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Luxor has a history going back to 3200 BC, under various names, such as Thebes as it was known to the Greeks. The city lies on the east back of the Nile and includes within its boundary two major archaeological sites, the Luxor Temple and the Karnak Temple Complex.

Across the river are a number of villages on the west bank and just beyond that the many monuments, temples, and tombs of the West Bank Theban Necropolis, which includes the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens. All in all Luxor is a major centre of ancient Egyptian culture, and hence attracts a vast number of tourists—us included.

We arrived from Aswan by bus in late afternoon, and were settled in our hotel overlooking the Nile by sunset, which also happened to be the start of Ramadan. On our drive we had noticed the villages decorated with bunting and the markets bustling in preparation. As we watched the sun set the city suddenly erupted in sound—a combination of the call to prayer from the many mosque minarets, and the exuberant people of the city.

There is a bridge a few miles north of Luxor, so we did not need a ferry to cross the Nile. But there seemed to be a passenger ferry route from each of the west bank villages. Our sunset view of the Nile showed a river mainly full of feluccas taking tourists on sunset cruises, but also a motorised ferry making its way back and forth.