Its contradictions and infinite variety are what make Egypt uniquely fascinating, writes Davin O'Dwyer
EGYPT WELCOMES its visitors with a wall of heat, dry and desiccating and constant. As we arrive at Luxor Airport, men pray to Mecca in the arrivals hall, neatly arranged, both solemn and casual in their quotidian ritual. An immigration officer checks passports with a skinny cigarette between his fingers, while his top-of-the-range Nokia phone blasts out traditional Egyptian music. It neatly hints at the delicate balance evident everywhere in Egypt - the celebration of the historical and traditional on the one hand, the inexorable yet awkward drive to modernity on the other.
Nowhere is this demonstrated as clearly as on the Nile, a body of water so talismanic that the first sight of it is understandably underwhelming. But that changes when you catch a first sight of a felucca, the traditional sailing boat that has sailed on these waters for hundreds of years - it is softly silhouetted against the reflection of the setting sun, and the generations of life that have depended on this flowing water flicker into focus for an instant.
Then a huge cruise ship sails past, a vast floating hotel that resembles a Mississippi steamboat, and the dichotomy of ancient and modern Egypt is seen again in sharp relief.
If the vessels that populate the water exist in stark contrast to each other, the opposing banks themselves offer a more concrete example of Egypt's parallel personalities. The modern city lies on the east side of the river, and the ruins of the temples at Luxor and Karnak that once stood by the waterside have been superseded by a series of monuments to tourism - a range of hotels of varying opulence and air-conditioned comfort, all with stunning views across the water and a choice of restaurants and swimming pools and entertainment, and all with metal detectors by the door to give the impression of security.
But this row of tourist development faces the West Bank, which is mostly devoid of modern buildings, filled instead with green fields full of peasant farmers and the vast Theban Necropolis, essentially the world's largest open-air museum, home to the Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the Queens, the Colossi of Memnon and Hatsepshut's Temple, among other treasures. It is a disparity that can best be observed on a gentle cruise on the river itself, the two banks separated by much more than just the famous river between them.
It is, of course, these remarkable remains from Egypt's glorious past that has long attracted tourists to Luxor. The tombs of the kings and queens, among them Rameses III, Amenhotep, Queen Hatshepsut and of course Tutankhamun, are hidden away in the dry hills of the West Bank rather than celebrated in vainglorious pyramids as earlier pharaohs were. They were buried west of the river because that was where the sun god Ra met his death at the end of every day, before being resurrected at dawn - for the kings and queens to enter the afterlife, then, they too must be buried in the west.
Seeing the tombs at first hand is an affecting experience. Initially, the familiarity of the hieroglyphic style, which has been so thoroughly recast as ersatz exoticism, can make it hard to fully appreciate the magnificent artistry of these tombs, but descending into the rocky resting places of Rameses IV or Tutunkhamen or Thutmoses reveals walls of colour and story and ritual, cave after cave, that draw you back into antiquity.
The Sistine Chapel might boast the more celebrated piece of painted wall, but even the jewel of the Vatican doesn't prompt such a humbling sense of perspective as these myriad tombs can.
Wandering through the vast ruins of the temples at Karnak or Luxor on the eastern bank, meanwhile, is a test for our imaginations - this society was evidently magnificent, but bringing it all to convincing life is still difficult. The buildings we can just about picture in their full glory; the people who built and populated them, however, are rather harder to conjure. In both temples, built to honour gods such as Amun and Mut rather than kings, gigantic pillars reach for the sky, shorn now of the roof they once supported.
At Luxor Temple, which dates from 1400 BC, an imposing 25m obelisk sits asymmetrically at the entrance, its absent twin now residing in the Place de la Concorde in Paris, a "gift" to the French in 1835 - nothing captures the degradation of ancient Egypt quite as forcefully as this particular example of 19th-century larceny.
More so than, say, the Acropolis or the Forum, the ruins sit awkwardly in the city that has grown up around them, in silent judgment at the path Luxor has taken in the centuries since it was called Thebes. It is a lively city of about 400,000 people, and it features bazaars every bit as bustling and colourful as imagination would have them.
Given the importance of tourism, it is hardly surprising that most locals you will meet are eager to sell you some souvenirs or service, though that eagerness can often cross over into irritating harassment. If you ever do get to meet any locals whose livelihood doesn't immediately depend on your cash, you will more than likely discover a warm-hearted, immensely welcoming people.
Almost as vaunted a historical site as the temples and tombs is the Winter Palace Hotel, a luxurious relic of British colonialism in which Agatha Christie wrote Death on the Nile. It rests regally on the Corniche, the long riverside walkway along which horses and carts trot and feluccas find their berth.
From this vantage point, watching the flotilla of hot-air balloons that gradually rise at dawn from the West Bank is awe-inspiring, and catching the last rays bouncing off the Nile at sunset is breathtaking. At these moments, the Nile is a special gift indeed.
Another, radically different, side of Egyptian tourism is in evidence in Sharm el-Sheikh, at the very southern tip of the Sinai peninsula.
Founded as a holiday resort during the Israeli occupation in the 1970s, the proliferation of luxury hotels has been rapid in recent years, making it the main hub for Egypt's expansion as a global tourism destination. The warm, clear waters of the Red Sea ensure a perfect setting for world-class scuba-diving and water sports, and resorts such as the sprawling Jaz Mirabel offer an astoundingly high quality of accommodation. The centre of Sharm, as such, is Naama Bay, an intoxicatingly over-the-top array of streets, packed with garish bars and brightly lit shisha cafes and neon fast-food joints and flashy souvenir shops. It is tacky, gaudy and kitsch, and yes, it's also a lot of fun.
Yet it is the contrast between the azure blue water and the red, mountainous earth stretching north towards Mount Sinai that sets Sharm apart. The mountains that are home to the Bedouin look like ragged shark's teeth biting into the horizon, and this is echoed in the shape of the peninsula itself, a lone tooth at the top of the Red Sea. A trip into the desert to spend an evening with some Bedouin is a memorable and worthwhile experience, even if it's as stage-managed as any such interface with local life is likely to be. Once you leave Sharm behind, the terrain becomes barren and forbidding, with the odd gnarled acacia tree a tenacious reminder that life can survive here, and even flourish, even if occasional plastic bags, blown inland from the city, cling to the branches and encroach on the dusty earth.
Another example of intransigent desert life are camels, which are not just presented here for the benefit of our hungry cameras - far off in the distance, beyond the reach of the longest lens, families can be distinguished riding on camel-back, making their way home.
After the sun sets behind the ragged mountain tops, our Bedouin hosts treat us to some traditional cooking and music and dance, with some Coca-Cola to wash it all down. They pass around some herbal tea and a shisha pipe; it's cooler here, and the calm desert air and clear night sky is unimaginably tranquil. Rather incongruously, but perfectly in keeping with the two faces of Egypt, the evening also offers the opportunity to avail of the clear skies and look at the stars and planets through some GPS-enabled telescopes.
As we observe the brightest points in the night sky, so central to the mythology of the pharaohs' Egypt, we can hear the prayers of some of the Bedouin, prostrating themselves towards Mecca, the North Star over their shoulders. It is a final example of the contradictions and infinite variety that make Egypt so unique and so fascinating.
Where to stay
Iberotel Luxor, Khaled Ebn El Waleed St, Luxor, 00-20-95-2380925.
This hotel overlooks the Nile, and is minutes from Luxor Temple. It also boasts a swimming pool by the river, three restaurants and a bar.
Iberotel Makadi Saraya Resort, Madinat Makadi, Hurghada, Red Sea, 00-20-65-3590120.
Madinat Makadi is a large resort covering 2½ million square metres of desert area south of Hurghada on the Red Sea. It contains six hotels, plenty of swimming pools and a long beach with its own reef ideal for snorkelling.
Iberotel Palace, Sharm El Maya Bay, Sharm el-Sheikh, 00-20-69-3661111.
The hotel is located on its own sandy beach in Sharm el Maya Bay, a few minutes walk from the "old town" and about 10km from Naama Bay and 20km from the international airport.
Travel tips
The currency is the Egyptian pound - there are about 7.86 Egyptian pounds to the euro. A large proportion of visitors to Egypt will at some point succumb to a tummy bug, or "Pharaoh's revenge", as it's known. It can lay you low for a few days, so be very careful about hygiene, both when handling food and particularly the money, which can be so dirty and worn it looks like ancient papyrus manuscripts.
* Do not eat food purchased from food stalls, and drink bottled water only at all times.
* Bring antibacterial wipes, or handwash, with you and use liberally.
* Egypt gets hot, particularly in Luxor and Valley of the Kings, which are far from the coast - always use plenty of sunblock and wear a baseball cap or hat.
* To avoid the worst of the day's heat, most activities and excursions take place early in the morning, so you better be prepared to rise at dawn to get the most out of the day.
The summer programme runs from May until October 22nd, flying into both Luxor (combining Nile Cruise Red Sea Riviera options) and Sharm el-Sheikh.
The winter programme runs from November 1st to April 22nd, flying from Dublin to Sharm el-Sheikh.