We stayed at the Mina Palace hotel on the corner of the Corniche next to Luxor Temple. The front rooms have a view over the Nile cruisers to the west bank. At night you can see the floodlit Temple of Hatshepsut.

We hired bikes which we took on the foot ferry over to the west bank and cycled to the valleys of the Kings and Queens. It’s quite flat, until you get to the valleys. It was a wonderful way to travel and we were greeted by kids at every village and taken into homes for tea.

One of the real values of travel is the constant reassurance that despite the political or religious complexion of a country most people are friendly and hospitable and want to get on with their lives. We are nearly all curious and interested in others. The genuinely freely offered hospitality humbles me every time as I know that strangers in my homeland would not always be greeted with such generosity.

Yes it’s true that you get a lot and persistent requests to baksheesh or cadeaux but it’s a small amount to give, certainly a lot, lot less than we’d have paid to a travel company to be whisked around viewing everything through smoked glass windows and being deposited right outside the tat shops.