My new year high... a balloon ride in Egypt
ELEVEN years ago today I was in Egypt, staying on the outskirts of the fascinating city of Luxor. Never fans of the whole New Year’s Eve razzmatazz, myself and my husband had decided to flee these shores and head for a place which even the rather appealing (on every other day of the year) Jools Holland couldn’t penetrate.
So Luxor it was. Although veterans of Morocco and Istanbul – and having visited Jordan, Israel and other parts of the Arab world on other occasions – Egypt had always eluded us. So, when we arrived in late December 2006, we were hugely looking forward to it. It didn’t disappoint. Quartered for our stay in the Movenpick Hotel on Crocodile Island on the edge of the Nile, in a simple, unpretentious chalet on the lovely grounds, we headed out from there every day to explore the surrounding area.
As it is now, security was very tight back then – handbag and body searches were the norm entering any of the upmarket hotels in the city but the security staff were courteous and it didn’t impinge on the holiday mood in any way.
One of the highlights was a visit to the Valley of the Kings in the company of the incredible Mohammed Aaggagi Abdalla, the 70-something guide who proved to be a walking encyclopedia – not surprising when we learned that he was one of the first guides ever given ‘official’ status by the Egyptian government and had been working in that capacity for half a century. He was a firm believer in telling it like it was.
He selected three tombs for us to visit in the Valley of the Kings. Tutankhamun’s wasn’t one of them.
‘Not worth it,’ he said. ‘Very small.’
‘I can’t come to the Valley of the Kings,’ I retorted, ‘and not see the tomb of Tutankhamun!’ And so I insisted. And do you know what? Not worth it.
Other highlights of that Egyptian sojourn as the old year died and 2007 beckoned would include the temple at Karnak with its ‘forest’ of 134 huge columns and its sacred lake, a setting that was further enhanced when we returned after dark a few nights later for the sound and light show.
Another was negotiating the purchase of a fine blue cotton, made-to-measure shirt for my husband, with the tailor all chat and measuring tape, and the lovely shirt ready for collection just 24 hours later.
And then there was our experience of dining like pharaohs in the 1886 restaurant in the gorgeous old-world Winter Palace Hotel. All stand-out memories from a stand-out holiday. But the best of all? Two-fold, really, but connected. First up was the dreaded ‘New Year’s Eve Gala Dinner’. This was an obligatory part of the package we’d booked (and had added considerably to the price) so we thought that we had better turn up and give it a go.
Still, when it came to the crunch – and even though we’d managed to get a table in the intimate restaurant of the Movenpick rather than in the alternative venue of the barn-like breakfast room – we still couldn’t really deal with spending the dying hours of 2006 in the company of a gaggle of strangers.
So, at around 11.30pm we flew the coop and made our way across the lawn and down to the Nile with nothing but each other and a bottle of bubbly for company. It was the perfect end to the year.
And a fitting passport to what came next. For after a short few hours’ sleep we were collected at just before 5am on New Year’s morning and taken, still under cover of darkness, by mini-bus and then boat, across to the west bank of the Nile.
Once there, and with the first gleams of light creeping into the sky, we climbed, somewhat nervously, into the basket of a hot-air balloon and waited until the fire roared above our heads and the balloon rose slowly into the sky, carrying us skyward to meet the Egyptian dawn as it broke over the Valley of the Kings.
Watching as the sunlight began to glint off the ancient red-hued mountains around one of the most famous valleys in the world, and peering to catch glimpses of our balloon way down below us, reflected, as it was, in the dark snake of the Nile, it was an awesome experience – in the true sense of the word. And the best New Year experience of my life.
Happy 2018, everybody...