Guest Book

Mara Celeste

"Two week stay with the good people at Mara House. These days it is skeleton crew keeping the place ticking over; so a little bit the feel of being on a ghost ship. Despite difficult times with very low bookings all over Luxor they manage to maintain good standards. In fact this time there was actually another guest in residence (first time I experienced this) for some of the time and thus a few late nights chatting over several beers in the bar.

I made a point of keeping to my usual routine, walking through the streets to the rail station then through the underpass and for short walk to Luxor temple or the Ferry port to cross over to the west bank for a days "work". I did more trips via Caleesh as they seem most in need of support and one can pay LE5-10 for quick hop to ferry or up the street. Saves a lot of sweat.

Among the excellent facilities at Mara House is the internet and ability to pay by debit card, something becoming less common in Luxor and which can make money management difficult. The bookshops seem to be good at taking plastic, including the rather well priced (with a bit of haggling) bookshop/giftshop in the Mummification museum.

I've a feeling Mara is passing on the baton for managing the hotel to her son John - much as I missed seeing Mara this time round I feel the place is in very safe and competent hands."