Luxor's historic Winter Palace Hotel

Luxor's Winter Palace Hotel is one of the world's oldest, most celebrated and most beautiful hotels. Built in 1886 on the eastern bank of the Nile, the hotel included a wing for King Farouk I who was partial to spending part of hiswinter holiday there. The hotel attracts dozens of celebrities from across the globe every year along with tens of thousands of tourists, where they revel in the serenity and charm and enjoy the views overlooking the temples of the Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs and the enigmatic mountains across the Nile. In 2010, the Permanent Committee of Islamic and Coptic Monuments agreed to add the Winter Palace Hotel and its attached buildings to the list of Islamic and Coptic monuments. This move was based on an academic report which highlighted the old palace's "historical and artistic value" and fears that it may be tampered with under the pretext of renovation and development. The Victorian-style hotel includes seven residential wings overlooking the Nile and a garden containing some rare trees in addition to tennis courts and swimming pools. The hotel is a hot spot for Egyptian politicians from the old and current regimes. Only a few days ago, US Ambassador to Cairo Anne Patterson completed a three-day stay at the hotel. Catherine Ashton, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy has also stayed at the hotel. Former President Mohammed Hosni Mubarak has also stayed there several times with his wife, Suzanne Mubarak, while former Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif spent his honeymoon with his second wife there.  The hotel also played host to a rally during President Mohammed Morsi's campaign and he stayed at the royal wing for some hours.