Welcome to the first of the Luxor4u Network Newsletters.  Each month we aim to bring you the latest news about what is happening in Luxor as well as developments and additions to the services offered by the Network

Luxor4u Network’s new office close to the Old Winter Palace is almost ready for opening.  Luxor4u has been dealing in property over the Internet for almost six years and has been looking for a suitable centrally placed property so that there can be more direct contact with clients. Now that search is over and we look forward to seeing you in person.  Our websites are being redesigned but are still under construction so please have patience with us until we can show our full range of properties, boats and tours. 

Luxor is joining the 21st Century and new shopping centres are being built with two new supermarkets in the middle of town. One is in Television Street and the other is in Hospital Street.  Omar’s Supermarket in Medina Street, Luxor's best known supermarket, has undergone a facelift and a clean-up and is now ready to compete with them.  The west bank has not had any large new supermarkets open which leaves Nagar Market as the cheapest and cleanest supermarket on that side of the river.

Luxor can boast of some excellent restaurants like The Lantern and a new Chinese restaurant called the Fortune Cookie has been opened in Medina Street by the owner of A Taste of India.  An old favourite like Snobs still offers good value and all the international fast food outlets are represented in the town. There is also a new hotel (shown below) on the west bank which has been created by joining two houses right on the river close to the ferry. This is a big investment and shows confidence in Luxor's tourist trade.

ACE, the main animal charity in Luxor is holding a pet photo competition to raise awareness of the relationship between people and animals and they are hoping to buy a mini bus to get more children to their education centre.  Along with AWOL they do an immense amount of work in educating local people in animal care; ACE work on the east bank and AWOL work on the west bank.  Little Stars, one of Luxor’s main children’s charities is also hoping to buy a mini bus this year to transport children from the villages to their new nursery school and girls to the new Training Centre.  It is a time of recession which has hit all charities hard but Upper Egypt is one of the poorest parts of Africa and all its charities are deserving of support. As both AWOL and Little Stars operate on the west bank they work in close co-operation with AWOL reporting incidences of extreme hardship to Little Stars so that help can be given.

Luxor4u Network in co-operation with LMS-Egypt has been asked to sell what is probably the most sumptuous boat on the river.  It is a five cabin dahabiya at present owned by one of Egypt's foremost families.  Also offered for sale is the wonderful steam ship Niagara, which has a very interesting history.  Not only was it once part of the Egyptian Royal Fleet but it was used as an ANZAC hospital ship during WWI. It can also offer 5* cruise boats and ocean-going liners.

Renovations in Luxor are still ongoing and the Avenue of Sphinxes that will once again join Luxor Temple to Karnak Temple is beginning to take shape.  A walkway is being built between the restored sphinx images and when it is completed it will be a wonderful tourist attraction. If you would like follow some the developments then a range of photographs is available on Luxor-on-Line which is an educational site begun by Charles Wood a respected Luxor historian.

Archaeological finds are still being made in Luxor with emphasis at the moment on the Assasif tombs.  A UNESCO conference is to be held in Luxor on October 2nd to discuss making Luxor into an open-air pharaonic museum.  Progress towards this aim started some years ago and recently the demolition of the houses on the Qurn caused controversy.  The disruption to lives of local people is lamented but many have been moved to far better accommodation than they had before.  However, as with the slum clearances in the 1960s in the UK, it has broken communities.  Let is all hope that the end result is worth the pain.

If you want advice on travelling to Luxor then look at Luxor Travel Tips or Trip Advisor, but if you are looking for a guide to each of Luxor's ancient monuments then just click on our Guide link or look in Ancient Luxor. If you value your nerves and your reputation you will stay away from the Luxor and Egypt related forums. They are not for the faint hearted as innocent questions can bring forth a torrent of abuse and should you be foolish enough to cross words with a regular contributor then you and your business will be verbally slaughtered. Libel laws are hard to apply to internet abuse and it is not that you might be abused, you will be abused. The vitriol of these forums is almost beyond belief as nothing is out of bounds in destroying a perceived interloper. Trip Advisor just gives advice and does not tolerate personal abuse so it is a far better and safer option.

If you have a news item that you would like to add to our newsletter then just email it to us at editor@Luxor4unetwork.com See you next month.

We aim to please.