LUXOR: Sporting dark sunglasses and holding hands, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his topmodel-turned-singer girlfriend Carla Bruni, arrived in Luxor Tuesday, kicking off a private visit to Egypt.
As the couple touched down in Luxor, heavy security prevented media from approaching Sarkozy’s entourage. Sameer Farag, head of Luxor’s Supreme Local Council of antiquities, greeted them on landing.
The couple were promptly whisked off in a convoy of Egyptian presidential security cars to Luxor’s famed Old Winter Palace hotel on the east bank of the Nile.
The two, wearing dark casual clothes in balmy Egyptian winter weather, turned to wave to a crowd of onlookers and media as they walked up to the hotel, appearing relaxed and at ease with the media attention.
Security was also stepped up around the hotel and at the three archaeological sites Sarkozy and Bruni were to visit later Tuesday – the Luxor Temple, the city’s museum and the Karnak Temple.
