Luxor

We finally made it to the end of term two and were really ready for the (over a week of!) holiday.  We wanted to have some time at home in Cairo to decompress a bit together, but we also wanted to get away within Egypt for a bit.  Our initial plan had been Dahab, but a lot of the places there were booked up when we looked and so we thought that we could spend our money a little better elsewhere (Dahab, and Siwa, are on our 'must do next year' list though!).  We therefore decided to head down to Luxor for five days and stay at the hotel we'd stayed in in January 2011 when we were there for the run and the 'revolution' started.  We thought this would be a good plan as the hotel is on a private island, and so it is very self-contained which would allow us to avoid the hassle of 'proper' Luxor, but also have enough to keep us busy.

Leila was good on the hour-long flights that we took there and back and didn't have any trouble with the pressure as we took-off/landed because we fed her to keep her swallowing.  With the short flights it didn't matter that she was so interested in everything that was going on that she didn't sleep.  She was tired at the end of both flights, though, and fell asleep as we landed and then again in the car as we left the airport.  As she doesn't have a rigid routine it was fine for her to stay awake a little longer than at home, as she could get herself to sleep when she was tired.

By the pool on the first evening.

Our room was about 50m away from the pool, and so Leila had her first swim on this trip!

We managed two swims most days we were there while avoiding the midday heat and Leila's nap times.  At first she didn't seem too fussed by the 'big bath' that we had her in, but on the second swim she started to show signs of enjoyment rather than just indifference!  She would smile if we pulled her along on her tummy (head out of the water...most of the time!) and the smiles would get bigger the faster we could go.  She was fascinated by the water and although we tried to keep her mouth out of it, we would find her dipping her head so that she could taste it!  On the third day she worked out how to splash and seemed to enjoy this too.

Scotty's girls just chillin' by the pool.

The Infinity Pool on the Nile

"I think I like this!"

Relaxing after a swim

We knew that we wanted to get out of the hotel and visit some of the sights whilst we were there with Leila.  However, we really didn't want to have to deal with any hassle so opted for booking a private tour rather than just taking a taxi ourselves. This worked out really well and we were very pleased that we spent the money on doing it this way.  First we went to Karnak Temple and then on to Luxor Temple.  Leila was awake for the three hour trip (!) but fell asleep in the car on the way home.  She was really well behaved in her buggy and didn't fuss with the heat (even though we went before the midday sun) and she tolerated us getting her out for photos.  We hope that we can visit a few more sights in Egypt with her, but know that it will be a good few years before they are more than just a photo opportunity!

On the offering table in the inner sanctum of Karnak

Obelisk of Thothmes I

Having a rest with dad

Take a look at THIS!

The hypostyle hall in Karnak

Beneath a large freize in the hypostyle hall

Left leg forward...

Being on an island, the hotel had their own jetty and mooring for a few boats, so one afternoon we took Leila out on a felucca.  Leila wasn't too fussed at first, and was happy to sit on the side and play with her toys (her default playing position now is sitting up and she is getting really good at it). Once she saw all the rope and wooden poles involved in sailing the boat though she wanted to touch and have a chew of everything. It would be nice to do another felucca sometime in Cairo although we'll need to balance the heat of the day with the need for bed in the cooler evening!

Leila rules the waves!

Wanting to explore a little bit one morning, we decided to take the buggy and see if we could walk all of the way around the island.  About half of the island is dedicated to the hotel accommodation and restaurants, pools and grounds, but a significant part of the island we discovered is fields.  There was a dirt track around this part and we could see farmers growing crops on the land and even a small Nubian village. It was pretty hot and Leila fell asleep in her buggy - a great extra nap for our little girl who seemed to enjoy waking up early but not napping for longer than 35 minutes at a time this holiday!

Don't wake the baby!

Our holiday coincided with the second week of BLW and so we were giving Leila some new foods to try.  We gave her banana for breakfast most days but then also tried her on some apple (which she enjoyed but we now think gives her reflux as she tends to be sick quite a lot of the days she has had apple).  The breakfast buffet included a fruit salad, but the pieces were cut too small for her, so each day we had to ask the waiters for a whole banana for her.  They were great at getting what we wanted and also getting the high chair for her.  Things did get a bit messy but her clothes that fared worse than the floor (why didn't we think to bring a bib??!!) as her summer dress now has banana stains on it.  One the last day they couldn't find us any fruit to give her and so we just gave her some green beans from the ragu/ratatouille that we had with our meal.  It was really very cool to be able to just give her food off our plate - this is something about BLW that we are really enjoying.

Banana sticks for breakfast

Yum!

Getting distracted

Green beans from Mum and Dad's lunch

When we booked the holiday we thought that five nights would be enough but we easily filled our days on the island and could have stayed a lot longer! It was lovely though to have a few extra days either side of the holiday at home to have some family-time in Cairo too though. We managed a BLW lunch out at Dishes (a decent enough restaurant a block away from home), a family sing-a-long at Bounce and Rhyme, a trip to the Khan and the obligatory holiday ice-cream (well, a sorbet for the dairy-free Ali!) at Stavolta.