First day at the Winter Palace Pavilion

We were up fairly early and into the breakfast room.  I must say that there is a big difference in the breakfast provided, but it's still not a patch on the Hilton!!  The old toaster that seems to be built in with the bricks is still there clunking along very slowly with its controls broken!!  The orange juice looks like orange juice but tastes nothing like orange juice. At least there is more fresh fruit than normal and this year strawberries were in season and on offer most mornings.  However, as the mornings progressed, the same strawberries seem to be trotted out each day and they eventually ended up looking like the tinned variety!!  There is no egg station any more, so no more playing 'find the egg man'!!  You can have your eggs cooked to order and brought to the table and this at least ensures you get them still hot, which is a bit of an improvement.  There is also a better selection of cold meats and cheese and a fairly good selection of breads, cakes and pastries.  This is the egg menu.

I'm afraid this is where the blog will get a bit boring as most days were now spent at the pool!!  However, there were a few things that we got up to, and I'll intersperse the text with photos to try and keep your interest going!!

We did notice more cats running around the grounds compared to previous visits, but they are very timid and don't really come near the guests, although we did see some hanging about at the pool restaurant.  I think they have probably been displaced from the grounds at the old Luxor Hotel which is presently undergoing refurbishment and reconstruction. This is where the restaurants of Sinbad and Hamees are but we didn't visit them this time round as we weren't impressed with them on our last visit, and this is where lots of cats could be found.  I have no problem with cats and kept trying to capture them with the camera - they weren't at all impressed with that!!

For lunch that day we had the rolls that we bought at the local baker along with some cheese bought at the supermarket.  There's no problem in taking the hotel supplies out of the room fridges and replacing it with your own.

Later in the day on going back to our rooms at the end of the day, we were surprised by one of the staff that we know - he arrived at our rooms with teak/coffee making facilities and also some fresh fruit and small delicious cakes!!

The cakes were absolutely delicious!!  Yes, we did eat them before we went out for dinner that night!!  Well, it would have been rude not to!!

We then walked off our little appetisers on the way to Puddleduck - we had made sure of booking a table as the restaurant had been busy the night before.  It was good to see that business was doing well given the smaller amount of tourists now visiting Luxor.  Four starters, four main courses (which included steaks), coffees and drinks cost 526LE, which is very reasonable for the delicious food that is served here.  On the way back to the hotel we stopped off at Caffe Moka and decided to give it a try the next day for lunch.  After that, there began the nightly ritual of a wee nightcap prior to bed using the duty free that we had brought with us!!

Last post from the Hilton

It's a pleasure to get up and have breakfast here!!  The breakfasts are just first class, top notch, five star - however you wish to describe them!!  The Hilton breakfast was always very special, but now that the hotel has been totally revamped, breakfasts have only just got better!!

We had a lazy morning at the pool with me wandering around taking photos as usual.  I was in my element here as there's quite a variety of bird life.

Kingfisher

Nile sunbird

Kingfisher

At lunchtime we took the courtesy bus into town and the driver very kindly dropped us off at the Winter Palace Hotel.  This is where we got our first taste of the hassle outside!!  However, we just let last wash over us and we went to the reception for the Winter Palace Pavilion and confirmed our arrival there the next day.  We were allocated rooms 3010 and 3011 which I think are rooms that we've occupied in the past!  We had lunch at the pool restaurant then we nipped out the back door of the hotel where we picked up a taxi back to the Hilton.  There were two taxis standing side by side, one old and rickety with its bonnet open and one very nice shiny new one with air conditioning.  Guess what one we got?  I think you'll guess when I tell you that to get air conditioning, we had to open a window!!  Anyway, the driver was pretty good - he had to be as the traffic was horrendous, but we got through it all safely and back to the Hilton without hassle from the driver which was a refreshing change! The cost of the taxi was 30LE which appeared to be the going rate according to other people that we'd asked.  Perhaps it was too expensive, but we were happy and the driver didn't try to rip us off for more and didn't hassle us for more business, and it perhaps gave him the only fare he got for that day!!  On alighting back at the hotel, it was time for more relaxation and more photo taking!!  The views of the sunsets from here are just stunning!!

Egret looking for his supper

We tried the buffet at the hotel tonight - another great choice, especially in the desserts section!!  The staff and management here certainly know how to look after their guests.  I'd love to come back and stay here for a longer time - three nights was just not long enough!!  It was soon time to get the final packing done as we were gearing up to leave the next morning for our next hotel where we could unpack properly rather than be living out of a suitcase as we had been doing for the past three nights.

A last look at the view

Flight to Luxor

Breakfast at the Premier Inn starts at 5 a.m. so we were up in plenty of time to sample that, and very nice it was too with loads of choice.  However, as I'd had the worst sleep ever, I was very tired and wasn't hungry, so I didn't manage very much to eat.

We had already checked in with Easyjet on line prior to travelling, so all we needed to do was drop off the bags when we got over to the terminal building.  All of that was easy enough and we then passed through all the security checkpoints with no problems at all.  Our seats were also all booked at the time of organising our flights - we were in row 13 on the way out and also row 13 on the flight back!!  Fingers were well and truly crossed that the number 13 would be lucky!!

Because I was so tired, I think I fell asleep just after the safety briefing and when I eventually woke up I was in the air!  I reckon I slept for most of the flight, but woke up in time to take these photos, which I presume are over the Alps somewhere!!

 

On our eventual arrival at Luxor Airport it didn't seem as chaotic and it was a breeze getting through passport control.  Our driver was waiting for us coming off the flight so we all clambered aboard the minibus and off we set to the Hilton Hotel.  It was so lovely to be driving through the streets of Luxor once more.

There was a warm welcome waiting at the Hilton and we quickly checked-in and were allocated our rooms, however after meeting a lot of the old staff that we knew from our previous visits here, we were quickly reallocated the rooms that we used to always ask for when staying there (373 and 374).  What a great surprise that was! Luckily, we hadn't unpacked our cases, so the transfer to the new rooms was very easy.

I must say that arriving at the Hilton was like arriving in paradise!  What a transformation - it is just wonderful, and in the most beautiful setting.  We weren't at all sure where to eat for dinner that night, but on the night we arrived, a traditional Egyptian meal was on offer, which had been cooked on hot coals outside.  This is a photo of the fire pit and cooking dishes

So, we opted for that - dining Egyptian style under the stars with a view over to the illuminated Theban Hills, just perfect!!

After dinner we had a look around the hotel and pool area then it was off to bed and I think I was sleeping before my head hit the pillow!!