Luxor4u

Just wondering if there has been any disruption/closure of the sites normally open to the public - Valley of Kings, Luxor Temple, Luxor Museum etc over the last few days. With so many people taking part in the various protests, I guess staffing them could be an issue.

Any observations or comments?

HEPZIBAH wrote:Just wondering if there has been any disruption/closure of the sites normally open to the public - Valley of Kings, Luxor Temple, Luxor Museum etc over the last few days. With so many people taking part in the various protests, I guess staffing them could be an issue.

Any observations or comments?

I see that you have had no reply to this while the forum tries to concentrate on the human tragedy of the July revolution.

I have seen nothing in the news about the sites, antiquities, museums and stores. I hope that they are all safe and being protected.

Does anybody have any news on this?

Still no replies more than three weeks later.

For the benefit of any visitors that may still be in Luxor, it would be useful if someone on the ground would let us know if any or all sites are open, balloons are flying, cruises are running, visiting e.g. Abydos or Dendera is still possible.

I realise that the ex-pats are not generally interested in such matters, but even in the heat of summer and in Ramadan there might be some visitors asking this question.

Maybe the main sites such as Karnak Temple, Luxor Temple, Deir el-Bahri, VotK, etc., could consider having a webcam pointing up the main axis so that we could see what is actually happening on the ground? It would not be expensive.

As far as I know the sites are open there are some tourists here this week albeit only a few.

Bombay wrote:As far as I know the sites are open there are some tourists here this week albeit only a few.

Thank you.

A few days ago we were up very early and we saw 2 balloons taking off, so they are still flying

Billy_whiz wrote:A few days ago we were up very early and we saw 2 balloons taking off, so they are still flying

This is the sort of positive information that Luxor (4u) really needs!

I think that many ex-pats are away for Ramadan and very few visiting the antiquities....we tend not to do our visits in the summer heat in any case.
Give it a couple of weeks for us to get back and report.

Going into Luxor today via the local bus I was shocked to see the amount of damage to the new, what I call, plaza area outside Karnak Temple fronting the new shops. The square meterage must be in the thousands, and countless hundreds of meters had been ripped up, presumably by hand for ammunition. The whole area looks like a battle field. Don't think that a webcam there would be very positive. The mindset of these folk beggars belief at times, zero interest in keeping the place ready for the tourists to come back.

... but our colleagues living in Karnak say that everything is quiet there.

Of course I am concerned, but I imagine a WebCam focussed down the main axis, aimed just beyond the 1st pylon, would not show too much of the forecourt.

I am trying to look at the bigger picture, not the current problems.

All of the sites are operating normally, albeit with fewer visitors - I've seen tour buses taking visitors around, so I assume that there a few people venturing here from Hurghada. A few weeks ago there was a temporary closure of Hatshepsut's temple and the Valley of the Kings, where bazaar shop owners blocked the roads to seek a remission of rents due to the lower throughput of tourists, but as far as I know that was the only disruption.