Yesterday, we moved a lot. Early in the day it was walking. One of the last trips in Cairo was simply a taxi to the Ramses Station for our night train. The route to Aswan demands nearly constant trains. There must have been at least 7 or 8 per 24 hours. We wanted the 12:05 AM one so that we'd get to Luxor in the mid morning.
To me, there's something wonderfully romantic and nostalgic about the idea of a train journey. In 2014, we travelled up the whole length of the Nile River Valley with Egyptian National Railways. That trip sparked our interest in staying here for an entire winter. Except for the shore of the Mediterranean, Egypt exists because of the Nile River and the green belt of land that straddles most of it. So, one can get a good, free tour from a train's window. It got light early, so we saw at least four hours of the cities and agriculture.
Our train left the station about 20 minutes late and arrived, here, in Luxor with about a 40-minute delay. Our host, Mr. Mohammed, met us right on the platform. We threw the bags on a taxi to the river, then we got a little, private boat to the shore not far from Villa Diletta. It's a great little place! It looks little from the outside but it seems spacious inside! Jay researched about it from the Internet when we were in Puerto Vallarta last winter.
We remember much of this city from our last trip here. So, we went to eat a very late lunch after unpacking. We also started to pick up provisions. We will be here for five months, so getting set up initially will take us a few days. We took the large, public ferry both ways across the river for our shopping. Each trip costs about $US 0.12 so going back and forth costs around a quarter.
We were exhausted by the poor sleep even in the train's first class seats. I feel sore all over, but extremely happy with our new, winter digs. I think it'll be time to hit the bed at about 8:30 PM.