Sleepy, lazy day that clouded over

Yet again, I hadn't had a great sleep so it was another day of lazing about at the pool and when I wasn't sleeping I was taking photos!!  You'll notice how empty the pools are - that's because they're still not heated and are freezing cold!!

I had made sure that I had bananas for breakfast, but brought them down from the fruit bowl in our room as there were none for offer in the breakfast room.

These bananas were growing in the garden, but they weren't quite ready!!

We had our lunch at Caffe Moka, then I slept a lot once more at the pool.  It got noticeably cloudy today, but at least it was still warm even if there was no sunshine. By the time the sun was setting however, some of the cloud had lifted so I went down to the front terrace of the hotel to take some photos.

Winter palace bathed in a golden glow

Sun setting

Almost gone

Twilight

 Then, on the way back through the gardens to the Pavilion rooms, I took more!!

One of a pair of guardian lions!

Rear of hotel

It was then almost time to head off for dinner again, and back to Puddleduck.  But, before that, I had to pop back to the clinic to see the doctor for a blood pressure check.  It seemed that the blood pressure was up a little again which wasn't too worried about, and he let me go for dinner to carry on with my holiday as normal.  However, he did want to see me on Saturday again for another check-up. At Puddleduck we had two starters, four main courses and drinks which came to 438LE.  And Jill very kindly sent one of her staff out to buy me some bananas!!  

After dinner it was a walk back to Caffe Moka for coffees and hot chocolate before heading back to the room.  I should probably say at this stage that my husband's preference was always for a beer at the end of the night!!  He's not really a pipe, slippers and hot chocolate man!!! 

Another lazy pool day and a wee walk

Yes, you've guessed - another lazy day at the pool ahead!!  And then another lunch at Caffe Moka!!

Just prior to lunch though, we spotted this cricket atop one of the sun lounger sunshades.  The lady underneath had absolutely no idea that it was there and I didn't dare tell her in case she freaked out!! I don't think she noticed me frantically taking photos before it moved off - and it did move off rather sharpish when a sparrow took a low swoop over the top of it!!

After lunch though, my husband and I decided to take a walk as I wanted to go to Aboudi's Bookshop which is near to Snack Time and McDonalds, but trying to avoid the worst hassle spots near Luxor Temple and both the Sinbad and Hamees Cafes.  So, we left Caffe Moka and headed left along the street, and kept heading left around some of the old streets that we knew from our previous visits and, lo and behold, we popped out into a street opposite the Temple and just beside a new cafe called Cafe Latte and McDonalds, Snack Time, Aboudi's Bookshop etc. And guess what - no hassle from anyone at all.  We could see building work taking place at what we think is the old Luxor Hotel and we found a shopping arcade that looks pretty new, but there are hardly any shops open, in fact most are still empty, which is a shame.

Shopping arcade

Fried fish, but not quite like the fried fish back home!

Price list of the new cafe Latte

I done a bit of shopping in Aboudi's - no hassle and all fixed price.  The Fairtrade shop is close by here too, but it was closed at the time I was there.  We walked back the way we had come - again no hassle at all as we were more or less off the tourist route.  It was pretty hot though, so we were glad to get back to the pool to rest and cool off - I still hadn't totally immersed myself in the water though as it was just too cold for that!!

When we tore ourselves away from the pool to start getting ready for dinner we discovered more surprises in the room for us - more little cakes and a chocolate mousse!!

Delicious little sweet treats

During our walk to the restaurant tonight there was a power cut and when we got to Puddleduck (which we had booked previously) we had to wait quite a while for the power coming back on.  However, it was worth the wait when the food was able to be produced, and we had a delicious meal.  Four starters, four main courses and drinks all came to 532LE.

On the way back to the hotel we bought rolls at the local baker for lunch and then we stopped off at a street seller who was selling sticky little cakes!!  As if we hadn't eaten enough already!!!  We had no dea how to order them, but a local chap helped us and it seemed we couldn't buy them individually to try them, they had to be bought in kilos or part kilos.  Well, there's no way we could take a kilo of them, but we ended up with a box of assorted cakes weighing half a kilo!  The cost was only 10LE!!

The cake seller

Half a kilo of assorted sticky cakes!

There was no way we could finish all of these after having eaten our  meal, so we tried some and then took the rest down to the reception staff at the desk and they polished them off no problem at all.  It was then off to bed as we were going to have an earlier start so we could visit Karnak Temple in the morning before all the crowds appeared on the tour buses.

Lazy pool day

Spent the morning at the pool and wandering around taking photos and noticing that the pool area is looking very shabby nowadays.  There are lots of uneven slabs and broken tiles and we saw that there was some pool slime and algae around the stools that are situated around the pool bar in the centre of the pools - this pool bar was never open during our stay and the plants growing inside that area look quite overgrown.  Even the water in the pool was a bit cloudy, although that did clear fairly quickly over the next few days.  There are large mobile parasols that can be moved around the pool area to give shade, but these are now filthy.  The varnish on the sunbeds and the tables is peeling off and there are broken sunbeds lying around.  There is a wooden structure that used to have a roof which was a great place to get some shade, but the roof has been missing for years now.  However, the structure is now leaning badly (I think after a tree fell on it) and has never been straightened or repaired.

Just some of the broken and uneven slabs

Just one of many broken tiles

The wonky wooden structure

The gap site where the tower of the 'New Winter Palace' once stood, is still a gap site.  No work whatsoever has been done here and there are no signs of any work beginning to start.  I took these photos through rather a dirty window, but you'll get the general idea!!

For lunch we decided to stick to our plan of going to the Caffe Moka where we found the owner had reserved a nice table in the shade and he had the cutlery etc. all laid out for us.  We were truly treated like VIPs!!  We ordered four chicken sandwiches and drinks - they sell soft drinks, beer and spirits.  I don't know where he gets the hot food from, although we suspect it comes from outside the premises somewhere, but it's very very tasty indeed and piping hot and served in polystyrene containers.  The whole lunch cost 202LE so it was quite reasonable.  It was so tasty in fact, we decided that we'd be back again to try the other sandwiches on the menu!!

Chicken sandwiches

Sit and watch the mad traffic!!

Seats, sofas and shade

After lunch it was back to the pool once more to relax.  Later, on going back to the room, we discovered one of the light bulbs wasn't working so we reported it to reception and were totally gobsmacked when an 'engineer' appeared 15 minutes later to replace it!!  After changing to go out for dinner we went up to the Royal Bar at the Winter Palace where we met some of the management staff that we know, and we were given a drink on the house, which was rather nice.

We then took our usual walk into 'Little Britain' and went to The Taste of India where he ordered two soups, four main courses, two sweets (our favourite Om Ali!!) and drinks, which all came to 446LE.  Afterwards we walked back to the hotel via Caffe Moka for coffee - they do rather a nice hot chocolate as well!!

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!!