Luxor

The heat of Egypt was way beyond my expectations. Not only is the temperature excessively high at 45C, but the strong sun is also killing me. I guess my brain wasn't functioning normally due to the heat and sun and I ended up leaving my passport in the aircraft from Cairo to Luxor... Because it was a domestic flight, I didn't even realize this until I arrived at the hotel. It was a chaos after that. Luckily the hotel concierge helped me to retrieve the passport. When I finally had my passport in hand, it was pretty late and I was exhausted, so I skipped dinner.

So now, it's the second day in Luxor. The day tour in Luxor included a lunch. Especially during Ramadan, any restaurants that are open for lunch are for tourists. I didn't expect much for this meal but it turned out to be very delicious. The guide had me choose the main dish and the rest are all fixed dishes. All the foods are a bit on the salty side but they are all very flavorful. The restaurant is called Africa Restaurant (interesting name...) located on the other side of the river from the city center. So, I wouldn't have come here unless the guide brought me here.

 Lentil Soup

Baba ganoush - again very creamy with tahini but pretty acidic 

Fried battered eggplant (I think....) 

 Stewed potato in tomato sauce

Rice and tomato & cucumber salad 

Beef kofta (main dish)

 Stewed beef - this is my favorite (another main dish)

The restaurant had a nice river view. But it was way too hot (after 1:00pm) and I left as soon as I had finished eating. The tour had two more stops after lunch. But I decided to skip the last stop and had them drop me off at the hotel due to the heat. Yes, it was that hot....




After sunset, I decided to walk to the city center. Unlike Cairo, it doesn't cool down much after sunset in Luxor. I think it's still in the mid-30s (Celsius). The hotel was located at the north edge of the city and the center is 4 km away. I wanted take a taxi or some sort of transportation. But the drivers are so aggressively scammy... I didn't want to deal with them. Anyway, I wasn't that hungry yet, so I thought this could be a good exercise before dinner. And no sun!

I headed to Al-Shaby Lane restaurant. This restaurant is highly rated. But TripAdvisor ratings can be tricky. Not everyone is looking for the most authentic food when they travel. Many popular restaurants in touristy areas serve "local" food arranged to accommodate the tourists from various countries.

I ordered two kinds of feteer, which is a flaky layered pastry. It can be plain or filled with sweet or savory ingredients. Unfortunately, I was disappointed when I found these feteers were filled with nicely melted mozzarella cheese. One of the feteers was topped with typical American BBQ sauce.... It didn't taste bad at all but that's not what I was looking for....

Later I found this type of feteer is a new style. It's normally served at a pizza restaurant. So, I guess this is a pizza-style feteer.