancient master piece called the winter palace that consists of ninety rooms only and a huge garden. The hotel is only Three floors and you can dance your way to the room since the hall ways are so spacious that the walk to the room becomes a joyful process.

Luxor is the opposite of Dubai. Luxor is a country with a soul and so much history that you walk in nostalgia. Charmingly romantic and so authentically natural. A rural place in origin where greenery fills your heart with joy and the palm trees dance in harmony to the sounds of the egyptian instruments played by the sweet locals with friendly dark eyes and skin that befriended the sun along time ago.

January in Cairo you will need a jacket,while in Luxor you will need your bikini or swim suit for the pools are along side the Nile and everyone tans in peacefulness. The Nile in Luxor is a vision I will always keep in my heart and in a stressful moment dream about.

The Nile in Luxor is blue and clean and around it there are no malformed buildings, only trees and two story village houses. Only graceful hotels with architects who understand the need to stay low not to cut off the view for others. The "felouka" ride on the Nile is a pleasure for all the senses and soul, you breathe like you never breathed before. Your face is embraced with clean fresh air and your whole being absorbs the beauty of the Nile.

Luxor owes my mother in law a lot since she corrected their street signs that used to disgrace the once great city, however now the beautiful Luxor reflects its greatness through its cleanliness. The airport that is universally beautiful and thanks to my mother in law's effort and good intentions the correct spelling in all the signs give the place the right impression for the visitors and the locals.

A place with temples of our ancestors deserves nothing less than what the governor has done which is a great job, we only wish Cairo is next on the governments list. I pity the high officials for the people around them have distorted their perception keeping them away from all that needs change. they see only what their groupies show them, and they never crossroad with the polluted cairo or the garbage that has been left untouched.

We asked the taxi driver in Luxor how come the streets are so clean? and so naturally he replied with great pride, saying that his people clean after themselves and in front of every shop is the responsibility of the shop owner, and he laughed like it was the simplest thing ever. The man is right but how come in cairo we think the street is not our responsibility as a majority we only clean behind closed doors.

I fell in love with the people of Luxor and their kindness and will to smile, if I were them I would smile too, if the nile is everyone's neighbor and the sun shines all year long, if the streets are cleaned and the people are treated like humans, then why wouldn't the waiter smile? and he does not have to be trained at the four seasons to do it. He genuinely feels like giving joy.

the sound of the arabic music played makes my spirit dance with joy and having the arabian music band play with their instruments, their instruments which make the heart melt with notes that are unknown to the instruments of the west. It was bliss for me. I felt my roots tangle with the roots of the palm trees and hug the soil of the earth from the soles of my feet and so much peace filled my heart, and so much love to my people and it was like I regained the lost pride of my nation.

Finally it was great to be Egyptian again. Why are we trapped in Cairo? I asked my self

Why are we suffering in the cocooned aristocratic bubble of Cairo, here in Luxor the glass walls shatter and you find your self mixing with your essence, your essence that lies in dealing with your own people.

In Luxor I did not see a million beggars

In Luxor I did not see a thousand homeless

and no old lady banged on my window

I was not burdened with feelings of guilt at every step of the way

Although the taxi drivers asked us a tad too much if we wanted a ride

Although the carriage drivers were a bit too pushy in offering us a ride

Still it was possible that we took a walk on the corniche and enjoyed the breeze

We had rights like the Europeans and the Americans, a possibility to walk the street and just be.

We did not have to be rich and it did not make a difference if we are poor and I did not have to be veiled to avoid the harassment.

The people of Luxor are kind

The people of Luxor are helpful

The people of Luxor are pure

The people of Luxor have beautiful dark eyes that express the real Egyptian authenticity and they do not act like they are American and they do not wish that they were English and they do not kiss ass. They have pride and a will to work.

Although a not so happy sight was of the young men sitting around doing nothing, I figured they need work and i wondered how can we provide?

Luxor the gem that hugs the Nile is in good hands everyone! The governor there, is a hero who removed the clutter and let the temples stand in pride, he put rules and executed them and seeing the results you can not help it but wonder when will it be Cairo's turn to shine again?

When will the clutter around our pyramids be removed? when will the whole world come and see the real beauty that lies hidden here?

The main reason we went was to attend the wedding of my husband's relatives which to me were strangers until I made it there and fell in love with them. The bride and the groom were floating in love and the family of the bride who are related to my husband and carry the same last name are so authentic and beautiful people they are kind they are real, this is why their daughter chose to tie her knot in Luxor not Cairo. I understood why they were the way they are that is because they lived in London and still they carried their purity, they still loved Egypt they were not polluted by the social virus of the Cairene high class. They were real, they were grounded, they were joyful and for that I loved them.

Being a traveler you become vulnerable you need good greeting when you arrive, you do not know what to expected, you need excitement in the voice of those who receive you or at least reciprocity of your energy that you come to greet with. So they delivered that and we were glad. However the worst part of the trip was the stuck up Egyptians who wear the label of high class, cold and rude. The only problem is that you least expect it from those who were once nice, suddenly they decided they will greet you with a tone of voice that is so fake, so cold and when they ask how are you they move before they hear that you are o.k. It was not one person, it was not just two they were a lot but i really pity them, they have no reason to be so cold and I guessed they were ugly from inside, actually it started to show in their physical bodies too. And when they gossip about you it is right in front of your eyes and you could understand from the evil vibe that exudes around their body language and their smiles tend to call for satan. It did not matter what they said, or what they did, for now i knew they are not my friends anymore and obviously they have issues which I know nothing about, since we have no history to lead to that.

The people of Luxor are so much better than these fake "High Society" nauseating beings, at least they are pure and their hearts are gold. After studying the ways of people I realized that the person who seems deeply sad for no reason only because you are around and when you ask them what's wrong they say I am feeling sick and what they really mean is "I have a sick mind" since you catch a glimpse of them with others and they look fine just a minute after you caught them "sick". Stay away it is nothing you did, they are just sick because they lack so much and you remind them of it.

I would rather dance with my good people, the people with the good hearts, the people i love, the people of Luxor who do not carry a black grudge. Those with the sick minds suffer the most and those with the happy minds are in bliss most of the time. Luxor deserves a visit from all of the good people of the world, it is a place of love and history, of charm and light, Luxor today ignites and my heart has the name Luxor tattooed on it, for Luxor is pure like a crystal of light, taste Luxor before you book that other flight.

You will find my heart on the river bank because that is where I left it.