Ahlan, Arabic lovers! Have you ever been to Luxor? Yes, that Egyptian ancient city! The executive council of the World Tourism Organization مــنــظــمــة الــســيــاحــة الــعــالــمــيــة of the United Nations الأمم المتحدة has named Luxor earlier this month as the Capital of International Tourism عــاصــمــة الــســيــاحــة الــعــالــمــيــة for 2016. The city has been selected by the council to host the 104th meeting of the organization, which is scheduled for October 31 and November 1. Luxor will also host the fifth summit قــِــمــَّــة on city tourism, from November 1 to 3.
Luxor; Capital of International Tourism for 2016 image via cct-africa
The decisions القرارات were made during the 103rd session جــلــســة of the executive council of the World Tourism Organization, chaired by Egypt and held in Malaga, Spain, from May 9 to May 11. Twenty tourism ministers وزراء, delegations وفــود from more than 50 countries, and representatives مــُــمــَــثــلــيــن of over 500 travel agencies شــركــاتســيــاحــيــة and tourism organizations from 130 countries attended the 103 session of the council. Tourism Minister Mohamed Yehia Rashed مــحــمــد يــحــيــى راشــد chaired the meeting on May 11.
Luxor or Al-Uqsur الأقــصــر is a a city in Upper (Southern) Egypt and the capital of Luxor Governorate with a population of nearly 500,000 and 416 square kilometers. As the site of the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes طــيــبــة, the city has frequently been described as the ‘World’s greatest open-air museum’ ‘أكــبرمـتــحــف مــفــتــوح بــالــعــالــم’ because of the many temples and tombs that still stand within the modern city.
From the tomb of Tutankhamen مــقــبــرةتــوتعــنــخآمــون in the Valley of the Kingsواديالــمــلــوك to the Temple Of Hatshepsutمــعــبــدحــتــشــبــســوت and the magnificent sunset الــغــروب views at the majestic temple complexes of Karnak الــكــرنــك and Luxor to the exciting and fun Nile cruises نــزهــات, Luxor is the perfect choice for culture vultures.
Luxor is divided by the Nile نــهــر الــنــيــل into two areas commonly called the East Bank الــضــفــةالــشــرقــيــة and West Bank الــضــفــةالــغــربــيــة which were considered in Ancient Egyptian times as symbolizing respectively Life الــحــيــاة and Death الــمــوت.
While the East Bank has grown to become a modern city, it has retained its lush green setting, its traditional bazaar and stunning view of the Nile. The East Bank boasts some of Egypt’s most refined hotels, home to amazing Spa’s and a golf course.
The West Bank is known for its necropolis and mortuary temples: the Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the Queens, the Workers Village, and the Temple of Medinet Habu are the highlights of Luxor’s West Bank. In Ancient Egyptian mythology the setting sun to the west symbolized the journey to the afterlife, so it was fitting symbolism to bury the dead west of the Nile.
Sun الــشــمــس and warmth الــدفء all year round characterizes Luxor’s climate, the sun shines for 11 hours during summer and 8 during winter. Winter temperature averages around 26°C, in summer temperature reaches 39°C.
Well, I was born near the city of Rasheed or Rosetta, Egypt. Yes, the city where the Rosetta Stone was discovered. It is a small city on the north of Egypt where the Nile meets the Mediterranean. I am a Teacher of EFL.
