As the sun began to rise over Luxor, I looked across the west bank of the Nile to see the faint outlines of hot-air balloons slowly rising above the horizon. One by one, they appeared and soon there were more than a dozen decorating the skies, with the calm waters of the Nile and the green sugar canes below – all set against the hazy backdrop of the steep limestone cliffs in the Valley of the Kings. It was the perfect snapshot of this wondrous place.
Just 24 hours earlier, I had been lucky enough to be up in one of those colourful balloons, floating gently in the air and gazing down over the landscape of Luxor’s sprawling temple sites and the local life
