EYEWITNESS TRAVEL

TOP 10
CAIRO & THE NILE
Pull-out
map and
guide

10
+
32
6

( '    )
+

Spectacular tombs & pyramids

6 +$ 5 , $  $ % '$ / .+$
$OWNTOWN 10
$6

7

/, 4 6 $5
0

%
+$

6+$5,$6+$5,)
$$
( ,1

$%'(/
&

0,'$1
6 + $ 5 , $    0 2+ $ 0 0
86

$/

021(,0
0XJDPPD 0867$)
,$

Incredible Nile cruises

 +

10
5,$'
7
$5

.$0(/
7RZQKRXVH
,$

648$5(
$5


6+

*DOOHU\ /
6+

%GYPTIAN 1,


0,'$1
0DVKUDEL\D 7$/$$7 $/

Must-see museums
&RVPRSROLWDQ


-USEUM *DOOHU\ +RWHO 10



5 +$5% 6
4 $ 6+ 6 +$5 , $  5 8 6 + '


5,$ $ 5 ,$
6+$ &DI« 6 $
,$

Milestones in Egyptology
%5<
5LFKH
10
$5

6+$ $ %
.,

5,$ 8 
$/$
)$ /$
6+

 0 .PIBNNFE
$ / %
8 6 7$
 $ /

1 /BHVJC
 6+$5 10 Thrilling outdoor activities
,$ 

$5,'

0,'$1 $77$ + 5 ,5
5

7$+5,5

10 Most fun places for children

10 Films set in Egypt
10 Best hotels for every budget
10 Restaurants, cafés, & coffee shops
10 Insider tips for every visitor

YOUR GUIDE TO THE 10 BEST OF EVERYTHING

 TOP 10
CAIRO &
THE NILE

ANDREW HUMPHREYS

EYEWITNESS TRAVEL
Contents

Left Smoking sheesha Centre Ibn Tulun Mosque, Cairo Right Tomb of Nakht, Tombs of the Nobles

Contents
Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10
Reproduced by Colourscan, Singapore
Cairo & the Nile’s Highlights 6
Printed and bound in China by
Leo Paper Products Ltd. The Egyptian Museum 8
First American Edition, 2009
10 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 The Pyramids of Giza 12
Published in the United States by
DK Publishing, 375 Hudson Street,
New York, New York 10014
Mosque of Al-Azhar 14
Copyright 2009 © Dorling
Kindersley Limited, London
Karnak 16
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under
copyright reserved above, no part of this publication Luxor Temple 20
may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by
any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
Temple of Hatshepsut 22
recording, or otherwise), without the prior written
permission of both the copyright owner and the Valley of the Kings 24
above publisher of this book.
Published in Great Britain by Dorling Kindersley Cruising the Nile 26
Limited.
A catalog record for this book is available from the Temple of Philae 28
Library of Congress.
ISSN 1479-344X
ISBN 978 0 75665 366 8
Abu Simbel 30
Within each Top 10 list in this book, no hierarchy of
quality or popularity is implied. All 10 are, in the Periods of Ancient
editor’s opinion, of roughly equal merit.
Egyptian History 34
Ancient Egyptian Culture
and Myths 36
Temples 38
Milestones in Egyptology 40

The information in this DK Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guide is checked regularly.

Every effort has been made to ensure that this book is as up-to-date as possible at the time of
going to press. Some details, however, such as telephone numbers, opening hours, prices,
gallery hanging arrangements and travel information are liable to change. The publishers
cannot accept responsibility for any consequences arising from the use of this book, nor for
any material on third party websites, and cannot guarantee that any website address in this
book will be a suitable source of travel information. We value the views and suggestions of
our readers very highly. Please write to: Publisher, DK Eyewitness Travel Guides,
Dorling Kindersley, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL.

Cover: Front – Photolibrary: age fotostock/Sylvain Grandadam main; DK Images: Rough Guides/Eddie Gerald
bl. Spine – DK Images: Eddie Gerald b. Back – DK Images: Eddie Gerald tc, tr; Jon Spaull tl.

2
 Contents
Left Temple of Philae Centre View of Islamic Cairo Right Luxor Temple

Moments in Post- Beyond Cairo 90

Pharaonic History 42 Luxor 98
Islamic Architecture 44 Aswan and Lake Nasser 108
Museums 46
Streetsmart
Films Set in Egypt 48
Planning Your Trip 116
Historic Hotels 52
Getting There and Around 117
Souvenirs 54
Practical Information 118
Children’s Attractions 56
Etiquette 119
Egyptian Dishes 58
Things to Avoid 120
Restaurants 60
Security and Health 121
Festivals and Events 62
Shopping and Eating Tips 122
Icons of Popular Culture 64
Cruise Tips 123
Entertainment 66
Places to Stay 124
Around Cairo & the Nile Cruise Ships 133
Central Cairo 70 General Index 134
Old Cairo 82 Phrase Book 142

Left The Sphinx, Giza Right Felucca sailing on the Nile

Key to abbreviations 3
Adm admission charge
 CAIRO &
THE NILE’S
TOP 10

CAIRO & THE NILE’S TOP 10

Cairo & the Nile’s
Highlights
6–7
The Egyptian Museum
8–11
The Pyramids of Giza
12–13
Mosque of Al-Azhar
14–15
Karnak
16–19
Luxor Temple
20–21
Temple of Hatshepsut
22–23
Valley of the Kings
24–25
Cruising the Nile
26–27
Temple of Philae
28–29
Abu Simbel
30–31
Top 10 of Everything
34–67
 Cairo & the Nile’s Highlights
The Nile is synonymous with Egypt. Almost the entire population of the
country is crammed onto the narrow fertile plain fringing the river. It was so
during the ancient Egyptian era, when the temples and cities of the pharaohs
Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

rarely strayed far from the life-sustaining area of the Nile’s banks. Today, the
best way to experience Egypt is to explore the Nile, from the awe-inspiring
Pyramids on the outskirts of the capital of Cairo in the north, to the
great temples in the far south of the country.

Egyptian
Museum !
This is one of the
world’s greatest
museums, not least for
the treasures in
the Tutankhamun
galleries, but for the
exhibits from every
period of ancient
Egyptian history. It has
The Pyramids of Giza been calculated that if a
@ The only survivor of the Seven visitor were to spend just
Wonders of the Ancient World, one minute at each item, it
the Great Pyramid and its two would take more than nine
companions are no less wondrous months to see everything
now than they were when they were (see pp8–11).
built four and a half millennia ago
(see pp12–13).

Mosque of Al-Azhar
In addition to the£
monuments of the pharaohs,
Egypt has an unrivalled wealth of
historic Islamic architecture
stretching back to the 7th century.
The Mosque of Al-Azhar in Cairo
is one of the jewels of this
heritage (see pp14–15).

$ Karnak
The mother of all ancient Egyptian temple
complexes, Karnak was the powerbase of
successive dynasties of pharaohs and the
priesthood at the zenith of ancient Egypt’s
military and artistic might (see pp16–19).

Luxor Temple
Once connected to %
Karnak by an avenue
of sphinxes, Luxor is
more modest in size
than Karnak, but was
built by two of the
greatest pharaohs,
Amenhotep III
and Ramses II
(see pp20–21).

6 Preceding pages Colossus of Ramses II, Abu Simbel

 .FEJUFSSBOFBO
/JMF
4FB
%FMUB
'XP\DW


3RUW6DLG
$OH[DQGULD .DIUDO
6KHLNK $O0DWDUL\D

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

'DPDQKXU $O0DQVXUD


7DQWD


=DJD]LJ ,VPDLOLD

%HQKD

^ Temple of Hatshepsut
Among the many monuments at
&$,52 
Luxor, the temple of Egypt’s only
female pharaoh, Hatshepsut, stands
6XH]
6DTTDUD out for its almost modernistic design of

-BLF
+HOZDQ ascending terraces (see pp22–3).
2BSVO

& Valley
Kings
of the


%HQL6XHI  The treasures are long

gone from the tombs of
the pharaohs, but it is


possible to descend the

dimly-lit passageways to


 underground chambers
decorated with vivid
0LQ\D
scenes from the afterlife
(see pp24–5).
&BTUFSO
%FTFSU

$O
4XVL\D $V\XW


6RKDJ
/J
MF

 Cruising the Nile
4XV
4HQD
When Cleopatra romanced *
Caesar she did so on a cruise
down the Nile. It remains the
/X[RU most romantic and enjoyable way
to view Egypt (see pp26–7).
(VQD

(GIX


.RP2PER

$VZDQ

) Abu Simbel
This is perhaps
8FTUFSO

%FTFSU
the temple that best
.DOÃEVKD
symbolizes the grandeur
of ancient Egypt. The


Sun Temple is carved

out of a mountainside Temple of Philae
and fronted by four
-BLF
/BTTFS A mix of Egyptian and (
towering colossi Roman elements characterize
of its builder, this temple complex sited on a
Ramses II picturesque island in the middle
(see pp30–31). of the Nile (see pp28–9).

7
 Egyptian Museum
All of ancient Egyptian history is here, from the earliest Pharaonic artefact
ever discovered to treasures from the era of Cleopatra, the last in a dynastic
sequence of divine kings and queens stretching over three millennia. It is said
Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

that the museum displays more than 120,000 items, with at least that many
again stored away out of sight in the basement. The real crowd pleasers are
the treasures from Tutankhamun’s tomb, but there are many hundreds of
other precious antiquities here of at least equal significance and beauty.

Top 10 Features
1 The Museum Building
£ Central Hall
The museum is on two
floors. On the lower floor
2 Auguste Mariette galleries are arranged in
3 Central Hall chronological order
4 Old Kingdom Galleries clockwise around a
5 New Kingdom Galleries central hall dedicated
6 Amarna Room to large statuary; this
Central hall
is also where you
7 Tutankhamun Galleries will find the
The museum fills up
8 The Royal Mummies Narmer Palette
fast and it is best to
arrive early to beat
9 Animal Mummies (see p10).
the worst of the 0 Ancient Egyptian
4 3
crowds. There is an Jewellery Rooms
extra charge to take
your camera inside.
! The Museum
Building
There is a café on Egypt’s first national
the ground floor museum of antiquities
overlooking the opened in 1863. It was
museum’s garden. rehoused in the current
pink, purpose-built premises
• Map F3 in 1902, which were
• Midan Tahrir, designed in Neo-Classical
Downtown, Cairo style by French architect
• 02 2578 2448 Marcel Dourgnon.
• Open 9am–6pm
• www.egyptsites.
wordpress.com
@ Auguste Mariette
The Egyptologist
• Adm £E60; Royal Mariette, who discovered
Mummy Room adm the Serapeum at Saqqara
£E100 (see p40), was the founder
of the first national
museum of antiquities
in Egypt. His sarcophagus
rests in the garden in
front of the Egyptian $ Old Kingdom
Galleries
Museum (below). Immediately to the left
of the entrance hall, these
galleries contain artefacts
from the era of the
Pyramid builders. Particularly
beautiful are three slate
triads each depicting
Menkaure, builder of the
smallest of the Giza
pyramids, flanked by two
goddesses (above).

8 For highlights of ancient Egyptian history see pp34–5

 % New Kingdom
Galleries ^ Amarna Room
Room 3 contains
This long gallery (see pieces from Amarna, the
exhibit left) is devoted to short-lived capital of the
the mightiest pharaohs, “heretic king” Akhenaten
including Tuthmosis III, (see pp35 & 107). The

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

Amenhotep II and king is characterized by a
Ramses II, during whose swollen belly, elongated
rules Egypt expanded its face and Mick Jagger-like
borders south into what full lips (below).
is now Sudan and north
to the Euphrates.
Key
Ground floor

First floor
7
6
0
5

& Tutankhamun
Galleries
Almost half of the upper
floor is devoted to some
of the vast number of
items excavated from
9 the tomb of Egypt’s
famed boy-king (left),
which range from
everyday items such
as gaming sets and
foot stools to the giant
8 gilded shrines and
sarcophagi that fitted
one inside the other
* The Royal
Mummies
like Russian dolls.

The desiccated bodies of

Goodbye Tut
some of Egypt’s mightiest
rulers are displayed in two ( Animal Mummies
The ancient Egyptians A new Grand Egyptian
rooms on the upper floor mummified animals as Museum is currently
of the museum. Of the well as people. This room under construction
eleven royals present, the on the upper floor of the close to the Pyramids.
most famous are Seti I museum is full of animal When finished in 2011
and his son Ramses II, mummies, from cats, it will house many of
whose colossi adorn a mice and fish to the items currently
great many monuments crocodiles, sacred to displayed at the
in Upper Egypt. the god Sobek. existing Egyptian
Museum, including
) Ancient Egyptian
Jewellery Rooms
the treasures of
Tutankhamun. The
These two rooms contain museum on Tahrir
dazzling examples of Square will remain
royal jewellery from the open to the public as a
New Kingdom period collection of highlights,
(left). Many of these offering an introduction
items were discovered in to the ancient Egyptian
1939 at Tanis, an ancient world of the pharaohs.
site in the Delta region.

Share your travel recommendations on traveldk.com 9

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

Left Statue of Ka-Aper Centre Detail of Tutankhamun’s Lion Throne Right Detail of Narmer Palette

Egyptian Museum Masterpieces

known as Menes) wearing the
White Crown of Upper Egypt and
on the reverse, wearing the Red
Crown of Lower Egypt. Historians
interpret this to represent the
unification of the two main tribes
of Egypt under one ruler, making
Narmer the founder of the
1st Dynasty and first king of
all Egypt. This is when ancient
Egypt started.

# Statue of Ka-Aper
Egyptian art is not usually
Statues of Prince Rahotep and Nofret associated with realism, but so
lifelike is this 5th-Dynasty

! Prince Rahotep and His

Wife Nofret
wooden statue of the plump
priest Ka-Aper that the workmen
Dominating Room 32 in the who discovered it at Saqqara in
Old Kingdom Galleries are the 1860 nicknamed him Sheikh al-
twin life-sized, limestone statues Balad (“Head of the Village”)
of two seated royals of the 4th because of the resemblance to
Dynasty. The pair lived four and their own headman. The eyes are
a half millennia ago, but the extraordinary and are
statues’ small details, such outlined in copper with
as the princess’s real whites of opaque quartz
fringe poking out from and rock crystals as pupils.
under her wig and her
elegant white dress, bring
them back to life. The $ Head of Nefertiti
The best-known bust
statues were discovered of Nefertiti is held by the
by the museum’s founder, Berlin Museum but the
Mariette, at Meidum unpainted quartzite
in 1871. sculpture displayed in the
Amarna Room of the

@ Narmer Palette Sculpture of the Egyptian Museum is also

Dating from 3,000 BC, head of Nefertiti a masterpiece. Although
the Narmer Palette has unfinished, it is a
been called the “first historical magnificent work and, in
document in the world”. It is a contrast to the almost grotesque
flat plate of greenish stone depictions of her husband,
carved with designs that on one Akhenaten, the queen is shown
side show King Narmer (also as a wholly human beauty.

10
% Statuette
(Cheops)
of Khufu peasants netting fish from a
boat, cattle being driven past
Ironically, the only portrait of scribes recording their number, a
the builder of the famed weaver’s workshop and marching
Great Pyramid at Giza, the platoons of soldiers of different

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

4th-Dynasty king, Khufu, is a ethnicities. Together they
tiny ivory statuette just 7 cm offer an invaluable insight
(3 inches) high. It depicts the into the daily life of the
king sitting on his throne humble ancient Egyptian.
wearing a long robe and the
crown of Lower Egypt and
was found in a temple at ( Mask of Thuya
Discovered in 1905, the
Abydos in Middle Egypt. It tomb of Yuya and Thuya (see
now sits on its own in a p40) has always been
cabinet in Room 37. overshadowed by the discovery
of the tomb of their great-

^ Tutankhamun’s Lion
Throne
grandson, Tutankhamun. It
contained many beautiful
There are around 1,700 funerary artefacts including a
items in the galleries A Middle striking funerary mask of
devoted to the treasures of Kingdom model gilded plaster with inlaid
Tutankhamun. It is easy to glass and quartz.
be overwhelmed, but don’t miss
the Lion Throne. Its wooden
frame is wrapped in sheets of ) Fayoum Portraits
In Room 14 on the first floor
gold and silver inlaid with are these life-like portraits dating
semiprecious stones, faïence from the period of Roman rule
and coloured glass. On the back in Egypt (30 BC–395 AD). They
of the throne the young king sits represent some of the world’s
under the rays of Aten (the sun) earliest portraiture. Painted on
in a style derived from Amarna. wooden boards during the
subject’s lifetime, they were at

& Tutankhamun’s Death

Mask
death laid over the face of the
mummified corpse before it was
In a museum full of magnificence, placed into its sarcophagus.
the life-sized gold death mask of
Tutankhamun remains the show
stopper and the most famous
example of ancient Egyptian
craftmanship. It originally covered
the head of the mummy and is
an idealized portrait of the pharaoh.
The gold of the headdress is
interspersed with lapis lazuli and
topped by a cobra that spits at
the pharaoh’s enemies.

* Middle Kingdom Models

Several rooms on the west
wing of the upper floor contain
finely detailed models from the
11th Dynasty. These include A Fayoum portrait

Some of these items may be transferred to the new Grand Egyptian 11

Museum currently under construction at Giza, due to open in 2011.
 The Pyramids of Giza
Despite centuries of study, the Pyramids remain a mystery. There’s their age:
we are closer in time to the era of Jesus Christ than he was to the Pyramids.
There’s their size: for 4,000 years the Great Pyramid remained the tallest man-
Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

made structure ever built. There’s the how: the Pyramids are precisely placed,
their sides aligning to true north with only 3/60th a degree of error, while
certain internal air shafts line up perfectly with celestial constellations. And, of
course, there’s the why: simple tombs for pharaohs or something much more?

Top 10 Features
1 Giza Plateau
2 The Sphinx
3 Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops)
4 Pyramid of Khafre (Chepren)
Sound and Light Show 5 Pyramid of Menkaure
Plan on spending at (Mycerinus)
least half a day at the 6 Solar Boat Museum
Pyramids, which are 7 Inside the Pyramids
best visited early in 8 Khafre’s Valley Temple
the morning before 9 Camel Rides
the heat and crowds
0 Sound and Light Show
become too
overwhelming.

There are plenty of

shops and cafés in
the small village
by the Sphinx.

• Map H2
• Sharia al-Ahram, Giza,
# Pyramid
(Cheops)
of Khufu

Giza Plateau
12 km (8 miles) SW of
Cairo • 02 3383 8823
! Around 2600 BC the Also known simply as the
Great Pyramid, this is the
rocky Giza plateau (above) tallest and oldest of the trio.
• Bus 800, 900 from
became the burial ground It was built during the reign
Midan Tahrir • Giza
(necropolis) for Memphis, of Khufu (2589–2566 BC)
Plateau open 8am–5pm;
then the capital of Egypt. In and originally stood 140 m
Pyramids open 8am–4pm
less than a century during (460 ft) and measured 230 m
(until 5pm in summer);
the Old Kingdom three (750 ft) along its base. These
Solar Boat Museum
successive generations built measurements are less
open 9am–4pm (until
the three great Pyramids now due to the removal of
5pm in summer); Sound
and associated structures. the outer casing of stone.
and Light Show: 6:30pm,
7:30pm, 8:30pm (1 hour
The Sphinx
later in summer) – as
schedules are subject to
Its age is a point of @
contention, but the
change, check at ticket
traditional view is that the
office near Sphinx,
Sphinx (right) was sculpted
www.soundandlight.
around 2500 BC by Khafre
com.eg • Giza Plateau
and that it is his face –
£E60; Solar Boat
now minus a nose – that
Museum £E50; Pyramid
fronts the leonine body. It
of Khufu £E100; Pyramid
also once had a beard, and
of Khafre £E35; Pyramid
parts of this are now in the
of Menkaure £E35
Egyptian Museum and
the British Museum.

12 Sign up for DK’s email newsletter on traveldk.com

$ Pyramid of Khafre
(Chephren) % Pyramid
Menkaure
of

Slightly smaller than (Mycerinus) 3

Khufu’s pyramid, the This pyramid’s base area
Pyramid of Khafre often is less than a quarter of
seems bigger by virtue of that of the other two, but 6

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

being sited on higher its temples are more 4
ground. Its summit retains elaborate. This is perhaps 2
the smooth limestone a sign of the waning 8 0
casing that originally power of the pharaoh as 5
covered the whole of well as a shift in priorities
the three pyramids. in funerary architecture.

^ Solar
Museum
Boat

A pod-shaped structure by
the Great Pyramid contains
a full-size ancient Egyptian
boat (above), recovered
from a pit sunk around
the pyramid. It may have
& Inside the
Pyramids
been intended to allow
the pharaoh to accompany
Entering the Pyramids the sun-god on his daily
involves ascending and journey across the
descending steeply- heavens, hence the name.
sloping, low-ceilinged
passageways, and is
not recommended for the Pyramid Evolution
claustrophobic. The first tombs were
( Camel Rides
Local entrepreneurs Khafre’s Valley
mastabas (low, flat-

offer camel rides near the * Temple

topped buildings). The
first pyramid, Djoser’s
Pyramids (above). The site Each pyramid was part of Stepped Pyramid at
is small enough that you a greater funerary complex Saqqara, was formed of
don’t need a ride but it can beginning with a valley six mastabas on top of
be fun. Be prepared to temple. The remains of each other. The first
haggle hard over the price. that of Khafre (below) are smooth-sided pyramid
near the Sphinx. (at Meidum on the edge
) Sound and
Light Show
of the Fayoum Oasis)
was achieved by filling
Every evening there are in the steps of a
three one-hour shows in stepped pyramid. The
which the history of next stage was purpose-
ancient Egypt is related built smooth-sided
by the “voice of the pyramids, prototyped
Sphinx” whilst lights play at Dahshur (see p91).
across the Pyramids.

13
 Mosque of Al-Azhar
Al-Azhar was founded in AD 970 as the city’s main mosque and centre
of learning and to this day its institutions remain central to religious and
political life in Egypt. Al-Azhar University is still one of the most revered
centres of learning in the Sunni Islamic world, although teaching has long
Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

since left the mosque and now takes place in several modern campuses
around the country. The mosque is a favourite venue for political
demonstrations, often of an anti-government nature, particularly following
noon prayers on a Friday.
Top 10 Features
1 Gate of the Barbers
2 The Madrassas
3 Courtyard
4 Prayer Hall
5 The Minarets
6 Midan al-Hussein
7 Khan al-Khalili
8 Beit Zeinab Khatoun and Beit
View from the courtyard al-Harawi
showing a minaret
9 Wikala of Al-Ghouri
Non-Muslims are 0 Mosque of Sayyidna
welcome to visit the al-Hussein
mosque but must be
dressed appropriately:
this means no shorts ! Gate of the Barbers
Entrance to the
or bare shoulders.
mosque is via a double-
Women must cover arched gate (below), dating
their hair with a scarf from the 15th century,
and everybody must where students traditionally
remove their shoes. had their heads shaved,

Avoid the mosque on

hence the name.
£ Courtyard
Al-Azhar Mosque
Friday afternoons has undergone a series
when the crowd is of enlargements and
often fired up by restorations throughout
political speeches. its history, and all styles
and periods of history
There are plenty are represented in its
of cafés and coffee
architecture. The courtyard
(sahn) is one of the oldest
shops in the nearby
parts (main image). Its arcades
Khan al-Khalili area.
are carried on salvaged
pre-Islamic columns.
• Map J4
• Sharia al-Azhar, The Madrassas
Al-Hussein district, Cairo Inside the main gate @
• Open 7:30am–7:30pm are two madrassas (places
Mon–Thur & Sun; 7:30– of religious study) dating
11am, 3–5pm Fri. Official from the early 14th century
tourist visiting times: (right). The madrassa on
9am–5pm; closed to the left is usually open and
visitors Fri noon prayers. has a beautiful ornate mihrab
(niche indicating the direction
of prayer towards Mecca).

14 For more on the etiquette of visiting mosques see p119

 . +

$ Prayer Hall $ 1 $
/ . +
$ / ,/
,
0
The large, carpeted 086
., 7
alabaster-pillared prayer
hall has five aisles and a 6+$
5 ,$ 6
$1$
6
' ,4
transept that runs directly ,<$

from the courtyard to the 6+$

5 ,$ $

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

$5
$ /$ =+ / $ =
mihrab (left). 6+ $5 ,$ 3 +$5

1 2
9 5
% The Minarets
Al-Azhar has five imposing minarets. 4
Its three main minarets overlooking the 8
courtyard date, from north to south, from
AD 1340, 1469 and 1510.
^ Midan al-Hussein
This square, on
the opposite side of
the main road from
Al-Azhar mosque, is a
major gathering place,
particularly during
holidays, feast days and
saints days (moulids).

& Khan al-Khalili

Adjacent to Al-Azhar is
Cairo’s main souq area,
Khan al-Khalili (above). Its
( Wikala of Al-Ghouri Beit Zeinab
Just west of Al-Azhar * Khatoun and
maze of narrow, medieval
alleyways is crammed
mosque is this 16th- Beit al-Harawi with small stalls and
century former merchants’ To the east of Al-Azhar shops selling spices,
hostel (wikala). The mosque are two restored perfumes, gold and silver.
beautifully restored Ottoman-era houses (beit),
structure now serves as showing the fine domestic
a cultural centre with architecture that once
City of Minarets
performances of music filled the city (below). The Cairo skyline bears
and dance. They are now used for a distinctive signature
hosting cultural events. composed of hundreds
Mosque of
) Sayyidna al-
of minarets. The most
beautiful of these,
Hussein largely dating from the
Just north of Al-Azhar is Mamluk period (1250–
the holiest mosque in 1517), have stonework
Egypt, which supposedly adorned with intricate
shelters one of the most decorative carving.
sacred relics of Islam – Many of the minarets
the head of Al-Hussein, can be climbed for
grandson of the Prophet superb views across
Mohammed. Non-Muslims the city rooftops.
are not allowed to enter.

15
 Karnak
Even more so than the Pyramids of Giza, Karnak is Egypt’s most important
Pharaonic site. Throughout the Middle and New Kingdom eras, when ancient
Egypt was at its pinnacle, Karnak was the country’s powerbase. It was the
Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

home of the gods and the seat of the pharaoh and the priestly ruling caste.
For over 1,300 years the complex was constantly expanded, and its scale is
immense, incorporating countless courts, halls and temples. Almost every
pharaoh of note has left their mark.

Top 10 Features
1 Avenue of Sphinxes
2 Precinct of Amun
3 Temple of Amun
4 Open-Air Museum
Pylon of the Temple 5 Temple of Khonsu
of Khonsu
6 Sacred Lake
Only a part of the 7 Cachette Court
vast site is accessible
8 Seventh and Eighth Pylons
to visitors and
9 Precinct of Montu
excavations are
still ongoing. 0 Sound and Light Show

There is little shade,

so be sure to wear
a hat and carry a
bottle of water.
Allow at least half
a day to explore,
if not longer.

There is a café by
the Sacred Lake
! Avenue of Sphinxes
The site is approached
selling tea, soft via a short avenue of
drinks and snacks. sphinxes (above) that
originally connected the
entrance pylon with a dock
• Map Z4
fed by a canal from the
• Sharia al-Karnak, 3 km
Nile. On the south side of
(2 miles) NE of Luxor
• Open 6am–5pm in
winter, 7am–6pm
Karnak is another partial
sphinx avenue, which once £ Temple of Amun
The heart of Karnak
connected with Luxor is the Temple of Amun
in summer
Temple (see pp20–21). (below), spanning thirteen
• General site adm £E65
centuries. The scale is vast,
• Open-Air Museum
adm £E25 (separate
ticket required, which
@ Precinct of Amun
The Karnak complex has
consisting of a succession
of pylons, courts, colonnades
three main compounds. The and chambers arranged along
must be bought before
grandest precinct, dedicated a central axis (see pp18–19).
entering the complex)
to Amun, lies at the centre,
• Sound and Light Show:
dominated by the huge
6:30pm, 7:45pm, 9pm,
Temple of Amun. It contains
10:15pm in winter; 8pm,
a Sacred Lake and a
9.15pm, 10:30pm,
series of pylons arranged
11:45pm in summer;
perpendicular to the main
£E100; www.soundand
temple. The pylons lead to
light.com.eg
the adjacent Precinct of Mut,
which is closed to visitors.

16 For more on the gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt see p37
 Open-Air 9
Museum $
Situated within the 4
Precinct of Amun, the
museum contains a fine
collection of statuary 3
1

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

(right) and monuments
7
discovered during an 6
excavation of the Third 2
Pylon of the Temple of 8
Amun. A separate ticket is
required for the museum. 5

% Temple of Khonsu
This small temple in ^ Sacred Lake
Priests purified
the Precinct of Amun, themselves in the holy
dedicated to the son of water of the Sacred Lake
Amun, was mostly built (below) before performing
by Ramses II and IV. rituals in the temple.
Next to it is a smaller Nearby is a giant stone
temple to Opet, the scarab of Khepri, god of
hippopotamus goddess. the dawning sun.

* Seventh and
Eighth Pylons & Cachette Court
The Cachette Court
A succession of courts gets its name from the
and pylons runs south discovery of a hoard of
from the Cachette Court. some 900 stone statues
The first of these, the here, the finest of which
Seventh Pylon, is are now in the Luxor and
ascribed to Tuthmosis III, Cairo museums.
and two partial colossi of
( Precinct of Montu
The warrior god Montu
him sit in the courtyard
beyond. The well-preserved The Theban Triad
was the god of Karnak. His Eighth Pylon was probably The three dominant
precinct, north of that of constructed during the Egyptian gods in the
Amun, contains temples reign of Hatshepsut. area of Thebes (modern-
to both Montu and Amun. day Luxor) were Amun,
Both temples are currently the all-powerful god to
closed to the public. whom Karnak is
dedicated, his consort
Sound and
Light Show ) Mut and their son
Khonsu. Together they
A dramatized history of form the Theban triad.
Karnak is related three Mut was said to swallow
times nightly with an the sun in the evening
accompanying light (sunset) and to give
show (right). It is viewed birth to it again in the
from a grandstand morning (sunrise).
beside the Sacred Lake.

Share your travel recommendations on traveldk.com 17

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

Left Carving inside the Great Festival Temple Right Wall carving on the Great Hypostyle Hall

Karnak: Temple of Amun

! First Pylon
The massive First Pylon makes
leads to a hall lined with pillars in
the form of Ramses III, the last
a suitably magnificent entrance pharaoh to wield any substantial
to Karnak. At 130 m (416 ft) in power in Egypt.
width, it is the largest pylon in
Egypt. Look up to the right and
in the doorjamb it is possible to
make out inscriptions of Karnak’s
vital statistics and the distances
to other temples in Upper Egypt,
carved by Napoleonic surveyors.

@ Shrine of Seti II
Immediately inside the First Temple of Ramses III
Pylon on the left is the Shrine
of Seti II. It is composed of three
small chapels for the placing of % Great Hypostyle Hall
Karnak’s stunning Hypostyle
the sacred barques (boats) of Hall is a forest of 134 immense
Amun, Mut and Khonsu. They columns, set out in rows. Each of
each have niches at the rear that the central 12 columns is 21 m
would once have contained (69 ft) tall and it takes six adults
statues of the deities. with outstretched arms to encircle
each column. The immense hall

# Colossus of Ramses II
Ramses II was the great
would originally have been roofed
and peopled with statues.
warrior pharaoh who built some
of ancient Egypt’s most
spectacular monuments, ^ Obelisks of Hatshepsut
Two rose-granite obelisks,
including the Ramesseum 27 m (89 ft) high were erected
(see p100) and the Sun by Hatshepsut. Only one
Temple at Abu Simbel (see stands, defaced and wrapped
pp30–31). His imposing around by a wall, an act of
pink-granite statue, with revenge by her long-
one of his daughters at his frustrated successor to the
feet, stands in front of the throne, Tuthmosis III. Smashed
Second Pylon. sections of the obelisk’s twin
lie around the temple.

$ Temple of Ramses III

This is a miniature
& Great Festival Temple
version of Ramses III’s grand Built by Tuthmosis III, the
temple at Medinat Habu Great Festival Temple has
(see p100). Two colossi Colossus of unusual tent pole-shaped
flank the entrance, which Ramses II columns whose capitals

18
 Key Pharaohs who
Ruled from Karnak
The Temple Priests
Ancient Egyptian priests, such as those of Karnak,
1 Tuthmosis I were known as “hem-netjer”, literally “servants of the
2 Hatshepsut god or goddess”, responsible for performing the daily

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

3 Tuthmosis III rituals that regulated the workings of the universe.
4 Amenhotep III The high priest was responsible for the honouring of
5 Tutankhamun the god within its shrine. Twice daily the “cult” statue
6 Horemheb was bathed and clothed before receiving offerings of
7 Ramses I food and drink. Incense was burnt and holy water from
8 Seti I the Sacred Lake scattered to show the purity of the
9 Ramses II offerings. Priests were not necessarily wholly religious –
0 Ramses III some were teachers; others attended to the economic
organization of the temple. Although the Temple of
Amun was the residence of the god, it also included
workshops, libraries and administrative areas.

Statue of Amun
The god Amun became
the most powerful of
gods during the New
Kingdom era when he
was depicted as a human. Relief depicting the god Thoth in the Temple of Amun

have blue and white chevrons. colonnades of several shrines

Saints painted on some columns dedicated to lesser gods. These
are evidence of the hall’s use as a were where the general populace,
church during early Christian times. who were excluded from the
Precinct of Amun, came to have

* Botanical Garden
On the east side of the Great
their petitions transmitted to
the great Theban gods via
Festival Temple is a roofless intermediary deities.
enclosure known as the Botanical
Garden for its painted reliefs of
plants and animals. Beside this is ) Lateran Obelisk
Behind the Hearing Ear
a small roofed chamber from the chapels is a pedestal on which
time of Alexander the Great, once stood Egypt’s tallest obelisk
who is shown in relief standing (31 m or 102 ft). It was completed
before Amun and other deities. in the reign of Tuthmosis IV. Some
1,700 years later the Byzantine

( Chapels of the Hearing Ear

Straddling the main temple’s
Emperor Constantius II (r. AD 337–
361) had the obelisk moved to
enclosure wall at the rear of the Rome, where it still stands in the
complex are the ruined halls and Piazza di San Giovanni in Laterano.

19
 Luxor Temple
Set close to the bank of the Nile and in the centre of the modern town, Luxor
Temple is quite literally unmissable. It is an elegant, compact complex, as unlike
Karnak, it is largely the work of a single pharaoh, Amenhotep III, with just a
Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

few additions made during the reign of Ramses II. The site was occupied by
a Roman camp in the 3rd century AD but was subsequently abandoned and
became engulfed in silt and sand on top of which a village was built. It
remained thus until the late 19th century when excavations began.

Top 10 Features
1 Avenue of Sphinxes
2 Obelisk
3 First Pylon
4 Court of Ramses II
5 Abu al-Haggag Mosque
6 Colonnade of Amenhotep III
7 Court of Amenhotep III
8 Hypostyle Hall
9 Roman Paintings
Obelisk in front of the 0 Inner Sanctum
main pylon

Impressive by day,
Luxor Temple is
also supremely
atmospheric by night
when it is beautifully
lit. Aim to visit late in
the afternoon, then
stay until dusk. £ First Pylon
The entrance is a 24-m
(79-ft) high pylon (main
There are no image), added by Ramses II,
refreshments sold on which serves as a poster for
site but water sellers his achievements. It is
congregate around
the entrance to the
! Avenue of Sphinxes
Leading to the temple
decorated with scenes of
his military triumphs, such
temple, and there are is a procession of sphinxes as the Battle of Qadesh.
(above) that once ran from
several cafés on the
Corniche nearby.
here to the Precinct of Mut
at Karnak. Almost all of this $ Court of Ramses II
Beyond the pylon, this
processional route remains court has a double row of
• Map Y2 deeply buried beneath the papyrus-bud columns,
• Corniche al-Nil, Luxor modern town. interspersed with more
• Open 6am–8pm (until statues of Ramses II (below).
9pm in summer)
• General site adm £E50 @ Obelisk
Standing before the
temple’s main pylon are
two seated colossi of
Ramses II and a pink
granite obelisk. The obelisk
was originally one of a pair
but the other was removed
in the early 19th century
and re-erected in the Place
de la Concorde, Paris, as a
gift to France.

20 For more information on the gods and goddesses of

ancient Egypt see p37
 0
9
% Abu al-Haggag
Mosque
8
Perched on top of the 7
colonnade of the Court
of Ramses is this much
rebuilt 13th-century mosque

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

(left) dedicated 6
to Luxor’s patron saint.
It is all that is left of the
village that was cleared
to reveal the temple in
4
the 1880s.

5
3 3
2
1
Colonnade of
^ Amenhotep III
Guarded by more giant
statues of Ramses II, the
original part of the
temple begins with a
majestic avenue of
14 columns (below). The
walls here depict the
annual Opet Festival.

* Hypostyle Hall
The southern side of & Court of
Amenhotep III
Amenhotep’s fine court This court is noted for its
merges into a hypostyle double rows of towering
hall with 32 more papyrus papyrus-bundle columns.
columns. Between the In 1989 a cache of
last two columns to the 22 New Kingdom statues
left of the central aisle is was discovered here, and
a Roman altar dedicated they are now on display The Opet Festival
to Emperor Constantine. in the Luxor Museum. Once a year during
the flood season,
Roman Paintings
Beyond the Hypostyle ( the Festival of Opet
celebrated the
Hall are a series of small pharaoh’s rebirth as
antechambers. In the first the son of Amun.
of these the Romans Images of the Theban
plastered over the Triad (see p17) were
Pharaonic reliefs, covering carried from Karnak on
them with imperial cult boats (barques) to
paintings (right). Luxor Temple. Luxor
stages a recreation
) Inner Sanctum
The heart of the temple is the Sanctuary of the
of the festival on
4th November each
Sacred Barque, where Amun’s barque ended its year, the anniversary of
journey from Karnak during the annual Opet Festival. the discovery of
Beyond this is a small damaged sanctuary that once Tutankhamun’s tomb.
housed a golden statue of Amun.

Sign up for DK’s email newsletter on traveldk.com 21

 Temple of Hatshepsut
This is the most intriguing of the temples and tombs on Luxor’s West Bank,
partly due to the breathtaking spectacle it presents – a series of sweeping
terraces set against a vertiginous mountain backdrop – and partly because
Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

the temple was built for the only woman to reign over Egypt as pharaoh.
When her husband Tuthmosis II died young, Hatshepsut became regent to
her step-son Tuthmosis III, later usurping him altogether to take the crown
for herself. She reigned from 1473 until 1458 BC.

Top 10 Features
1 Courtyard Approach
2 Courtyard Colonnade
3 Lower Terrace
4 Chapel of Anubis
5 Reliefs of Punt Expedition
6 Birth Colonnade
7 Chapel of Hathor
Head of Hatshepsut 8 Statues of Hatshepsut
9 Upper Terrace
The West Bank
0 Temple of Montuhotep
becomes extremely
hot and there is
hardly any shade at ! Courtyard Approach
Missing from the
Hatshepsut’s temple, reconstructed temple is the
so visit as early in avenue of sphinxes and the
the day as possible gardens planted with myrrh
when the sun is trees; only the stumps of
still low. two 3,500-year-old trees
remain near the site barriers.
There is a handful of
pricey stalls selling
water, soft drinks and
@ Courtyard
Colonnade £ Lower Terrace
Reached by a
biscuits near the The lowest of the temple’s processional ramp, the
entrance to the
colonnades depicts scenes Lower Terrace would, like
of fish and birds being the Courtyard below, once
temple site.
caught in nets and the have been planted with
queen’s two great obelisks trees. Vast and bare, the
• Map V2 being transported from interest for visitors now lies
• 2 km (1 mile) NE of Aswan to Karnak. in the colonnades at the
the West Bank ticket rear and their carved reliefs.
kiosk, Luxor
• Open 6am–5pm $ Chapel of Anubis
On the Lower Terrrace, this chapel has brightly
• General site adm £E35 coloured murals, including a relief of Tuthmosis III making
offerings to the sun god Ra-Harakhty (below).

22 For more information on the gods and goddesses of

ancient Egypt see p37
 08
Reliefs of 9
Punt Expedition % 7
Splendid reliefs (right)
depict Hatshepsut’s 5 6 4
journey on a trading
expedition to the Land

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

of Punt (present day
Somalia), meeting
with the king and 3
queen of Punt and
returning with
lavish goods.
2
1
Birth Colonnade
^ Scenes along the
Birth Colonnade delicately
portray the divine birth of
Hatshepsut, a sequence
designed to legitimize
the queen’s claim to
the throne.

& Chapel of Hathor

This chapel is noted
Statues of for its Hathor-headed
* Hatshepsut columns (above). At the
The columns of the portico back, there is a carved
around the Upper Terrace relief of Hathor in the
were decorated with form of a cow licking
statues of Hatshepsut Hatshepsut’s hand.
represented as a male king
with a beard (left). Most She Reigned
were destroyed but some
have been reconstructed.
When?
While having the
Upper Terrace outward appearance
On this level ( of a precise science,
(right), there are more much about Egyptology
reliefs, including is best guesswork.
oarsmen rowing the Precise dates of the
royal barque. At the Egyptian dynasties
rear is the Sanctuary and of individual
of Amun, dug into the reigns are still the
cliff behind the temple. subject of much
scholarly debate,

) Temple of Montuhotep
The prototype for Hatshepsut’s temple is the
and details such as
these can vary
earlier Temple of Montuhotep II, which lies in ruins quite significantly
immediately adjacent to the north. Montuhotep was between sources.
the first pharaoh to choose to be buried at Thebes.

23
 Valley of the Kings
During the greatest period of ancient Egyptian history almost every pharaoh
was buried here in tombs hewn into the rock and decorated with extraordinary art.
To date, 63 tombs have been discovered and there may still be more to come,
Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

making this the richest archaeological site on earth. The numbers assigned to
the tombs (given here in brackets) represent the order in which they were
discovered, but a better way to approach the valley is to visit the tombs in the
order in which they were constructed, as they are presented here. In this way it is
possible to witness the flowering and eventual decline of ancient Egyptian tomb art.
Top 10 Features
1 Tomb of Tuthmosis III (No.34)
2 Tomb of Amenhotep II (No.35)
3 Tomb of Tutankhamun (No.62)
4 Tomb of Horemheb (No.57)
View of the entrance to the 5 Tomb of Ramses I (No.16)
Valley of the Kings
6 Tomb of Seti I (No.17)
Make sure you 7 Tomb of Merneptah (No.8)
begin by dropping
8 Tomb of Ramses III (No.11)
into the Visitors’
9 Tomb of Ramses IV (No.2)
Centre, which has an
excellent scale model 0 Tomb of Ramses VI (No.9)
of the valley. Do not
get too ambitious:
half a dozen tombs is
usually about as
many as most people
can visit in one trip.
£ Tutankhamun (No.62)
This is a very small tomb
There is a basic café– (main image), but it is one of
restaurant selling the most visited thanks to
Tuthmosis III (No.34) the story of its discovery by
water, soft drinks
and snacks at the
! Tuthmosis III was one Howard Carter (see opposite).
entrance to the valley. of the first pharaohs to be All of the treasures have been
buried in the valley. His removed and visitors must
tomb is at the furthest end, be content with seeing the
• Map U2
burrowed high into the king’s mummy, which lies
• 2 km (1 mile) N of the
mountainside in an attempt inside a gilded coffin.
West Bank ticket kiosk,
to thwart thieves. The tomb
Luxor
decorations from this
• Open 6am–4pm (until
period are very crude, with
5pm in summer)
figures rendered as stick
• www.valleyofthekings.
people (above).
org
• For any three tombs
adm £E80; @ Amenhotep II (No.35)
This is one of the
Tutankhamun’s tomb
deepest tombs in the
adm £E100;
Tomb of Ramses VI
valley, with 90 steps
leading down to the various $ Horemheb (No.57)
The introduction of bas-
adm £E50
chambers. Amenhotep II relief in this tomb, in which
ruled immediately after figures are carved out before
Tuthmosis III and this painting, shows an advance
tomb has similarly basic in tomb art (above). Not all
wall paintings, as well as figures are finished and it is
containing Amenhotep’s fascinating to see the work in
sarcophagus. various stages of completion.

24
 9

7
0 3

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

2 4
Ramses I (No.16) 8 56
% Ramses I ruled only for a single year and his
tomb is correspondingly modest in size. It has the
shortest entrance corridor in the valley leading to a
small burial chamber. However, the colours of the
tomb paintings remain particularly vibrant (above).
1

^ Seti I (No.17)
If you visit only one
tomb, it should be this
one – the longest, deepest
and most lavishly decorated
tomb in the valley. The
vaulted burial chamber
boasts a beautiful ceiling,
showing the constellations
surrounded by a line-up
of deities (below).

* Ramses III (No.11) Merneptah (No.8)

This is also known as & One of the many
the “Tomb of the Harpists” sons of Ramses II,
after the bas-relief of two Merneptah’s tomb almost
musicians. Unusually for equals that of Seti I for
a royal tomb, its colourful grandeur. This is the first
reliefs include scenes of tomb in which the axis is
everyday Egyptian life. completely straight, Wonderful Things
terminating in a tomb Archaeologist Howard
( Ramses IV (No.2)
Ramses III was
chamber containing the
pharaoh’s magnificent
Carter had been digging
in the Valley of the Kings
the last of the great granite sarcophagus. for five seasons. His
pharaohs. The quality of backer Lord Carnarvon
the craftsmanship in the was on the point of
tomb of his successor is stopping the funding
noticeably poorer than when on 4 November
those that came before. 1922 Carter discovered
some steps. Three weeks
Ramses VI (No.9)
This tomb has very ) later the pair broke
through a second sealed
dense decoration (right), door that allowed Carter
representing sacred texts to peer through into an
and imagery, central to undisturbed tomb.
which is the voyage of Asked by Carnarvon if
the sun god Ra through he could see anything,
the underworld and his Carter replied, “Yes,
victorious reemergence wonderful things”.
in the morning.

For more information on the pharaohs of ancient Egypt 25

see pp34–5
 Cruising the Nile
After disembarking their ocean liner at Alexandria, the 19th-century tourist
would board a train for Cairo where they would hire a boat at the port of
Bulaq. They would then make their way in a leisurely fashion down the Nile
Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

stopping off at each archaeological site along the way. The journey would
take about 10 days, ending at Aswan, where a cataract rendered any further
progress south impossible. That same journey cannot be made today, but a
four- or seven-day cruise stopping at the major monuments of Upper
(southern) Egypt remains by far the best way to experience the country.

Top 10 Features
1 The Route
2 The Itinerary
3 The Boats
4 Feluccas
5 Steamers
A flotilla of feluccas on the
Nile at Luxor 6 Dahabiyyas
7 Life On Board
The number and
8 Life on the Nile
variety of boats is
overwhelming and it
9 Death on the Nile
is advisable to do 0 Cruising Lake Nasser
some research before
booking. Itineraries
are all the same and
the differences
between cruisers
are in the quality of
the facilities and
service on board.

All meals are usually

included in the cost
! The Route
Since the 1980s boats @ The Itinerary
As well as the sites at
of the package but no longer sail through Luxor and Aswan, cruises all
alcoholic drinks are Middle Egypt. All departures stop at Esna, Edfu and
put on a tab that has
are from Luxor, taking Kom Ombo, each of which
three days to reach Aswan has a Pharaonic temple.
to be settled at the
and then turning around to Full-day excursions are
end of the cruise.
make the return journey. typically offered to Abu
Simbel on Lake Nasser.
# The Boats
There are over 300 cruise boats on the Nile (below),
varying in size from those with just a handful of cabins to
vessels capable of carrying several hundred people. Nearly
all have air-conditioned cabins with en-suite bathrooms.

26 For more information on the temples of Esna, Edfu and

Kom Ombo see pp39 &107
 $ Feluccas
The cheapest way % Steamers
These were the boats
of sailing the Nile is to that cruised the Nile
charter one of the in the early years of the
small single-sailed 20th century. Now
boats that scud about meticulously restored,

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

the river (left). These they provide a more
are usually hired in characterful, though still
Aswan for a three-day, affordable, option than
two-night journey to the standard Nile cruiser.
Edfu. Sleeping
arrangements are a
blanket and you bring ^ Dahabiyyas
The most exclusive
your own provisions. option is a berth on a
dahabiyya (below), a
newly-built replica of the
twin-sail boat that used
to cruise the Nile in the
19th century. Each carries
between 5 and 20 people
in five-star comfort.

& Life On Board

Most cruise packages
include an Egyptologist,
who delivers lectures on
ancient Egyptian history
and acts as a guide on
visits to the monuments.
Life on the Nile Parties and folkloric
Part of the appeal * events are organized as
of a cruise is the evening entertainment.
opportunity to observe
rural life on the shores Thomas Cook
of the river (right) –
water buffalo bathing
& Son
in the shallows, villagers The popularization of
at work in the cane Nile cruising, and of
fields and an abundance mass tourism to Egypt,
of water birds. is largely due to John
Mason Cook, son of

( Death on the Nile

Agatha Christie’s ) Cruising
Nasser
Lake Thomas Cook. In the
1880s Cooks Ltd began
1937 murder mystery is As an alternative to the tours to Egypt and
recommended reading on Nile cruise, a number of invested heavily in the
a Nile cruise as it takes boats cruise Lake Nasser, country’s infrastructure
place on board a Nile sailing from moorings at and marketing. They had
steamer and at the the High Dam, south of a network of “tourist
Pharaonic sites of Upper Aswan, to the great stations” along the Nile
Egypt. It was written in Temple of Abu Simbel, offering conveniences
part during a stay at and stopping at several from hotels to post
Aswan’s Old Cataract little-visited desert offices to doctors.
Hotel (see pp53 &131). temples en route.

For more information on boats and cruise operators on 27

the Nile see p133
 Temple of Philae
Philae is the most picturesque of all Egypt’s temples, thanks to its site – it sits
on a Nile island reached by small motor launch. This Ptolemaic (Graeco-
Roman) era temple is devoted to Isis, whose cult was to survive into early
Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

Christian times. After the building of the Aswan Dam (1898–1902), the
island’s temples were submerged for a part of each year. With the building of
the High Dam (1969–71), the temples were relocated to nearby Agilika
Island, which was landscaped to match the original site.

Top 10 Features
1 Kiosk of Nectanebo
2 Colonnaded Courtyard
3 Temple of Isis
4 The Sanctuary
5 The Birth House
Tourist boat arriving at
Philae from Aswan 6 The Osiris Rooms
7 Hadrian’s Gate
If you are not
8 Temple of Hathor
travelling as part of
a group, you can
9 Kiosk of Trajan
negotiate a taxi or 0 Sound and Light Show
rent a bicycle from
Aswan to the Shallal
dock, which is where
the boats to Philae
depart from.

There is nowhere to
buy food and drink £ Temple of Isis
The centrepiece of Philae
on the island so, at is this beautiful, small temple
the very least, bring built over several hundred
bottled water. years by Ptolemaic and
Roman rulers (main image
• Map C5
• Agilika Island, S of
! Kiosk of Nectanebo
Boats drop visitors
and below). It is fronted by
an ancient Egyptian pylon
Aswan
at a double stairway that and two stone lions.
• Reached by taxi (or
leads up to the Kiosk of
bicycle) from Aswan
Nectanebo (above), a
• Open 7am–4pm (until
small structure erected
5pm in summer)
during the 4th century BC
• Sound and Light
that acts as a gateway
Show: 6:30pm, 7:30pm,
to the site.
8:30pm in winter;
8pm, 9:15pm, 10:30pm
in summer
@ Colonnaded
Courtyard
• www.soundandlight.
Beyond the kiosk is an
com.eg
elongated courtyard flanked
• General site adm £E50
by colonnades. The west
• Sound and Light Show
£E75
colonnade (to the left) has
columns on which every $ The Sanctuary
Beyond a second pylon,
capital is different and a a hypostyle hall leads to
rear wall punctuated by vestibules that culminate in
windows overlooking the the innermost holy sanctuary,
water. The east colonnade containing a stone pedestal
is interrupted by a series of that once supported the
ruined structures. goddess Isis’s barque.

28 The Graeco-Romans were also known as the Ptolemies, after

the founder of the dynasty, Ptolemy I
 % The Birth House
The colonnaded Birth 6
5
House (left) is where the
pharaohs legitimized
7 3
their rule as mortal
descendants of Horus by 8

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

taking part in rituals
celebrating the god’s 4
birth. At the bottom of
the rear wall are scenes 2 9
of Isis giving birth to
Horus in the marshes. 1

^ The Osiris Rooms

If the caretaker can be
persuaded to unlock the
way (with a tip), some
upper rooms with reliefs
depicting the resurrection
of Osiris after his
dismemberment by Seth
(see p37) can be visited.

& Hadrian’s Gate

West of the temple is
a small vestibule dedicated
by the Roman emperor,
inscribed with the date
24 August AD 394. Above
the lintel, Hadrian is
* Temple of Hathor
East of the main
depicted presenting
himself before a pantheon
building is a small, ruinous of ancient Egyptian deities.
temple, which still has
two columns topped with
Hathor heads, as well as The Cult of Isis
a fine relief depicting Isis was the goddess of
musicians with the dwarf magic, and no ancient
god Bess playing a harp. Egyptian cult lasted
longer or spread further

( Kiosk of Trajan
This imposing kiosk ) Sound
Show
and Light than hers. She became
identified with women,
(below) was built around Of all Egypt’s sound and sex and purity, and
AD 100 by the Roman light shows, the one at Isis worship spread
emperor Trajan and served Philae is the best (above). throughout the Roman
as a royal landing for the It consists of a one-hour empire, with her cult
temple. It combines floodlit tour through the temples appearing as
Roman architecture with ruins and is a highly far as what is now
Pharaonic detailing. atmospheric experience. Hungary. For the first
two centuries of
Christianity’s history,
Isis was Christianity’s
main rival. It is possible
that Christianity’s cult of
the Virgin was nurtured
as a way of winning
over Isis worshippers.

Share your travel recommendations on traveldk.com 29

 Abu Simbel
Carved out of a mountainside in the 13th century BC, Ramses II’s stupendous
Sun Temple at Abu Simbel was dedicated to three of Egypt’s pre-eminent
deities – Amun of Thebes, Ptah of Memphis and Ra-Harakhty of Heliopolis,
Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

but it is prinicipally a monument to the might of the pharaoh. Located at the

southernmost tip of ancient Egypt’s borders, the four colossal statues of
Ramses that front the temple gaze towards enemy territory as a warning to
any who might approach.

Top 10 Features
1 Lake Nasser
2 Visitors’ Centre
3 The Colossi
4 Statue of Ra-Harakhty
5 Hypostyle Hall Reliefs
6 Ramses Pillars
Entrance to the Temple 7 Inner Sanctuary
of Hathor
8 The Sun Ceremony
Abu Simbel is offered 9 Temple of Hathor
as an optional extra
0 Sound and Light Show
on most Nile cruises.
Alternatively, most
hotels in Aswan
organize excursions
by minibus, which
generally leave at
4:30am and return
on the same day.

There are plenty of

shops and cafés in
the town of ! Lake Nasser
Abu Simbel, a
Lake Nasser was
formed with the completion £ The Colossi
Ramses II had his
short walk from
of the High Dam in 1971. temple adorned with four
the temples. The water stretches south gigantic colossi fashioned
of the dam for nearly in his likeness (main image).
• Map B6 500 km (300 miles) into Each of the complete
• Lake Nasser, 280 km Sudan. With a surface area seated figures (one lost its
(174 miles) S of Aswan of 6,000 sq km (3,700 sq upper torso in an earthquake
• Site open 7am–4pm miles) the lake is the in 27 BC) is more than
(until 5pm in summer) world’s largest reservoir. 20 m (65 ft) in height.
• Sound and Light
Show: 7pm, 8pm,
9pm (1 hour later in @ Visitors’ Centre
Like Philae, the $ Statue of
Ra-Harakhty
summer) temples at Abu Above the entrance
• www.soundandlight. Simbel were rescued to the temple is a
com.eg from the rising statue of the
• General site adm £E90 waters of Lake falcon-headed sun
• Sound and Light Show Nasser. The Visitors’ god Ra-Harakhty
£E75 Centre contains an (left). At the top of
exhibition telling the temple are the
the story of the remains of a
move, with diagrams, frieze of baboons
photographs worshipping the
and models. rising sun.

30 For more information on Lake Nasser see pp108–13

 78

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

% Hypostyle Hall Reliefs
The southern wall of the Hypostyle Hall depicts
5
6
the Battle of Qadesh (c.1275 BC) (above), in which
the pharaoh leads his army in a defeat of the Hittites
on the River Orontes in what is now Syria. 3 343 3 9

^ Ramses Pillars
The Hypostyle Hall
has twin rows of four
pillars fronted by 10-m
(33-ft) statues of
Ramses in Osiride
form carrying crook
and flail (above).

& Inner Sanctuary

A second pillared hall
leads to a sanctuary at
( Temple of Hathor The Sun Ceremony
Beside the Sun Temple * The Sun Temple is
the rear of the temple,
where there are four
is a temple dedicated to aligned so that on statues representing
the goddess Hathor, built 22 February and Ptah, Ramses II, Amun-
by Ramses II to honour on 22 October every year Ra and Ra-Harakhty.
his wife Nefertari (below). (to commemorate
The façade alternates Ramses’ birthday and
colossi of the pharaoh coronation date, Rescue by
and his queen. Inside is a respectively), the first UNESCO
hypostyle hall with Hathor- rays of the rising sun In the 1960s, as the
headed pillars. illuminate the sanctuary rising waters of Lake
cult statues of Amun-Ra, Nasser threatened to
Ra-Harakhty and engulf the temples at
Ramses II, while Ptah Abu Simbel, UNESCO
stays in shadow. engineers cut them from
the mountain in sections
) Sound
Show
and Light and reassembled the
pieces to front an
Set to music, the show artificial mountain 210 m
at sundown includes (700 ft) behind and 65 m
projections onto the (213 ft) above their
temples showing how original position.
they once looked.

31
Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

Left Tuthmosis III Centre First Intermediate Period fresco Right Early Dynastic ivory carving

Periods of Ancient Egyptian History

! Early Dynastic Period
(3100–2890 BC)
kings. The weakening of
centralized power led to the
There is evidence of human establishment of local
activity in the Western dynasties, notably at
Desert as far back as Herakleopolis in the
8000 BC, but what we regard Fayoum Oasis and Thebes
as ancient Egypt began in in the south.
3100 BC with the unification
of Upper (southern) and
Lower (northern) Egypt by $ Middle Kingdom
(2055–1650 BC)
King Narmer (also known as The powerful warlord
Menes), who created a Montuhotep II conquered
capital at Memphis. the north to reunite the
Middle Kingdom country with Thebes

@ Old Kingdom
(2686–2181 BC)
statuette (modern-day Luxor) as its
new capital, which grew
Also known as the Age of into a major metropolis.
the Pyramids, successive Across the river, the first tombs
dynasties of kings raised a chain and funerary temples were
of pyramids, the greatest of constructed at the foot of the
which were the trio at Giza (see Theban Hills on the west bank
pp12–13). Subsequently, poor of the Nile.
harvests depleted the royal
coffers, which led to a decline in
royal power, signified by a %
Second Intermediate
Period (1650–1550 BC)
decrease in the size of pyramids. Migrants from lands north of
Egypt, referred to as Hyksos,

£ First Intermediate Period

(2181–2055 BC)
assumed control and allied with
Nubia to dominate southern
During this unstable period of Egypt. The country became
ancient Egyptian history there subject to intermittent civil war.
were numerous ephemeral

^ New Kingdom
(1550–1069 BC)
With the reunification of north
and south and the expulsion of
the Hyksos, Egypt entered a
Golden Age, expanding its rule
into Asia Minor and as far as the
Euphrates. Captured treasures
enriched the royal powerbase at
Karnak, seat of the mightiest
Old Kingdom relief with Egyptian scribes pharaohs including Ramses II.

34 Preceding pages Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir al-Bahri in Thebes

& Third Intermediate Period
(1069–715 BC)
Top 10 Kings and
Queens of
The New Kingdom gave way to
Ancient Egypt
four centuries of disunity and
foreign infiltration, with Egypt ! Narmer (c.3100 BC)

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

The king who started
again divided into north (ruled
30 dynasties of ancient
from Tanis in the Delta) and Egyptian royalty.
south (ruled by the priests of
Karnak) and subject to invasion
by Libyans and Nubians.
@ Djoser (2667–2648 BC)
Djoser’s architect Imhotep
built the Step Pyramid at
Saqqara, the world’s oldest
* The Late Period began with
Late Period (747–332 BC) stone monument.

the Assyrian invasion of

Egypt, followed by the
£ Khufu (2589–2566 BC)
A ruthless pharaoh, but
celebrated as the builder of
Persians in 525 BC.
the Great Pyramid at Giza.
The Persians ruled for
200 years interrupted
only by the short-lived $ Montuhotep II
(2055–2004 BC)
30th Dynasty of Reunited Egypt to initiate
the Middle Kingdom.
Egyptian pharaohs
(380–343 BC), the last
native rulers until the % Ahmose
(1550–1525 BC)
Revolution of 1952. Defeated the Hyksos to
reunite Egypt once again
and start the greatest period
( Graeco-Roman
Period (332–30 BC)
of Pharaonic history.

In 332 BC the
Macedonian king ^ Hatshepsut
(1473–1458 BC)
Alexander the Great Late Period Egypt’s only woman pharaoh
sarcophagus and builder of a striking
“liberated” Egypt
mortuary temple at Thebes.
from the Persians
and founded his new capital,
Alexandria, on the Mediterranean. & Tuthmosis III
(1479–1425 BC)
He was succeeded by his trusted A military genius whose
victories expanded the
general Ptolemy, who founded a
Egyptian empire to its
dynasty that ruled for 275 years furthest extents.
ending with the dramatic death
of the last of the Ptolemies,
Cleopatra VII, lover of Julius
* Akhenaten
(1352–1336 BC)
Labelled as the “Heretic
Caesar and Marc Antony.
King” due to his attempts
to embrace monotheism.

) After the Pharaohs

With the defeat and suicide
( Ramses II
of Cleopatra in 30 BC, Egypt (1279–1213 BC)
Ramses II’s 66-year reign saw
became part of the Roman
royal construction on a huge
empire. It remained under the scale, notably at Abu Simbel.
rule of Rome, followed by that of
Constantinople, capital of the
Eastern Roman empire, until the
) Cleopatra (51–30 BC)
Cleopatra VII’s death
brought to an end 3,070 years
arrival of conquering Arab
of ancient Egyptian history.
armies in AD 640.

For a note on the perils of dating ancient Egyptian 35

history see p23
Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

Left Temple of Dendara, near Qena Right Tomb painting of a scene from the Book of the Dead

Ancient Egyptian Culture and Myths

$ The Mortuary Temple
In addition to the local cult
temples, each pharaoh also built
a mortuary temple to serve as a
place where, following his death,
offerings could be made for his
soul. In the Old and Middle
Kingdoms the temples were
Cartonnage depicting the goddess Maat attached to tombs but by around
1500 BC the tombs were separate

! Religious Life
For the ancient Egyptians,
and hidden away to foil robbers.

the universe was composed of

dualities – fertile and barren, life % Burial Traditions
The ancient Egyptians
and death, order and chaos – believed in an eternal afterlife
held in a state of equilibrium by and they developed a complex
the goddess Maat. To maintain funerary cult aimed at
this balance they built enormous maintaining their life after death.
temples dedicated to the gods. This involved preserving the
body through a process of

@ Hieroglyphs
Hieroglyph means “sacred
mummification. The tombs of the
deceased were also stocked with
carved letter” and refers to the everything that might be needed
beautiful pictorial script in the afterlife.
used by the ancient
Egyptians. Hieroglyphs
can convey complex ^ Mummification
The earliest mummies
information. They can be were probably accidental.
read right to left, left to True mummification began
right or top to bottom. in the Fourth Dynasty.
Special priests first

£ The Cult Temple

At the cewntre of every
removed the internal
organs, which were stored
settlement was a cult in canopic jars, except for
temple. These temples Hieroglyphs the heart, which remained
served as a storehouse of in place to be weighed in
divine power, maintained by the the afterlife. Then the corpse was
priests. The temple was also an dried out and wrapped in linen.
economic and political centre
employing large numbers of
the local community and &
Tomb Paintings
As a guarantee against a
serving as a town hall, medical successful journey into the
centre and college. afterlife ritual images and texts

36
were used to decorate the tomb. Top 10 Gods and
These included scenes from the
Book of the Dead, which
Goddesses
contained instructions to help
the deceased to pass safely
! Amun
Powerful Theban deity

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

whose cult centre was at
through obstacles in the afterlife. Karnak. When combined with
Ra as Amun-Ra, he became

* Mythology
Ancient Egyptian religion
king of the gods.

was a complex belief system @ Anubis

Jackal-headed god of
involving a great number of embalmers and guardian of
deities originally based on aspects the Underworld.
of the natural world. Over time
different localities developed
many and varied myths relating
£ Hathor
Goddess of love, pleasure
and beauty, who is often
to their own deities. represented as a cow.

( The Creation Myth

In the beginning there was
$ Horus
Usually represented with
the head of a falcon, Horus is
nothing but the sea of chaos,
the god with whom all living
named Nun. Then Atum thought pharaohs were identified.
himself into being, sneezing to
create Shu and Tefnut. Shu and
Tefnut gave birth to two children:
% Isis
Daughter of Geb, god of
Geb, the earth, and Nut, the sky, the Earth, and of Nut, Isis is
the goddess of magic, whose
who in turn gave birth to the stars. cult centre was at Philae.

) Osiris and Isis

Osiris was murdered by his
^ Nut
Goddess of the sky and a
symbol of resurrection and
jealous brother Seth, who cut up
rebirth, Nut was pictured as
the body scattering it all over arched on her toes with her
Egypt. Osiris’s wife Isis collected fingertips over the earth.
up the pieces and put him back
together again as the first
mummy. Brought back to life,
& Osiris
God of the Underworld
who granted all life, including
Osiris became lord and judge the fertile flooding of the
of the dead. Nile River.

* Ra
Pre-eminent form of the
sun god, portrayed as a
falcon-headed figure with the
sun’s disc resting on his head.

( Seth
The god of the desert,
storms and chaos is depicted
with the head of an unknown
creature with a curved snout
and square ears.

) Thoth
Ibis-headed god of
wisdom and patron of scribes.
Tomb painting of the gods Osiris and Atum

Sign up for DK’s email newsletter on traveldk.com 37

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

Left Detail of a relief in Medinat Habu Right Temple of Seti I, Abydos

Temples
# Medinat Habu
Second in size to Karnak,
Medinat Habu was built by
Ramses III in Thebes. It is
dominated by the vast mortuary
temple of Ramses III, modelled
on Ramses II’s Ramesseum. The
complex also includes colourful
Statues of Ramses II as Osiris, Ramesseum reliefs and the remains of
Ramses’s royal paIace. Often

! Ramesseum
Ramses II, ruler of Egypt in
overlooked by tourists, this
magnificent and haunting structure
the 19th Dynasty, built his is definitely worth a visit (see p100).
mortuary temple, the
Ramesseum, on the west bank
of the Nile at Thebes as a $ Temple of Horus, Edfu
Situated between Luxor and
statement of his everlasting Aswan, the Temple of Horus at
greatness and to impress his Edfu dates from 237 BC, a time
subjects. Although there is very when Egypt was ruled by the
little left standing of the huge successors of Alexander the
complex, what remains is still Great. These rulers copied earlier
striking. It once had an 18-m temples, perfectly preserving the
(60-ft) high colossus of Ramses, architectural traditions of their
parts of which now lie scattered Pharaonic predecessors as can be
around the site (see p100). seen in this vast temple (see p107).

@ Temple of Seti I, Abydos

Built during Seti I’s reign
(1294–1279 BC), this is one of
the most intact temples in
Egypt and has some of the
finest decoration and bas-reliefs,
many of which have retained
their original colour. It is
situated in Abydos, which was
once a huge walled town and
the cult centre of Osiris (god of
the dead) and was regarded as
the holiest of Egyptian towns
in Pharaonic times. Due to its
distance from the main
tourist centres, it is a little
visited site (see p107). Temple of Horus at Edfu

38
 * Temple of Hatshepsut
Hatshepsut was Egypt’s
only female pharaoh and her
mortuary temple at Deir al-Bahri
in Thebes was designed by her

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

architect Senenmut in the
18th Dynasty. Partly hewn out of
rock, it rises from the desert
plain in a series of striking
terraces. It is extraordinary in
appearance and unlike any other
Detail of carved ceiling, Temple of Dendara surviving ancient Egyptian
structure (see pp22–3).

% Dendara
Due to its location a little
( Philae
off the normal tourist trail near Centre of the cult of Isis,
Qena, Dendara receives far Philae is a comparatively late
fewer visitors than it deserves. temple complex, dating from the
Like the temple at Edfu, the Graeco-Roman period. It is a
temple at Dendara dates from favourite with visitors thanks to a
the Graeco-Roman era. Dedicated beautiful location on its own
to the goddess Hathor, it is island in the Nile (see pp28–9).
remarkably well preserved and
imitates typical Pharaonic temple
architecture (see p107). ) Abu Simbel
Ramses II (1279–1213 BC)
built the spectacular Sun Temple

^ As well as being Egypt’s

Karnak at Abu Simbel. Due to the four
colossi carved in his image that
most magnificent temple front the temple, he is the most
complex, Karnak is also one of famous of all pharaohs, with
Egypt’s oldest Pharaonic sites. It the exception perhaps of
started with humble beginnings Tutankhamun (see pp30–31).
during the 11th Dynasty, and was
added to and expanded by every 4HQD

pharaoh over the course of 4XV


1,300 years until the 20th Dynasty.

It contains many different courts, /X[RU
halls and temples. At the heart of  %DUUDPL\DK
/
JMF
the vast complex lies the Temple


of Amun, dedicated to the king of 8FTUFSO
%FTFSU
6LOVLODK
-JCZBO

gods (see pp16–19).



& Luxor Temple

Begun by Amenhotep III in
$VZDQ

the 18th Dynasty and added to

.DOÃEVKD
by Ramses II in the 19th -BLF
/BTTFS
#VIBZSBU
/êŃJS

Dynasty, Luxor Temple is a



perfect example of ancient

Egyptian temple architecture. 7RVKND

Located in the centre of modern

Luxor town, it is easily
 NJMFT  LN 
accessible (see pp20–21).

39
Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

Engraving of Auguste Mariette’s discovery of the Serapeum at Saqqara

Milestones in Egyptology
the discovery of the Serapeum,
the burial place of the sacred
Apis bulls.

$ The Deir al-Bahri Cache

(1881)
The search for a stray goat led
Ahmed Abdel Rassul down a shaft
and into a chamber filled with
sarcophagi. He kept the find quiet
and for years his family leaked
antiquities onto the market. When
finally rumbled, officials took
Painting of Belzoni at a temple entrance possession of the cache, which
included the bodies of Ramses II

! The Great Belzoni

Born in Padua, Italy, Giovanni
and III and Tuthmosis I–III.

Battista Belzoni (1778–1823)

toured Europe as a circus % The Karnak Cachette
(1903)
strongman. Arriving in Egypt he Workmen excavating in front of
was employed by the British the Seventh Pylon at Karnak
consul to collect antiquities. He uncovered fragments of a colossal
discovered several tombs at statue of Seti I. As they removed
Thebes, including that of Seti I. these, other statues could be
seen. Some 751 items were

@ Decoding the Rosetta

Stone (1822)
eventually recovered, the largest
find of statues ever made.
Discovered in 1799, this
fragment from a large stele
contained a decree written in two ^ Yuya and Thuya (1905)
The first decade of the
hieroglyphic scripts and in Greek. 20th century was a bumper time
Through a comparison of the for discoveries in the Valley of
texts, Frenchman Jean-François the Kings, notably American
Champollion was able to decipher Theodore Davies’ discovery of
ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. the treasure-filled tomb of Yuya
and Thuya, the parents of Queen

£ Mariette and the

Serapeum (1851)
Tiye, wife of Amenhotep III.

Frenchman Auguste Mariette

was one of the first Egyptologists. & The Thutmose Gallery
(1912)
Spotting a half-buried sphinx at Archaeologists digging at Tell
Saqqara he commenced al-Amarna (see p107) found a
excavations that ultimately led to ruined house identified as

40
belonging to the sculptor Thutmose Top 10 Treasures
in the 14th century BC. It was
found to contain sculptures
Outside Egypt
carved in a variety of stones. ! The Rosetta Stone
Handed over by the French

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

to the British as a spoil of war
* The Tomb of Tutankhamun
(1922)
in 1801, this now resides in
the British Museum, London.
This is the greatest archaeological
find ever: a complete, undisturbed
burial of a New Kingdom pharaoh,
@ The Zodiac Ceiling
This ceiling from the
temple at Dendara is housed
containing treasures to fill a in the Louvre in Paris.
whole museum. For more on the
finding of the tomb see page 25.
£ Bust of Nefertiti
Discovered at Abydos, this
beautiful bust is displayed at
( The Luxor Statue Cache
(1989)
the Altes Museum in Berlin.

One of the greatest finds of

recent years was the discovery $ Sarcophagus of Seti I
Removed from the Valley
of a large group of statues of the Kings by Belzoni, this is
beneath a court at Luxor Temple. now at the John Soane’s
Museum in London.
Dating from the New Kingdom
era, these include some of the
finest examples of Pharaonic art % Temple of Dendur
Given to the USA in thanks
ever found. for its financial contribution to
the saving of Abu Simbel, this
is on display at the Metropolian
) Underwater Discoveries
off Alexandria (1990s–
Museum in New York.

present)
Since the early 1990s two teams
^ The Great Sphinx’s
Beard from Giza
of divers headed by two French Fragments are in both the
Egyptian Museum, Cairo and
archaeologists have been diving the British Museum, London.
off Alexandria. They have identified
stone blocks that once made up
the Pharos Lighthouse, one of
& Statue of Ramses II
The superb collection of
the lost Seven Wonders of Egyptology in Italy’s Turin
Museum includes a statue
the ancient world, and have of a youthful Ramses II.
discovered submerged antiquities
marking the site of what may
have been Cleopatra’s palace.
* Alabaster Statue of
King Pepi II
The Brooklyn Museum in New
York possesses an alabaster
statue of King Pepi II.

( Statue of Hemiunnu
This statue of the Great
Pyramid architect is held by
the Roemer–Pelizaeus Museum
in Hildesheim, Germany.

) Menkaure
Queen
and his

The Museum of Fine Arts in

Boston has a statue of the
pyramid builder and his queen.
Howard Carter at the coffin of Tutankhamun

Share your travel recommendations on traveldk.com 41

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

Suez Canal opening celebration, 1869

Moments in Post-Pharaonic History

! AD 323: The Christian Era
After the defeat of Cleopatra
power to seize control of Egypt
in 1250. Fearsome warriors
in 30 BC Egypt became a known for their horsemanship,
province of Rome. Following the Mamluks extended
the conversion of Emperor their rule as far north as
Constantine, Christianity Turkey. With the spoils
spread throughout the of war they endowed
empire and became the Cairo with a legacy of
official religion in Egypt in monumental architecture.
AD 323, where its followers
were known as Copts.
However, due to theological % 1516: The Ottomans
From their capital
differences, Copts were of Constantinople the
mercilessly persecuted by Bust of Emperor Ottoman Turks challenged
the imperial authorities. Constantine Mamluk power, scoring
a decisive victory in

@ 640: The Arrival of Islam

Following the teachings of
1516. The following year the
Ottomans entered Cairo to take
the Prophet Mohammed, the control of Egypt.
armies of Islam entered Egypt
and marched on the fortress of
Babylon-in-Egypt near Memphis ^ 1798: Napoleon’s Invasion
In 1798 an army led by
in AD 640. It surrendered and Napoleon Bonaparte invaded
beside it the Arabs founded the Egypt and scored a victory in
city of Fustat, forerunner of Cairo. the Battle of the Pyramids. This
was short-lived as Napoleon’s

£ 969: The Fatimids

Egypt became a province of
fleet was subsequently destroyed
in the Battle of the Nile by a British
a vast Islamic empire ruled first Navy led by Admiral Nelson.
from Damascus (by the Umayyad
Dynasty), then from Baghdad
(by the Abbasid Dynasty). In
AD 969 Egypt was seized by the
Fatimids from Tunisia. They built
a new walled city, which they
called Al-Qahira (“The Victorious”),
a name later corrupted by
European merchants to “Cairo”.

$ 1250: The Mamluks

Originally slaves brought
from the Caucasus to Egypt, the
Mamluks accumulated enough Painting depicting the Battle of the Pyramids

42
 Top 10 Rulers
of Egypt
! Amr ibn al-As
(c. 583–664)

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

The leader of the Islamic army
that conquered Egypt.

@ Salah ad-Din
(c. 1138–93)
Mohammed Ali Sultan of Egypt and conqueror
of Jerusalem, better known in
the west as Saladin.

& 1805: Mohammed Ali

Into the power vacuum left
£ Baybars (1223–77)
by the French stepped Mohammed A Mamluk ruler who
Ali, an Albanian mercenary, who ended the Crusader presence
in the Holy Land.
defeated forces of Ottomans and
Mamluks to seize control of Egypt
in 1805. Once in power, he sought $ Suleyman the Great
(1494–1566)
to modernize Egypt, promoting The greatest of Ottoman
industrialization and reform. rulers, whose domains also
included Egypt.

* 1882: The British in Egypt

The modernization of Egypt, % Mohammed
(1769–1849)
Ali

which included the introduction An Albanian mercenary who

of railways and the building of founded a ruling dynasty of
about 150 years, transforming
the Suez Canal in 1869, resulted Egypt from medieval state to
in huge national debt. In 1882 modern nation.
Egyptian army officers staged a
revolt. This was quashed by the
British army, which subsequently
^ Khedive Ismail
(1830–95)
A descendent of Mohammed
occupied the country. Ali who built a new, European-
style Cairo.

( 1952: Revolution
During the first half of the & King Farouk (1920–65)
This puppet king was
20th century Egyptian resentment
controlled by the British and
over British occupation grew. In sent into exile after the 1952
January 1952 on “Black Saturday” Revolution (see p65).
European businesses in Cairo
were torched by rampaging
mobs. On 23 July a group called
* Gamal Abdel Nasser
(1918–70)
A socialist president who took
the Free Officers, led by Gamal on the forces of Britain, France
Abdel Nasser, seized power in a and Israel in the Suez Crisis of
bloodless coup. 1956, and won (see p65).

) 1979: Peace with Israel ( Anwar Sadat (1918–81)

Sadat sued for peace with
Egypt fought Israel in 1948, Israel and was assassinated
1967 and 1973. The first two wars by Islamic extremists in 1981.
ended in Egyptian defeat, but in
1973 there were military gains,
paving the way for peace talks
) Hosni Mubarak (b.1928)
President after Sadat’s
death, Mubarak has held a
that ended in the signing of the firm grip on power ever since.
Camp David peace treaty in 1979.

43
Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

Left The Mamluk mosque of Sultan Hassan, Cairo Right Mashrabiya in Islamic Cairo

Islamic Architecture
! The Mosque
Egypt’s oldest mosque, the
Mosque of Amr (see p84), was
built in AD 640. Architectural
styles developed rapidly under
successive early Islamic dynasties
to peak under the Mamluks
(1250–1516), when craftsmen
from all over the Near East were
brought to Egypt to build for A mihrab with inlaid marble
vainglorious sultans, with often
remarkable results that rival
Europe’s great Gothic cathedrals. $ Domestic Architecture
Private houses (beit) owed
their design to climatic and social

@ One of the greatest

Domes and Minarets conditions. They were inward-
looking for privacy, with rooms
achievements of Cairo’s medieval arranged around a central
artisans was the decorative courtyard. Small windows, large
carving of stone surfaces, seen airy rooms, shady arcades,
at its best on the city’s myriad fountains and rooftop “wind
minarets and, particularly, its catchers” that channelled cool
domes. Developed under the breezes kept the houses cool.
Mamluks, the decoration of
domes became an increasingly
sophisticated art culminating in % Mashrabiya
These are wooden-lattice
mesmerizing interwoven patterns screens. Long before glass
of geometric and floral designs. became common, mashrabiya
was used to cover windows,

£ Madrassa
A madrassa is a Koranic
either externally or internally. The
screens allowed the women of
school, where law and theology the house to observe without
are taught. Historically, themselves being seen.
mosques and madrassas
have often been housed
in the same building. ^
Wikala
Also known as a
A mosque tends to caravanserai, this is the
incorporate teaching forerunner of the
rooms or has iwans – modern hotel. From
large arched spaces early Islamic times it
arranged around a provided lodgings to
central courtyard, the merchant caravans
in which lessons that brought goods
are given. The carved dome of a mosque to medieval Egypt.

44
& Sabil-Kuttab
Public fountains (sabils) are
Top 10 Islamic
Monuments
a typical element of Islamic
architecture – some no more
than a tap and a trough, some
! Mosque of Ibn Tulun
It is worth visiting this,

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

one of the oldest mosques
grand like the Sabil-Kuttab of in Egypt, for its unique
Abdel Rahman Katkhuda in Cairo minaret (see p84).
(see p87). The kuttab was an
open loggia or gallery where
teachings of the Koran took place.
@ Mosque of Al-Azhar
Egypt’s most important
mosque consists of a
catalogue of architectural

* Just like the pharaohs

Mausoelum styles, from the 10th to the
19th century (see pp14–15).
before them, Egypt’s medieval
sultans sought to glorify £ Beit al-Sihaymi
There are fine examples
themselves in death by building of mashrabiya in this former
funerary complexes of mosques merchant’s house (see p87).
and madrassas beside a domed
tomb chamber. Some of the best
examples of these are in Cairo’s
$ Mosque
Hassan
of Sultan

The courtyard of this majestic

Northern Cemetery (see p85). 13th-century mosque served
as a madrassa with four

( Inlaid Marble
Intricate designs using
soaring iwans (see p85).

different coloured pieces of % Mosque

Qaitbey
of Sultan
marble often decorate the walls This mosque in Cairo’s
or ceilings of Egypt’s mosques, Northern Cemetery has a very
madrassas and mausoleums, as fine carved stone dome.
well as the mihrab, the alcove-
like niche that indicates the ^ Gayer-Anderson
Museum
Muslims’ direction of prayer. This old house boasts
impressive mashrabiya-
screened galleries (see p46).

& Mosque
Pasha
of Suleyman

Beautiful inlaid marble and

woodwork can be seen in this
Ottoman mosque (see p86).

* Madrassa-Mausoleum
of Qalaoun
Brightly painted woodwork in a mosque Qalaoun’s great edifice has
some fine inlaid marble

) Woodwork
Wooden ceilings in the
decoration (see p87).

prayer halls of mosques were ( Wikala of Al-Ghouri

This is the most impressive
often carved with intricate wikala in Cairo (see p15).
geometric patterns and painted
in rich colours. Doors were also
often inlaid with pieces of ivory.
) Manial Palace
This 19th-century royal
Fine examples of this can be residence built in traditional
Islamic style has beautiful
seen at the Museum of Islamic painted ceilings (see p72).
Art in Cairo (see pp46 and 74).

45
Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

Left Egyptian Museum Right Coptic Museum

Museums
! Egyptian Museum, Cairo
Egypt’s principal museum
The rooms themselves are
exquisite and are decorated in
sits just off Cairo’s central a variety of styles, including
square, Midan Tahrir, and Turkish, Persian, Damascene
beside the Nile. Along with the and even Chinese. d Map H6
Pyramids, this is the city’s • Sharia Ibn Tulun • 02 2364 7822
must-see sight. You need to • Open 8am–4pm • Adm £E35
allow at least half a day to see
the highlights, which include
the treasures of Tutankhamun, # Museum
Cairo
of Islamic Art,

mummies of pharaohs and This museum, devoted to

three millennia’s worth of 7th–19th-century arts and crafts,
statues, but it is really worth holds some stunning exhibits,
returning for a second visit as many of which originate in the
there is too much to take in at mosques and old houses of
one go (see pp8–11). Cairo’s medieval quarters. There
are wonderful examples of huge

@ Gayer-Anderson
Museum, Cairo
carved doors, etched silverware,
mosaic floors and mashrabiya
Abutting the magnificent Ibn (wooden-lattice) screens, as well
Tulun Mosque (see p84), this as old Korans and manuscripts
unusual museum – named for its from around the Islamic world.
former owner, British Army Often overlooked by visitors, this
officer Major John Gayer- museum is definitely worth
Anderson – is composed of two seeing (see p74).
adjoining 16th-century houses
that were refurbished by the
major and filled with antiquities, $ Coptic Museum, Cairo
Treasures from the
artworks and Oriental artefacts. 300 years between the end
of the worship of pagan gods
and the birth of Islam are
displayed in this small two-
storey museum at the heart of
Coptic Cairo. Some exhibits
demonstrate the link between
the old gods of Egypt and early
Christianity, notably the
transformation of the ancient
Egyptian ankh symbol into the
cross. There are also finely
woven textiles on display, for
which the Copts were once
Bust of Nefertiti, Gayer-Anderson Museum famous (see p84).

46
 a painted Graeco-Roman mummy
and some green faïence panels
from the tomb of Djoser (see p94).

* Luxor Museum

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

Although this museum is far
smaller than Cairo’s Egyptian
Museum, the exhibits are better
displayed and labelled. Many
Funerary slab, Graeco-Roman Museum pieces were discovered locally
and mostly date from the New

% Graeco-Roman
Alexandria
Museum, Kingdom era, notably refined
statuary, treasures from
This revered museum exhibits a Tutankhamun’s tomb and some
fascinating collection relating to fascinating items from the reign
the Ptolemaic era – the three of Akhenaten (see p99).
centuries spanning around
300–30 BC, from the time of
Alexander the Great to Cleopatra. ( Mummification
Luxor
Museum,

It also has exhibits covering the This is a small museum devoted

Roman period up until the Arab to the subject of death and the
conquest in AD 640. Highlights afterlife. Exhibits explain the
include some superb mosaics processes of mummification and
and a giant Apis bull in basalt include tools used for the
from the time of Hadrian, found mummification process. Also
at the Serapeum, the site of displayed are the well-preserved
classical Alexandria’s main mummy of a 21st-Dynasty high
temple (see p95). priest of Amun, and a host of
mummified animals, as well as

^ Alexandria
Museum
National some painted coffins (see p99).

Inaugurated in 2003 and housed

in a villa that formerly contained
the US Consulate, this museum
combines chronologically
arranged collections from the
Pharaonic, Coptic and Islamic
periods. There are also some
19th-century examples of
glassware, weaponry and
jewellery, as well as a few items Ethnography room, Nubia Museum
of statuary recovered from the
seabed in recent times. All
exhibits are beautifully presented ) Nubia Museum, Aswan
The Nubians are a dark-
and well labelled (see p95). skinned people whose lands have
historically straddled the Egyptian–

& Imhotep Museum, Saqqara

Opened in 2006, this museum
Sudanese border. They have their
own distinctive arts and crafts and
displays finds from the site of architecture, as well as a millennia-
Saqqara. The prize exhibits include long history, all of which are
a coffin belonging to the architect celebrated in this purpose-built
for whom the museum is named, museum in Aswan (see p109).

Sign up for DK’s email newsletter on traveldk.com 47

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

Left Film version of Death on the Nile Right Poster for the lavish 1963 film, Cleopatra

Films Set in Egypt

! The Spy Who Loved Me
In this 1977 James Bond
1,000 crew members, and Taylor
was paid a then record-breaking
adventure the requisite foreign million-dollar fee.
exoticism appears in scenes at
the Pyramids, Cairo’s superb
Gayer-Anderson Museum and % The Mummy
The ancient Egyptian dead
Karnak. The magnificent temple can’t seem to stay still, judging
of Ramses II at Abu Simbel by the incredible number of
becomes the fictional field mummy movies. The best is still
headquarters of MI6 containing the poignant 1932 original with
M’s office, conference rooms Boris Karloff in the title role. It
and Q’s laboratory. was released just a decade after
the opening of the tomb of

@ Ruby Cairo
Largely ignored by cinema
Tutankhamun unleashed the
supposed “curse of the pharaoh”.
audiences, this 1993 film has
Four Weddings and a Funeral star
Andie MacDowell investigating ^ The English Patient
Much of the action in the
the mystery of her husband’s 1996 multi-Oscar-winning film is
death and enlisting the aid of set in Cairo and Egypt’s Western
dashing aid worker Liam Neeson. Desert, which was shot in Venice
But the real star is Cairo, where and Tunisia, respectively. The
much of the action takes place. central character of Count Laszlo
de Almásy is based on a real

£ Lawrence of Arabia
David Lean’s 1962 epic has
character, a Hungarian desert
explorer and spy for Germany
many scenes that are set in during World War II.
Egypt, which is where the real-
life Lawrence worked for a time,
at British Army HQ in Cairo.
Although all the Egyptian scenes
were actually shot in other
countries, they look authentic.

$ Cleopatra
As famous for the on-set
romance between its two stars,
Elizabeth Taylor and Richard
Burton, as for the on-screen story,
the 1963 “most expensive movie
ever made” almost bankrupted
20th Century Fox. It used
79 sets, 26,000 costumes and David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia

48 For stars of the Egyptian cinema see pp64–5

& The Yacoubian Building
Few Egyptian films ever get
Top 10 Egypt Must-
Reads
an international release, but after
being the biggest box office hit
of 2006 in Egypt, The Yacoubian
! The Cairo Trilogy
An epic work following the

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

fortunes of a family in 1930s
Building screened around the Cairo by Nobel Laureate
world. This is a fabulous tale of Naguib Mahfouz (see p64).
the intersecting lives of the
residents of an apartment block
in Downtown Cairo that doubles
@ The Map of Love
Novel by Anglo-Egyptian
Ahdaf Soueif, shortlisted for
as a deft and often scathing the Booker Prize in 1999.
critque of life in Egypt today.
£ The Cairo House
The fascinating story of a
* Indiana Jones and the
Raiders of the Lost Ark privileged Egyptian family
falling foul of the Revolution
The first, and best, of the Indiana by Samia Serageldin.
Jones films, released in 1981,
sees the whip-wielding
archaeologist on the trail of the
$ AtheThousand
Nile
Miles Up

Ark of the Covenant, which is Magnificent early travel writing

by Amelia Edwards, who in
discovered at the remains of 1873–4 sailed in a dahabiyya
Tanis, an ancient Egyptian capital from Cairo to Abu Simbel.
in the Delta region of Egypt.
Egypt: How A Lost
However, as often happens, all
of the scenes set in Egypt were
% Civilization Was
Rediscovered
actually shot in the studio or Informative account by
in Tunisia. Joyce Tyldesley of the
development of Egyptology.

( Death on the Nile

The 1978 big-screen ^ Moon Tiger
Booker Prize-winning
treatment of Christie’s murder novel by Penelope Lively
mystery didn’t stint on the about a doomed love affair in
budget, flying cast and crew to Egypt during World War II.
Egypt to film at Karnak, Abu
Simbel, the Pyramids and the & Taxi
Fictionalized short
Old Cataract hotel in Aswan. conversations with Cairo taxi
It looks luscious, with an all- drivers by Khaled al-Khamissi
star cast headed by Peter that paint a portrait of Egypt.
Ustinov struggling not to be
overshadowed by the scenery. * The Yacoubian
Building
Alaa Al-Aswany’s massive

) OSS 117: Cairo, Nest

of Spies
international bestseller and a
movie blockbuster (see left).
A hit French comedy that
screened worldwide in 2008 ( The Arabian
Nightmare
featuring OSS 117, a Gallic super- Bizarre fantasy set in the
spy, who is a cross between 007 Cairo of the Mamluks by
and Austin Powers. Set in 1955, British author Robert Irwin.
OS 117 is dispatched to Egypt
with a simple mission: “Make ) Death on the Nile
Agatha Christie’s best-
the Middle East safe.” Joyous known murder mystery.
nonsense ensues.

49
Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

Left Windsor Hotel, Cairo Right Cecil Hotel, Alexandria

Historic Hotels
! Shepheard’s Hotel, Cairo
Shepheard’s of Cairo was
headquarters of a government
department and the residence of
once the world’s most famous a Levantine magnate. It is now an
hotel. Founded in 1841, it was elegant Marriott hotel (see p125).
famed for its terrace, which
overlooked one of the city’s
busiest streets, and a clientele # Windsor Hotel, Cairo
Built in the early 20th
that ranged from royalty to Noël century, this has previously been
Coward and Lawrence of Arabia. a royal bathhouse and British
It was burnt down in the riots of officers’ club. As a hotel it
the Egyptian Revolution in 1952 passed into the hands of the
and is commemorated by a plaque current owners in the 1950s and
at the new Shepheard Hotel built not a thing has been changed
in 1957 on the Corniche. d Map since – furniture and fittings all
E4 • Corniche al-Nil, Cairo • 020 2792 remain the same, including what
1000 • www.shepheard-hotel.com is believed to be the oldest
working lift in Egypt (see p127).

@ Cairo Marriott
In 1869, when the French
$ Cosmopolitan, Cairo
Empress Eugénie visited Egypt This fine old Art Nouveau
for the opening of the Suez hotel is on a backstreet in central
Canal, she was accommodated Cairo with a lovely entranceway
in a specially constructed palace with original tiling and a revolving
set among extensive gardens. wooden door. The lobby boasts
This later became a hotel, stained glass and an old open lift.
then in turn a hospital, the There are original wooden floors,
dark wood furniture and curving
balconies, but the rooms are a
little unloved. The prices are
relatively cheap (see p126).

% Mena House Oberoi, Giza

A former royal hunting lodge
at the Pyramids was transformed
into a hotel by an English couple
in 1869. In its time it has hosted
every emperor, king and
president who has visited Egypt.
Franklin Roosevelt, Winston
Churchill and Chiang Kai-Shek
hammered out the final plans for
victory over Germany here
Cairo Marriott during World War II (see p125).

52 Preceding pages Interior view of the Tomb of Sennefer, Tombs of

the Nobles, Luxor
^ Cecil Hotel, Alexandria
Occupying a prime position
on Alexandria’s seafront with
sweeping views of the harbour,
the Cecil was built in 1929.

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

Author Somerset Maugham
stayed here, as did Winston
Churchill and Chicago gangster
Al Capone. The British Secret
Service kept a suite here for
their operations in World War II
and the hotel was immortalized
in Lawrence Durrell’s novels The
Alexandria Quartet (see p128).
Winter Palace, Luxor

& Across the square from the

Metropole, Alexandria

( Old Winter Palace, Luxor

Cecil, the Metropole also boasts a Built in 1886 on a prime site
great location and is of a similar fronting the Nile and facing the
vintage. Downstairs is the fine Theban Hills of the West Bank,
1920s Trianon Café, with high the Winter Palace’s heyday was
ceilings, original painted wall in 1922 when the world’s media
frescoes and a still popular flocked to Luxor in the wake of
patisserie section (see p128). the discovery of Tutankhamun’s
tomb. The hotel had to put up

* Al-Salamlek, Alexandria
At the extreme east of
tents in the garden to meet the
demand for beds (see p129).
Alexandria in Montazah is a
former royal summer residence
constructed in a Florentine style ) Old Cataract, Aswan
Built in 1899, the Old Cataract
and set in beautiful grounds by sits on a granite bluff overlooking
the sea. A modest outbuilding, a rocky stretch of the Nile – the
known as the Salamlek, has cataract for which the hotel is
been converted into a luxury named. It’s a spectacular view,
hotel, with rooms opulently enjoyed by writer Agatha Christie,
furnished in stylish period who stayed here on more than
fashion (see p128). one occasion (see p131).

Old Cataract, Aswan

Vote for your favourite hotel on traveldk.com 53

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

Left A glittering array of jewellery Right Colourful spices

Souvenirs
! Papyrus
The papyrus sold % Egyptian Cotton
Cotton as a crop was
throughout Egypt is actually introduced into Egypt in the
dried banana leaf, printed 19th century and almost ever
with designs copied from since Egypt has been renowned
ancient Egyptian tomb and for the quality of its cotton
temple paintings. It costs goods, especially sheets and
only a few Egyptian pounds. towels. Much of the best cotton
Real hand-painted papyrus is is exported and what you find
sold only at specialist galleries locally is often inferior. However,
such as Dr Ragab’s Papyrus certain shops at the malls and
Institute in Cairo (see p55). hotels sell top-quality goods.

@ Perfume
Egypt produces many Sheesha
^ Jewellery
Egyptians buy large
of the essences used by pipe quantities of gold and silver
international perfumiers. as traditionally many feel it’s
Undiluted essence can be bought safer than putting their money in
by the ounce in Cairo’s Khan al- the banks. Precious metals are
Khalili souq. Here shops sold by the gram in the souqs;
duplicate famous fragrances on with jewellery a percentage is
request or sell cheap imitations. then added to the price for the
You can also buy essential oils workmanship. A favourite
such as rose or jasmine. souvenir is a cartouche with
hieroglyphs.

£ Brass and Copperware

The souqs are full of stalls
& Carpets and Rugs
piled high with items made Unlike Turkey, Morocco or
locally, from brass candlesticks Iran, Egypt is not a major carpet-
and coffee sets to huge wagon making nation and the work is
wheel-sized copper trays and generally inferior to that in those
crescent moons for the tops of
minarets. Prices are very cheap,
although the quality does vary.

$ Sheesha Pipes
Every Egyptian coffee house
is filled with men smoking
sheesha pipes, the Middle
Eastern waterpipe. You’ll find
them in any souq, but the
greatest selection is found in
Cairo’s Khan al-Khalili (see p83). Beautifully patterned inlaid boxes

54 For tips on shopping see p122

 Top 10 Places
to Shop
! Khan al-Khalili
Cairo’s main souq, but

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

not a place to go if you like to
browse in peace (see p82).

@ Dr Ragab’s Papyrus
Institute
Art gallery in Cairo that sells
some of the best hand-painted
papyrus in Egypt. d Map D6
• Corniche al-Nil, Giza, Cairo

# Arcadia Mall
Cairo mall housing Heba
Linens that sells fine Egyptian
Alabaster trinkets and brass and copperware cotton goods (see p76).

countries. Rugs and tapestries

are woven from coarse wool or
$ Tentmakers’ Souq
Cairo’s only remaining
camel hair, typically in beige and covered market where you
can find beautiful handcrafted
brown. Colourful picture rugs appliqué work. d Map H4
depicting rural scenes are • Sharia al-Muizz li-Din Allah, Cairo
produced at the Ramses Wissa
Wassef Art Centre (see right). % Zamalek
A district of Cairo home to
several good jewellery and
* Spices
Spices are widely sold in the
homeware boutiques (see p72).

souqs. They are fresher and of

better quality than the packaged
^ Ramses Wissa Wassef
Art Centre
variety sold in the West, especially The handwoven, beautifully
crafted tapestries for sale
cinnamon, cumin and dukkah, here are unique works of art.
which is a blend of spices. d Map B2 • Harrania Village,
Saqqara Road, Al-Haram, Giza

( Pharaonic Memorabilia
The sheer number of & Attarine
A district in central
kitsch Pharaonic souvenirs is Alexandria renowned for its
overwhelming: alabaster pyramids; antique shops – just don’t
plastic replicas of Tutankhamun’s expect any bargains. d Map S2
death mask; Nefertiti dresses
and many others. It is possible * Aswan Souq
The best souq in Egypt
to find some attractive small- outside Cairo, especially for
scale reproductions of ancient spices (see p108).
Egyptian statuary, and the tiny
blue-painted scarabs are fun. ( At the Hotel
Prices are marked up but
quality is generally assured at
) Inlay Work
Among the most attractive
shops at the better hotels.

items produced in Egypt are

wooden boxes inlaid with slivers
) Onboard
Ship
Your Cruise

of bone, ivory or mother-of-pearl. Most cruise ships have a

small shop onboard with a
Hardwood backgammon boards cross-section of local goods.
are also often inlaid in this way.

For more on shopping in Cairo see p76 55

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

Left Al-Azhar Park Right Aquarium in the Fish Gardens

Children’s Attractions in Cairo

! Egyptian Museum
Children of all ages enjoy £ Fish Gardens
Officially known as the
this museum. Besides the Gabalaya Gardens, this is a small
Tutankhamun treasures, which public park on the island of
are always popular, children find Zamalek, adorned with tall palm
the Mummy Room fascinating, trees and grassy hillocks. The
and in particular the collection of hillocks cover cave-like rooms that
animal mummies that include contain large aquariums with fish
bandaged cats, monkeys and and turtles. d Map D2 • Sharia Geziret
even a crocodile. Youngsters also al-Wusta, Zamalek, Cairo • 02 2735 1606
enjoy the large collection of • Open 8:30am–4:40pm • Adm
Middle Kingdom models on the
first floor, which may look like
toys but were believed by the $ Al-Azhar Park
A well-tended modern park
ancient Egyptians to come to life on the eastern edge of the city,
in the afterlife (see pp8–11). Al-Azhar is very popular with
families and children, thanks to

@ Cairo Zoo
The zoo was founded in 1891
its wide-open spaces, grassy
hills and ornamental lake. There
and has a central feature of twin is an excellent children’s play
hills connected by a bridge area, which includes climbing
designed by Gustave Eiffel. A frames, walkways and swings,
maze of pathways loops around as well as cafés and snack
animal enclosures and it’s possible shops. d Map J4–5 • Sharia Salah
to take part in feeding sessions. Salem, Cairo • 02 2510 3868 • Open 9–
Avoid Fridays when it gets 2am in summer, 9am–midnight in winter
overcrowded. The First Residence • www.alazharpark.com • Adm
Mall across the road has a café
with good ice-creams. d Map K3
• Sharia al-Giza, Giza, Cairo • 02 3570 % Felucca Rides
Feluccas – the small boats
1552 • Open 8am–5pm • Adm with triangular-shaped sails –
can be hired by the hour from
landings just in front of the
Shepheard’s Hotel and the Four
Seasons Nile Plaza (see p125).
They seat eight people and cost
about £E50 per hour + £E10 tip,
although this is negotiable. Pack
a picnic and eat out on the river
while watching the sun go down
over the city. If the kids dip their
hands in the water, make sure
A goat in Cairo Zoo they wash them afterwards.

56
 ( DrVillage
Ragab’s Pharaonic

This educational theme park

recreates life in ancient Egypt
using about 100 actors. Board a

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

boat for a tour that includes
visits to ancient houses, a
temple and a walk-through
replica of Tutankhamun’s tomb
complete with treasure. Children
can have their photograph taken
in Pharaonic costume. There are
also several museums, as well
as a bazaar, playground and
An acrobat at the National Circus cafeteria. d Map K6 • 3 Sharia Bahr al-
Azam, Giza, Cairo • 02 35718675 • Open

^ Housed in a purpose-built
National Circus 9am–9pm in summer, 9am–6pm in winter
• www.pharaonicvillage.com • Adm
structure beside the Nile, the (6–10 yrs 20% reduction, under 6 yrs free)
circus operates year round. All
the performers are Egyptian and
include jugglers, acrobats, ) Dream Park
Egypt’s largest amusement
tightrope walkers, lion- and tiger- park is a 30-minute car journey
tamers, magicians and trained from central Cairo. It contains
dogs. The show lasts just over a large variety of fairground
two hours. d Map H1 • Sharia al-Nil, rides, including a roller coaster, a
Agouza, Cairo • Shows daily (except log flume ride, go-karts and
Wed) at 9pm (one hour earlier in bumper cars. In addition, it has
winter) • Adm the usual videogame arcades
and themed restaurant areas.

& Diwan Bookshop

Cairo’s best bookshop has
d Map H1 • Al-Wahat Road, 6th
October City, 20km (12 miles) SW of
a small but excellent dedicated central Cairo • 02 3855 3191 • www.
children’s section with books for dreamparkegypt.com • Adm
all ages in both English and
Arabic. Look out for titles that %XODT 3BNTFT
6 +$ 5 ,

. 4UBUJPO +
,6
are set in Egypt such as the   8 % 5 , 
-8/ /
*(
$ * $0

<

$

beautifully illustrated The Day of 5,

$
5

$
%(

6+
$/  $% '

72
5 1 , & + (    $/  1 , /

Ahmed’s Secret. The story follows .8 %5,   2

&
6+$
5,$
$ / 1

$/
Ahmed through the streets of 0,'$1  $= + $
6+$

0QFSB 7$+ 5 , 5 5
$6 6 (

5 , $ 

4BEBU
Cairo as he delivers butane gas

5 ,  ,*
5

$/ 4
$ 6 + $/


&2

6$/ ( 0

to customers (see p75).

0 .

$/$
$ / $$/

$/ $+

*DUGHQ
$
,
$5

&LW\


/J M F

6+ $V6D\\LGD

* Many children are just as

The Pyramids of Giza =HLQDE
$6
     $ % '       $ 1  1 $ 6 6 ( 5  

4BZZJEB
6 +$5,$
3 J WF S

5,

;FJOBC $
6+
6,

spellbound by the Pyramids as 6 + $5 ,$ 7$ 5

..

NP 0 $ * 5 $ $ /  8 , 4
(7

PLOHV <8 1
adults. The opportunity to go
+
/

$'
$ / 1 ,

,'
0

inside some pyramids and 6 + $ 5 ,$ 6 $/

+
/(

$ + 6 $
, & + ( 

(/
6+
    * $ 0$/

&LW\RI
:$
$5

descend the passageways to the

1

WKH'HDG
,$$

NP
&2 5 1

2OG&DLUR
,1$ / 6

PLOHV
buried chambers is particularly
5, $

.BS $
(JSHJT ' ,0
4$
+$

exciting, as well as the horse

<5$

,$ /
6 + $ 5   0 , 6 5  $
 6

and camel rides (see pp12–13).  NJMFT  LN 

57
Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

Left Fuul Centre Taamiya Right Mahalabiya

Egyptian Dishes
! Fuul
The most popular streetfood
snack in Egypt, fuul is a paste of
mashed black-eyed beans
flavoured with garlic and olive oil.
It is ladelled out of large copper
pots, often into pockets of pitta
bread and typically sold as an
inexpensive takeaway sandwich.
Creatively presented kofta and lamb kebabs

@ Taamiya
Another Egyptian streetfood
$ Shawarma
staple, known elsewhere as Like the Turkish doner kebab,
falafel, taamiya is made with shawarma is a large cone of
mashed fuul beans and parsley pressed lamb or chicken that is
(instead of chickpeas, which are rotated vertically in front of a
used elsewhere around the flame grill. As the meat is
Mediterranean). It is made in the cooked it is sliced off and mixed
shape of flat discs rather than on a griddle with chopped
round balls and is typically eaten tomato, onion and parsley before
as a sandwich with salad. being rolled in a large disc of
flatbread and wrapped in foil

£ Koshari
A mix of rice, brown lentils
to take away.

and macaroni topped with fried

onions and a spicy tomato sauce, % Kofta and Kebab
Flame-grilled chunks of lamb
koshari is normally eaten in (kebab) and spiced minced meat
dedicated koshari restaurants made into a sausage and grilled
that serve the dish exclusively. on a skewer (kofta) are a
favourite Egyptian meal. It is
typically eaten with a simple
chopped tomato and cucumber
salad and a disc of flatbread.

^ Molokhiya
Hard to like on first encounter,
this is a soup made from mallow
leaves. Green in colour, it has a
thick, viscous texture. Egyptians
eat it with meat such as rabbit or
lamb. Fatimid Sultan Hakim found
the dish so unappetizing that he
Koshari had it banned in the 11th century.

58
& Pigeon
A traditional delicacy,
Top 10 Egyptian
Drinks
pigeons (hamaam) are bred
throughout Egypt in conical
pigeon towers. They are stuffed
! Limoon
A refreshing summer drink

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

of squeezed lemon juice, water
with seasoned rice or, even and sugar, served with ice.
better, bulgur wheat (freek)
before being grilled or baked.
@ Sahlab
A winter drink made from
the starch in the ground bulb
* Desserts
Egyptian desserts are quite
of an orchid, mixed with milk,
sugar and rosewater, then
light. Mahalabiya is a delicate garnished with chopped
rosewater-flavoured ground rice pistachios and cinnamon.
dessert, topped with toasted
nuts and cinnamon. Um Ali is £ Karkade
A drink that can be served
similar to the English bread and either hot or cold, made from
butter pudding but is less soft the boiled, dried leaves of the
and spongy as it is made with hibiscus plant, with sugar
local dry breads. Roz bi laban is added to taste.
rice pudding, which is always
served cold. $ Yansoon
An anise tea said to be
effective against colds.

% Fresh Fruit Juices

Juice stalls are common
throughout Egypt, serving
juice from pomegranate or
orange to guava or mango.

^ Sugarcane Juice
Even more popular (it’s
cheaper) than fruit juice is
A selection of baklava sugarcane juice (asab). The
cane is ground up and served

( Baklava
Egyptians are big fans of the
as a milky green liquid.

sticky, syrup-drenched, nut-filled & Tea

Tea (shai) is served strong
filo pastries known collectively and extremely sweet. For
as baklava. There are numerous Western-style tea ask for “shai
different kinds such as konafa, lipton”, served in a teabag.
which has a cream base and a
crunchy vermicelli pastry crust * Coffee
Traditional qahwa (coffee)
and basbousa, made of semolina is a Turkish-style coffee,
pastry soaked in honey and served sweet. For Western
topped with hazelnuts. coffee ask for “nescaf”.

) Fiteer ( Stella
Local Egyptian beer, a low-
Fiteer is a light, flaky multi- strength lager, is called Stella.
layered bread made from dough
stretched paper thin and folded
several times. It is served stuffed
) Mineral Water
When asking for mineral
with minced meat or cheese or water it’s easiest just to use
the name of the biggest
just plain, brushed with samneh national brand, which is Baraka.
(ghee) or dusted with icing sugar.

Share your travel recommendations on traveldk.com 59

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

Left Le Steak, Cairo Centre White & Blue, Alexandria Right Abu al-Sid, Cairo

Restaurants
! Abu al-Sid, Cairo
It is often said that Egyptian # LeThereSteak, Cairo
are several restaurant
cooking is a domestic cuisine, boats moored on the Nile in
not especially suited to a high- Cairo, and one of the most
class restaurant. Abu al-Sid highly regarded is Le Pacha 1901.
proves otherwise. This is a very Its multiple decks contain a
fashionable restaurant, decorated variety of restaurants serving
in an Oriental style with hanging French, Moroccan and Egyptian
lamps and brass tables, which cuisine, but particularly good
has single-handedly made dining is Le Steak. Decorated in the
out on traditional delicacies Art Nouveau style of an early
fashionable. Specialities include 20th-century Parisian bistro,
stuffed pigeon and molokhiya this French restaurant serves
with rabbit (see p79). some of the best grilled meat
in Cairo (see p79).

$ Felfela, Cairo
A long-standing favourite
with tourists as well as locals,
Felfela specializes in inexpensive
Egyptian street fare served in
fun surroundings consisting of
tree-trunk tables, aquariums of
tropical fish and terrapins, and
twittering birds in cages. This is
Aqua at the Four Seasons Nile Plaza, Cairo the perfect restaurant to sample
traditional staples such as fuul,

@ Aqua at the Four Seasons

Nile Plaza, Cairo
taamiya and grilled pigeon. Try
the hosniya, which is fuul with
Much of the best dining in Egypt egg and cream baked in the
is at the many five-star hotels. oven (see p79).
Those that stand out are the Four
Seasons establishments,
particularly Cairo’s Four Seasons % Villa d’Este at the Conrad
International, Cairo
at the Nile Plaza (see p125), One of the finest and most
which boasts four excellent innovative restaurants in Cairo,
dining options, including Aqua, a Villa d’Este achieves a lovely
superb seafood restaurant with balance between formal elegance
splendid views of the Nile and an and relaxed comfort. The menu
excellent sushi bar. At the is Italian with a twist and the
entrance there is an impressive dishes are truly world-class. It is
aquarium with exotic, brightly- expensive, but you do get what
coloured fish (see p79). you pay for (see pp79 & 125).

60 For information on Egyptian dishes see pp58–9

 ( 1886 Restaurant at the
Old Winter Palace, Luxor
For all its many other attractions,
the restaurants in Luxor are
rarely particularly memorable.

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

The exception is in the dining
room of the grand Old Winter
Palace hotel, where French
classic dishes are served in
elegant olde-world surroundings.
Felfela, Cairo Watch the sun go down behind
the Valley of the Kings on the

^ LaTheBodega, Cairo
Bodega is a stylish
Nile-facing front terrace before
dinner. Formal dress must be
restaurant, bar and cocktail worn (see pp53 & 106).
lounge popular with Cairo’s city
slickers. Housed on the first floor
of a belle époque apartment ) 1902 Restaurant at the
Old Cataract, Aswan
block with high-ceilinged rooms, Like its near-neighbour Luxor,
the restaurant serves surprisingly Aswan offers few treats for
delicate Pacific fusion cooking, gourmets. Food is basic café fare
while the lounge menu revolves in most establishments. The
around well-prepared and exception is the house restaurant
impeccably fresh Mediterranean at the venerable Old Cataract
dishes (see p79). hotel. Here the menu is comprised
of excellent Continental

& White & Blue, Alexandria

Alexandria is renowned for
European standard fare and local
fish specialities. Best of all is
its many fine fish restaurants, the dining hall itself – a
but what makes this restaurant sumptuous Moorish fantasy with
particularly special is its location, red and white arches and fine
elevated above a small beach mashrabiya (see pp53 & 131).
and overlooking the fishing fleet
gathered in the harbour. The fare
is simple but very fresh and
satisfying. Guests choose their
own fish from a chiller cabinet
and wait while it’s fried, baked
or grilled. The entrance to the
restaurant is just opposite
Fort Qaitbey. d Map S1 • Greek Club,
Sharia Bahary • 03 480 2690 • £££££

* Al-Borg, Port Said

Al-Borg is a simple family
restaurant on the beach that
prepares only the freshest seafood,
including a great local variation on
bouillabaisse. The portions are
huge and prices are inexpensive.
d Map B1 • Sharia Tahr al-Bahr, Al-Arab
• 066 332 3442 • Closed dinner • ££££ 1902 Restaurant at the Old Cataract, Aswan

For a key to price categories see pp79 & 89 61

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

Left Pharaoh’s Rally Right The sun illuminating the statue of Ramses II at Abu Simbel

Festivals and Events

! Ramadan
Ramadan is the Islamic month # Pharaoh’s Rally
Taking place every October,
of fasting. During daylight hours this is a gruelling 12-day,
observant Muslims must not eat, 6,400-km (4,000-mile) motor
drink or smoke. The fast is broken vehicle race (including cars and
at sunset with iftar (breakfast), a motor bikes) through the Egyptian
meal usually enjoyed with all the desert, with the Pyramids as both
family. Although tempers can be starting and finishing point.
frayed during the day (especially Major car manufacturers and
when Ramadan falls during competitors come from all over
summer heat), it is a festive time the world to compete.
with many people out on the
streets until the early hours of the
morning. The celebrations peak $ Cairo International
Film Festival
with Eid al-Fitr, a three-day feast An often chaotic and
to mark Ramadan’s end. disorganized celebration of local
and international film takes place

@ Sun Festival of Ramses II

On 22 February and 22
in November or December every
year in various cinemas across
October every year, the sun the capital. It is usually attended
penetrates 55 m (180 ft) into the by a bevy of Arab world and
innermost chamber of the Sun international film stars. The
Temple of Ramses II at Abu festival is hugely popular with
Simbel. It illuminates three of local Egyptians because the
the quartet of statues of seated festival screenings’ censorship
gods that lie deep in the laws are relaxed and international
innermost chamber (see p31). films are screened uncut.

Worshippers praying during Ramadan at the Al-Azhar Mosque, Cairo

62
 * Moulid of Abu al-Haggag
This festival honours Luxor’s
patron saint, whose mosque sits
on top of Luxor Temple (see p21).
Giant floats travel through the

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

densely packed streets, and there
is drumming, ritualistic stick fights
and horse races. The moulid
occurs the month before Ramadan
and so the date changes each year.

( Cairo International
Book Fair
Taking place every January, this is
Celebrations of the Prophet’s Birthday the biggest cultural event on the
Egyptian calendar. Not only does

% The Prophet’s Birthday

Also known as the Moulid
it attract publishers, authors and
buyers from all over the world,
an-Nabi, this major holiday but crowds turn up for the events
celebrates the birth of the programme of talks, reading,
Prophet Mohammed. The streets debates and lectures, and for the
burst into colour and noise. Like many stalls selling everything
all Islamic holy days, it follows from DVDs to streetfood.
the Islamic calendar, which is
about 11 days shorter than the
Western calendar. As a result, ) International
Marathon
Luxor

Islamic holidays move forward Every February, when it is about

every year compared with the as cool as it ever gets in Upper
Western calendar. Egypt, this full marathon is held
on the West Bank at Luxor. The

^ Moulid of Al-Hussein
A moulid is a saint-
start and finishing point is the
Temple of Hatshepsut.
worshipping festival taking the
form of riotous street parties,
complete with chanting, dancing,
music, fairground rides and
sideshows. It lasts several days,
culminating in the Leyla Kebira,
meaning “Big Night”. One of the
largest is focused on the Mosque
of Al-Hussein in Islamic Cairo.

& Eid al-Adha

This is a commemoration of
Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice
his son as an act of obedience to
God. During the two-day holiday
Muslims slaughter a sheep or
goat and distribute the meat
among the poor. It is also a time
for visiting family and friends,
and for exchanging gifts. International Luxor Marathon

Sign up for DK’s email newsletter on traveldk.com 63

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

Left King Farouk Right Fifi Abdou

Icons of Popular Culture

! Umm Kulsum
It is impossible to overstate
servant who nevertheless
managed to produce more than
the significance of Umm Kulsum, 30 novels as well as many short
the Arab world’s greatest ever stories and plays. In 1988 he
singer. Until she retired in 1972, became the first and only Arab to
she was the voice of the nation win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
for more than 30 years, and
when she died in 1975 her
funeral in Cairo drew two million $ Abdel Halim Hafez
Dubbed the “Dark
mourners out onto the streets. Nightingale”, Hafez (1929–77), was
one of the most popular Egyptian

@ Fifi Abdou
This much loved national
singers and actors not only in
Egypt but throughout the Middle
icon is renowned for her cheeky East from the 1950s to the 1970s.
and earthy belly dancing Like Um Kolsum, his music is
routines. Now too old to dance, still played on the radio daily.
Abdou has forged a successful
career as a TV and film actress,
usually playing the role of a % Adel Imam
Possibly Egypt’s most popular
“woman of the people”. film and stage actor, Imam has
been a star on screen since the

£ Naguib Mahfouz
Arguably the greatest 20th-
early 1960s. He has appeared in
more than 100 films, primarily as
century writer of the Arab world, a comedian. He shows no sign
Mahfouz was a life-long civil of decline and continues to secure
major roles in box-office hits.

^ Egypt’s Awakening
Mahmoud Mokhtar (1891–
1934) is considered the father of
modern Egyptian sculpture. His
most iconic work, Egypt’s
Awakening, which depicts a
peasant woman lifting her veil
with one hand as she rests the
other on a sphinx, stands near
Cairo University in Giza.

& Gamal Abdel Nasser

Following Egypt’s Revolution
in 1952 (see p43), Nasser (1918–
70) became a figurehead not just
Naguib Mahfouz for Egypt and the Arab World,

64
but for many African nations Top 10 International
struggling to emerge from
decades of colonial rule. Although
Pyramids
his policies and achievements
are now subject to debate, he
! The
Paris
Louvre Pyramid,

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

Architect IM Pei’s startling
remains, nearly 40 years after 1989 reworked entrance to
his death, adored by millions. France’s major museum.

@ The Luxor, Las Vegas

A luxury hotel and casino
in the form of a vast black
pyramid, opened in 1993.

£ Raffles, Dubai
A pyramid-shaped hotel,
linked to an ancient Egypt-
themed shopping mall.

$ The New Great

Pyramid, Dessau
Not yet built, a huge pyramid
that will house the cremated
remains of millions in Germany.

Gamal Abdel Nasser

% Transamerica
San Francisco
Pyramid,

A landmark 1970s skyscraper

* The Pyramids
The pyramids are the most in the form of an elongated
48-storey pyramid.
recognizable symbols of Egypt
and, if a new law is passed, they
will stay confined to Egypt. In ^ The Bosnian Pyramid,
Visoko
2008 officials launched an attempt Not a pyramid apparently but “a
to make it illegal to produce a cruel hoax on an unsuspecting
public” according to debunkers.
replica or sell images of the
Pyramids outside Egypt.
& The Great American
Pyramid, Memphis,
Tennessee
( Omar Sharif
Possibly the only Egyptian A multi-purpose arena modelled
on the Great Pyramid at Giza.
other than Tutankhamun whose
face is instantly recognized around
the world, thanks to roles in * The Gympie Pyramid,
Queensland, Australia
major international films such as Built by ancient Egyptians,
Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and Incas or Italian immigrants –
the debate rages on!
Doctor Zhivago (1965), Sharif is
back in Egypt appearing on TV
and making Arabic-language films. ( Ryugyong
Pyongyang
Hotel,

An unfinished pyramidal hotel

in North Korea, labelled “The
) Crowned in 1937, Farouk was
King Farouk
Worst Building in the History
of Mankind”.
the last proper king of Egypt. His
reign was brought to an end by
the 1952 Revolution. He has
) Funerary Pyramids
Fashionable in the 18th–
remained a subject of fascination 19th centuries, one of the finest
pyramid mausoleums is at
largely for his marriages, his Blickling Park, Norfolk, England.
lavish lifestyle and corrupt regime.

65
Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

Left Cairo Opera House Centre A belly dancer entertains Right A cinema film poster

Entertainment
! Coffee Houses
Egypt’s traditional coffee $ Bars
Islam prohibits alcohol, but
houses (qahwa) are a million the choice of whether to observe
miles from Starbucks. The coffee this prohibition is left to the
comes in just two varieties – individual. Beer and wine are
with sugar and without – and is served in many restaurants, and
secondary to socializing, watching major cities have bars although
football, playing backgammon they tend to be hidden away
and smoking sheesha pipes. from the public gaze. Any tourist
They are the equivalent of the hotel will also have a bar.
English pub or French corner café.

@ Cinema % Arabic Music

Cairo’s Opera House (see
Egyptian cinema is the p75) and Alexandria’s Sayed
Hollywood of the Arab world, Darwish Theatre stage many live
producing hundreds of films performances of Arabic classical
each year. Egypt’s many cinemas music. In Islamic Cairo,
tend mostly to show local films, particularly during Ramadan,
but the multi-screen venues in there are often music evenings
the modern malls also show at the Wikala al-Ghouri and Beit
subtitled imports. Zeinab Khatoun (see pp14–15).

£ Belly Dancing
Most hotels in Egypt have a ^ Spectator Sports
Football reigns supreme in
nightclub at which belly dancers Egypt. Top teams in the domestic
perform. Pyramids Road (Sharia leagues are Zamalek and Al-Ahly,
al-Ahram), which runs from Giza both in Cairo. Games are played
to the Pyramids, also has many on Fridays and watched in coffee
nightclubs featuring belly dancing. houses throughout Egypt.

A captivating performance by whirling dervishes

66
 Top 10 Egyptian
Playlist
Kulsum Inta Omri
! Umm
A 45-minute track by the

Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10

Arab world’s greatest ever
singer (see p64).

@ Abdel Halim Hafez

Banat al-Yom
A soundtrack to old black and
A traditional coffee house
white movies starring Egypt’s
beloved crooner (see p64).

& Folkloric Performances

The most unusual and
£ Amr Diab Best Of
compelling folkloric performance The brightest Egyptian
is given by the Whirling Dervishes, pop talent of the last 20 years.
who can be seen at the Al-Ghouri Meshit
Complex in Cairo twice weekly $ Ruby
Wara Ehsasy
(see p87). Some hotels in Luxor Second album by the much
and Aswan put on folkloric shows. talked about young singer,
thanks to her provocative
lyrics and videos.
* Rock, Pop and Jazz
Al-Sawy Culture Wheel in
% Mohammed Mounir
Cairo has live music several Taam al-Bayoot
times a week by young, local Album by a ground-breaking
bands, and the Cairo Jazz Club singer, who combines Arabic
pop with his Nubian roots.
hosts regular live jazz (see p75).
Foreign cultural centres such as Yaho
the British Council and the ^ Hakim
Arabic shaabi (street-pop)
Alliance Française sometimes that launched the singer on
sponsor gigs, details of which can an international career.
be found in the local press.
& Ahmed
Zaqma
Adaweyah

( There’s a vibrant local art

Art Galleries One of the pioneers of the
shaabi sound, renowned for
mixing pop with social
scene in Cairo, with up to a
commentary: the title of this
dozen small galleries hosting album means “crowded”.
regularly changing and well
attended exhibitions. The best of
the galleries are Downtown and
* Ali Hassan Kuban
Walk Like a Nubian
in Zamalek (see p75). Nubian music isn’t listened to
much in Egypt but Kuban
(who died in 2001) enjoys a

) Sound and Light Shows

Every major site in Egypt
big international following.

presents a sound and light show

once the sun goes down. The
( Shaban Abdel Rahim
Ana Bakrah Israel
A former dry cleaner whose
monument is illuminated by political lyrics made him a
coloured floodlights while a huge star in the late 1990s.
recorded voice narrates snippets
Batwanese
of history and mythology. The
narration often leaves something
) Warda
Beek
A hugely loved and respected
to be desired but it’s worth grand dame of the pop scene.
revisiting the sites by moonlight.

Share your travel recommendations on traveldk.com 67

AROUND
CAIRO &
THE NILE
Central Cairo

CAIRO & THE NILE’S TOP 10

70–79
Old Cairo
82–89
Beyond Cairo
90–95
Luxor
98–107
Aswan and
Lake Nasser
108–113
Around Cairo – Central Cairo

Left View of Cairo Opera House from Rhoda Island Right Detail of the façade of the Manial Palace

Central Cairo

U NTIL THE MIDDLE OF THE 19TH CENTURY Cairo was a walled medieval
city, with a street plan largely unaltered since the time of the Fatimids
(see p42). This changed with the rule of Khedive Ismail (1863–79), who had
been educated in France and wanted to reshape his capital into a modern
and smart city similar to Paris. Rather than try to impose order on the
existing city, he created an entirely new city with tree-lined boulevards,
squares and fine European architecture on the flood plain between the
medieval walls and the Nile. This remains the heart of central Cairo and is,
for the most part, compact enough to explore on foot. Since then the city has
crossed the Nile to the
Sights west bank and spread
1 Egyptian Museum 6 Manial Palace all the way to the foot
2 Downtown 7 Beit as-Sennari of the Pyramids, as well
3 Cairo Opera House 8 Mahmoud Khalil as extending far to
Complex Museum
4 Cairo Tower 9 The Nile the north and the
5 Zamalek 0 The Pyramids south in a series
of modern suburbs.
5$ 8
 )$  $ %

, <$ 
*


, /0 ,
$/ $5,$

/ % 8 / $4
, $ $7
3 J WF S
/ J M F

'  +
6+

7, 5 6 + $5

6+
0(
$$

$5,$ +
:AMALEK  $ 6 6 $ $
%7 5 ,$ (6
6 +$
&251,&+(

, <$ $0 6

 3BNTFT 5 ,$ 5
6 +$ 4UBUJPO 6 +$
5 ,$ 0,'$15$06(6
  .VCBSBL
 -8
/< "ULAQ
6( 5


$0 %(
6

6+
5 72



$5
,$ &
$/1

$5 2

  .
,$&

8%5
6+ 5,

,  
6+$5,$

/27%(<

- 8 /
%
,/

.8

<    +
/BTTFS "UBCB (,6
/ *
*$0$

$, '

$
5 ,$
%
$5

+$
76
+

0,'$1 6
$7

5
/$%'

32

. 8 %5,  2&72%( 5  $7$%$

$
7$/

5,$
,$
$ /1 , /
$ / 1

6+ $ 5

6 +$
$5
6+

5,5
6+$5,$$77$+
,$
$66(5

0QFSB
4BEBU 0,'$1 .PIBNNFE
 $/


<

7$+5,5 /BHVJC
/ $ ,1


+ (

5, 
4
$6
$/ $ $
1,&

6+$5,$,5
$/0
$ 6 5 $

$77$+5
& 25

4BBE
$ / 4

$OQQI
/,*

;BHIMPVM
+$
F

'ARDENŽ#ITY
.
,$  
/JM

$/

!S 3AYYIDA
FS

, $
6+$5

5 :EINAB
3JW

!L -ANIAL 6+$

.8%5,$/*$0$$ 4BZZJEB
NP81,9(56,7 <%5,'*( ;FJOBC
PLOHV
 NJMFT  LN  Cairo Tower

70 Preceding pages Detail of columns of the temple at Kom Ombo,

near Aswan
! Egyptian Museum
Right at the heart of the £ Cairo Opera House
Complex
modern city, on Midan Tahrir Cairo’s original opera house
(Cairo’s main, traffic-choked was built in 1869 for the
square), is the country’s main opening of the Suez Canal

Around Cairo – Central Cairo

museum. It’s one of the top and was located Downtown
museums in the world, on what is still known as
thanks to an unequalled Midan Opera. It burnt to
collection of artefacts the ground in 1971 and it
from ancient Egypt, was only in 1988 that the
ranging from small pieces city finally got its new
of delicate jewellery to opera house, a stunning,
towering colossi of the modernist update on
pharaohs and the Islamic architecture,
Tutankhamun Galleries. designed and funded by
It is advisable to arrive the Japanese. It sits in
early to avoid the crowds A statue in front of the beautifully landscaped
and to allow as much Egyptian Museum grounds, which also
time as possible to see house the impressive
the exhibits (see pp8–11). Museum of Modern Egyptian
Art (see p75). d Map D–E4

@ Downtown
This is the 19th-century city
• Opera House: Sharia at-Tahrir, Gezira,
02 2739 0144, www.cairo opera.org
created by Ismail. It stretches • Museum of Modern Art: Cairo Opera
east of the Egyptian Museum House Grounds, Gezira, 02 2736 6667,
and is centred on two main open 9am–2pm, 5–10pm Tue–Sun,
intersecting streets: Sharia Talaat www.modernartmuseum.gov.eg, Adm
Harb and Sharia Qasr al-Nil. Both
are busy shopping streets, lined
with storefronts displaying gaudy $ Cairo Tower
For the best city views visit
clothing and shoes. Some of the this 1962 tower on the island of
architecture (see p73, Walk in Gezira, where a lift takes you
“Paris on the Nile”) is beautiful, 185m (610 ft) up to a viewing
much of it in an Italianate style, platform. The panorama stretches
but it is very dilapidated as in from the cliffs of the Muqattam
recent times all investment and Hills, which constrain the city’s
growth has been concentrated spread to the east, all the way
in the suburbs. west to the Pyramids, which
mark the point at which
Cairo meets the desert.
The best time to go up
the tower is at sunset,
when millions of lights
twinkle into life and the
evening call to prayer
sounds out below from
a thousand or more
mosques. d Map E4 •
Sharia Hadayek al-Zuhreya,
Gezira • 02 2736 5112 • Open
9am–1am in summer, 8am–
Midan Talaat Harb, Downtown midnight in winter • Adm

71
 % Zamalek
The island in the middle of
Garden City
South of Midan Tahrir, Garden City
the Nile, just across from central is one of the most tranquil parts
Cairo, is known as Gezira (which of central Cairo. It was created in
is the Arabic word for “island”). the early 20th century by the
Around Cairo – Central Cairo

Occupying its northern half is the British as a garden suburb with

smart neighbourhood of Zamalek. curving, tree-lined streets meant
It has always been an enclave to evoke the country lanes of
England. It is home to several
enjoyed by privileged European
embassies, including the British,
residents and wealthy Egyptian Canadian and American.
families. The main street, Sharia
26th July, is the location of the
city’s best pizza restaurant, Maison
Thomas (see p78); the only real & Beit as-Sennari
This 18th-century townhouse
Continental-style café, Simonds was taken over by Napoleon after
(see p78); the best bookshop, his invasion of Egypt in 1798 and
Diwan (see p75); and, in the back housed many of his artists during
streets, countless small fashion the occupation. It now serves as
boutiques and galleries. a centre for research of applied
arts from Pharaonic times to the
present day, and has displays of
handicrafts, glass, pottery and
textiles by local artists. d Map G5
• Harat Monge, off Sharia Khayrat • 02
2591 3391 • Open 9am–5pm Sat–Wed

* Mahmoud Khalil Museum

Mohammed Mahmoud Khalil
(1876–1953) was a politician and
patron of the arts. He bequeathed
View of a street in Zamalek his grand riverside home and the
superb collection of sculpture

^ Manial Palace
The other island in the centre
and mostly French Impressionist
and Post-Impressionist paintings
of the Nile, a little way south of it contained to the state. Here
Gezira, is Rhoda, worth visiting hang works by Corot, Ingres,
for the Manial Palace, which sits Millet, Monet, Pissaro, Toulouse-
near the northern tip. Built by Lautrec and Sisley. d Map D5
Prince Mohammed Ali, uncle of • 1 Sharia Kafour, off Sharia al-Giza,
King Farouk, between 1899 and Dokki • 02 3748 2142 • Open 10am–6pm
1929, it is a monument to excess Tue–Sun • www.mkm.gov.eg • Adm
and eccentric taste. Five pavilions
are decorated in a variety of
Islamic styles, including Moorish,
Ottoman Turkish, Persian and
Syrian. There is also a grotesque
hunting museum that features
hundreds of mounted ibex heads,
as well as a hermaphrodite goat.
d Map E6 • Sharia al-Saray, Rhoda
• 02 2368 7495 • Closed for renovation.
Due to reopen May 2010 • Adm Mahmoud Khalil Museum

72
 A Morning Walk in
“Paris on the Nile”
Beginning your walk at
Midan Tahrir, walk north
up Sharia Talaat Harb and

Around Cairo – Central Cairo

stop at Felfela Takeaway
(No. 15) (see p78) for a
breakfast of fuul sandwiches.
Ahead is Midan Talaat
Harb, named for the
nationalist banker whose
statue stands in the
middle of the square.
Here on the left-hand
side, golden Art Nouveau
mosaics glitter around the
entrance of Groppi, a
Pedestrian promenade by the Nile patisserie and chocolatier
in business on this site
since 1925. Continue up
( The Nile
The Nile is the heart of Cairo,
Sharia Talaat Harb, passing
on the right El Abd bakery
bisecting the city. On the east (No. 25) (see p77), makers
bank, the riverside Corniche of the best baklava and
al-Nil is one of the city’s main other Egyptian pastries in
north–south roads, making a town. Cross the busy
junction with Sharia Abd
walk beside the river anything Al-Khaliq Sarwat and on
but peaceful. However, over on the left, No. 34 is the
Gezira, a pedestrian promenade Yacoubian Building,
runs along the water’s edge. The immortalized in the book
best way to experience the river and film of the same name
(see p49). The name is
is to take a ride in a felucca, one above the doorway in the
of the small triangular-sailed boats entrance hall. Across the
used on the Nile since antiquity. road is the Art Deco
They can be hired by the hour at Cinema Metro, which
landing stages in front of the opened in 1939 screening
Gone With the Wind. Leave
Semiramis and Four Seasons Sharia Talaat Harb and
Nile Plaza hotels (see p125). head east along Sharia
Adly to pass the Babylonian-

) The Pyramids
Half a century ago the
styled Shaar Hashamaim
Synagogue, evidence of
Egypt’s one-time large
Pyramids were a daytrip out of and influential Jewish
Cairo. Now the city reaches to community. Bearing right
the paws of the Sphinx. In a taxi at the next junction leads
on empty roads, from central down to pretty Midan
Cairo to the Pyramids on Giza Mustafa Kamel; turn right
again into Sharia Qasr al-
Plateau, takes 15 minutes. The Nil. Soon you reemerge at
roads are rarely empty, however, Midan Talaat Harb, at which
and the journey more often takes point head south down
about an hour. There is more to see Sharia Talaat Harb for lunch
than just the Pyramids, including at Café Riche (No. 17)
(see p75), where the 1952
subsidiary temples, the Solar Revolution was supposedly
Boat Museum and the Sphinx. plotted, and which serves a
From 2011 there will also be a good simple lunch.
major new museum (see pp12–13).

Sign up for DK’s email newsletter on traveldk.com 73

Around Cairo – Central Cairo

Left Abdeen Palace Museum Right Islamic Ceramics Museum

More Cairo Museums

! Post Office Museum
Stamps and Egypt’s oldest ^ Abdeen Palace Museum
A former royal palace, this
postboxes are displayed here. museum houses silverware and
d Map H3 • Midan Ataba • 02 2391 0011 chinaware. d Map G4 • Sharia Abd
• Open 10am–2pm Sat–Thur • Adm al-Raziq, Abdeen • 02 2391 0130 • Open
9am–3pm Sat–Thur • Adm

@ Umm Kulsum Museum

A museum dedicated to the
& Islamic Ceramics Museum
diva (see p64) exhibits her dresses, A 1920s villa used by Nasser
letters, press clippings and has a as an office now houses historic
recordings archive. d Map L6 ceramics from Egypt, Iran,
• Sharia al-Malik Salih, Rhoda • 02 2363 Morocco and Andalucia. d Map D2
1537 • Open 9am–4pm • Adm • Sharia al-Gezira, Zamalek • 02 2737
3298 • Open 10am–1:30pm, 5–9pm

£ Mahmoud
Museum
Mokhtar • www.icm.gov.eg • Adm

Many works by Egypt’s most

famous sculptor (see p64) * October War Panorama
Exhibits on the 1973 Arab–
are shown in this museum, which Israeli War, aircraft and tanks are
doubles as the artist’s mausoleum. displayed here. d Map J1 • Sharia al-
d Map D4 • Sharia at-Tahrir, Gezira Uruba (airport road) • 02 2402 2317
• 02 2735 2519 • Open 9am–2pm, • Open 9:30am–7:30pm Wed–Mon • Adm
5–9pm Tue–Sun • Adm

$ Railway Museum ( Ethnology Museum

This museum is dedicated
Adjacent to the Ramses train to Egyptian daily life with an
station is a hall with model trains, exhibit on the opening of the Suez
signalling devices and the private Canal. d Map F5 • 109 Al-Qasr al-Ainy
royal carriages of some of Egypt’s • Open 9am–2:30pm Sat–Wed • www.
former rulers. d Map G1 • Midan egs-online.org • Adm
Ramses • 02 2576 3793 • Open 8am–
2pm Tue–Sun • Adm
) Agricultural


Museum
  +, / 0,
3 J W F S
/ J M F

0 ( ' ,$  
$ + 6 + $5

% Museum of
Islamic Art 6 +$
5,$
6+
$ 5 , $ $6
3BNTFT
4UBUJPO
 6$
%7 ,
<$ 

  5
$0
6(6
Several museums
on this site cover
6+ $5,$


-8 .VCBSBL
This is a superb Bedouin traditions,

&251

/<
,$
$5

/BTTFS
* $0 $/

6+

"UBCB
museum of Islamic the High Dam,
,&+(
$% ' $

       $ /  1 , / 

decorative arts (see .PIBNNFE

/BHVJC NP mummified animals
/ 1$ 6

0QFSB PLOHV
p46). d Map H4 • Midan and much else.
6+$5
6(5

4BEBU

$ 6 /, *
,$$/

Bab al-Khalq • 02 2390 d Map H1 • Sharia Nadi

0 . + $
5 ,

 4$/$
MF

$ / $/
/J

9930 • Closed for al-Seid, Doqqi • 02 3372

FS

,$

$
$5

6+
3JW

renovation. Due to NP

4BZZJEB
;FJOBC
933 • Open 9am–1pm
reopen 2011 • Adm PLOHV Tue–Sun • Adm

74 For information on the main Cairo museums see p46

 Around Cairo – Central Cairo
Left Cairo Opera House Right Al-Sawy Culture Wheel

Art and Culture Venues

! Mashrabiya Gallery
This gallery hosts regularly ^ Diwan Bookshop
Cairo’s best English-language
changing exhibitions of local and bookshop sells DVDs and CDs too.
foreign artists. d Map F3 • 8 Sharia d Map D2 • 159 Sharia 26th July, Zamalek
Champollion • 02 2578 4494 • Open • 02 2736 2598 • Open 9am–midnight
11am–8pm Tue–Thur, Sat & Sun

@ Cairo’s most adventurous

Townhouse Gallery & Cairo Opera House
The city’s main venue for
opera, dance and classical music
independent gallery shows the has several performance
works of some of the city’s best spaces, including an open-air
artists. d Map F3 • 10 Sharia Nabrawy, amphitheatre (see p71).
off Sharia Bassiouni • 02 2576 8086
• Open 10am–2pm, 6–9pm Sat–Wed; 6–
9pm Fri • www.thetownhousegallery.com * Museum of Modern
Egyptian Art
The 400 pieces on display in this

£ The best venue in Cairo to

Al-Sawy Culture Wheel museum in the Cairo Opera
House Grounds include work by
catch live music has local bands the major figures of Egyptian art
and artists performing at least a from the 20th century. Look out in
couple of nights a week. particular for the work of Mahmoud
d Map D2 • 1 Sharia 26th July, Zamalek Said (1897–1964) (see p71).
• 02 2736 6178 • www.culturewheel.com

$ This exhibition hall in a villa

Akhenaten Centre of Arts ( Arabic Music Institute
The institute houses a sound
archive of oriental music, a
beside the Nile is used for major museum devoted to composer
exhibitions. d Map E2 • 1 Mahaad al- Abdel Wahab and a concert
Swissri, Zamalek • 02 2735 8211 space. d Map F3 • Sharia Ramses, just
north of Sharia 26th July • 02 2574 3373

% Cairo’s live jazz

Cairo Jazz Club • Open 10am–2:30pm Sat–Thur
• www.cairo opera.org/

 +, / 0,

club has bands arab_music.aspx • Adm

3 J W F S
/ J M F

0 ( ' , $ 
$ + 6 + $5

taking the stage four 6+

$ 5 , $ $6
3BNTFT
4UBUJPO
 6$
to six nights a week,
) Café Riche
%7 , 5 ,$
<$  6 +$$0 6 ( 6
5
6+$5,$

.VCBSBL
&251

performing mainly /BTTFS

Somewhat of a
*$0$/

"UBCB
,&+(

jazz, but also some national monument,

$
$% '$

blues and oriental .PIBNNFE this historic café is a

/ 1 , / 

/BHVJC
/ 1$ 6

0,'$1
music. d Map H1 • 197 7$+5,5 haunt of intellectuals,
6+$5
6(5

4BEBU


0QFSB
$ 6 /,*

writers and artists.

,$$

Sharia 26th July, Agouza

0 . + $
5 ,

/ 4$
MF

$/ $/
/J

• 02 3345 9939 • Open d Map F4 • 17 Sharia

FS

/$ $
,$
$5

6+
3JW

5pm–3am • www. 4BZZJEB

;FJOBC
Talaat Harb • 02 2392 9793
cairojazzclub.com • Open 10am–midnight

75
Around Cairo – Central Cairo

Left Heba Linens Right Bedouin-style jewellery at Nomad

Places to Shop
! Nomad
Nomad specializes in Bedouin- ^ Sound of Cairo
(Sot al-Qahira)
style jewellery, traditional crafts This is probably the best shop
and clothes – a great shop for for Arabic music, classical or
unique gifts. d Map E2 • Cairo Marriott, pop, and has an extensive stock.
16 Sharia Saraya al-Gezira, Zamalek Look for a white-painted frontage
with red Arabic lettering.

@ Azza Fahmy Boutique

This boutique sells the work
d Map F3 • 3 Sharia al-Borsa al-Gedida,
off Sharia Qasr al-Nil, Downtown
of Egypt’s best-known jeweller,
Azza Fahmy, whose stylish
pieces consist of traditional & Bashayer
This shop sells all things
elements and motifs with a oriental, including ceramics, carved
contemporary twist. d Map D1 wooden items, copper lamps,
• 15C Sharia Taha Hussein, cnr of Sharia leather bags and rich fabrics. Doqqi
Mohammed Marashli, Zamalek is a 10-minute taxi ride from Midan
Tahrir. d 58 Sharia Mosaddeq, Doqqi

£ Heba Linens
This is the shop for excellent-
* Omar Effendi
quality Egyptian cotton goods, The most central branch of
including sheets and towels. Egypt’s leading department store
d Map E1 • Second Floor, Arcadia Mall, is on Midan Talaat Harb. It’s worth
Corniche al-Nil, Boulaq a visit for cheap cotton goods. d
Map F3 • Midan Talaat Harb, Downtown

$ Beit Sherif
This store is filled with
( Senouhi
objets d’art, old furniture and This is an Aladdin’s cave of
soft furnishings, collected, antiques, paintings, embroidery,
displayed and sold by Zaki Sherif, jewellery and artisanal tapestries
one of Cairo’s top interior and batiks. d Map G3 • 54 Sharia
designers. d Map D1 • 3A Sharia Abdel Khalik Sarwat, Downtown
Baghat Ali, Zamalek

 +, / 0,

) Sharia Al-Qalaa
3 J W F S
/J M F

0 ( ' , $ 
$ + 6 + $5

% Lehnert &
Landrock 6+$
5,$
6+
$ 5 , $ $6
 6$

.VCBSBL
3BNTFT
4UBUJPO
%7 ,
<$ 
  
5 $
06(
6
This street has at
least a dozen shops
6+$5,$


-8


A large selection that sell traditional



/<
,$
$5

/BTTFS
* $0 $/

"UBCB
6+

of prints of historic musical instruments,

&25
$% '$

1 ,& + (       $/1 ,

black & white images such as the oud (lute).

/ 1$ 6

6+$5

0QFSB 4BEBU
of Egypt can be Many of the street’s
6(5

NP .PIBNNFE
 ,$$

/BHVJC
$ 6 /, *

PLOHV
found in this cafés are musicians’
/ 4$
0 . + $
5 ,
/


MF

/$ $
$/ $/
/J

downtown bookshop. haunts. d Map H3–5

FS

,$
$5

6+
3JW

d Map G3 • 44 Sharia 4BZZJEB

;FJOBC
• Sharia Al-Qalaa, off Midan
Sherif, Downtown Ataba, Downtown

76
 Around Cairo – Central Cairo
Left Smoking sheesha Centre Pastries at El-Abd Right Feluccas on the Nile

Unmissable Experiences
! Drifting in a Felucca
After a hard day’s sightseeing ^ Smoking Sheesha
Once the preserve of adult
there’s no better way to unwind males, now everyone smokes
than by drifting on the Nile in sheesha. You can smoke one at
your own private boat. For any coffee house, but you may
information about where to hire prefer the more hygienic
a felucca see p73. surroundings of a hotel coffee
house or upmarket restaurant

@ Hearing the Muezzins’

Chorus at Dusk
such as Abu al-Sid (see p79).

You can’t fail to hear the

muezzins’ haunting dusk chorus & ACulture
Concert at Al-Sawy
Wheel
every evening, but to hear a For a live performance of Egyptian
particularly memorable rendition, pop, folk or classical music, visit
be at the top of the Cairo Tower Al-Sawy Culture Wheel, where
as the sun goes down (see p71). the stage is tucked under one of
the city’s many flyovers (see p75).

£ Friday Prayers Downtown

About the only time that the
* Friday Afternoon Football
chaos of Downtown Cairo at a Coffee House
quietens is at noon every Friday For an electric atmosphere, take
for prayers. The traffic is brought a seat at any busy coffee house
to a standstill as devout Muslims on a Friday afternoon during the
roll their prayer mats out in the local football season (August–
street and prostrate themselves. May), particularly the coffee
houses at the top end of Sharia

$ Pastries from El-Abd

This bakery is probably the
Talaat Harb. d Map F–G3 • Sharia
Talaat Harb, Downtown
most popular shop in all of Cairo.
Squeeze yourself in and order a
quarter kilo of baklava or konafa. ( AtheBeer in the Garden of
Cairo Marriott
d Map F3 • 25 Sharia Talaat Harb, The lovely garden café at this
Downtown hotel is a great place in central
Cairo for a beer after a day’s

% Late-night Pizza at
Maison Thomas
sightseeing (see p125).

Cairo truly does not sleep. People

are out on the streets chatting ) ADancing
Night at a Belly-
Club
and socializing until the early Sheherazade on Sharia Alfy Bey
hours. Many food places are is a notorious belly-dancing club
open way beyond midnight, if not which makes for a colourful and
24 hours, including this pizzeria memorable night out. d Map G3
and deli in Zamalek (see p78). • 1 Sharia Alfy Bey, Downtown

Share your travel recommendations on traveldk.com 77

Around Cairo – Central Cairo

Left Maison Thomas Centre Abou Tarek Koshari Right A coffee at Cilantro

Cafés and Streetfood

! Felfela Takeaway
This is a favourite stop-off ^ Cilantro
This is a smart coffee house
for fuul and taamiya sandwiches, chain, which also serves cakes
as well as chicken and lamb and sandwiches and has free
shawarma. d Map F4 • 15 Sharia WiFi and local English-language
Talaat Harb, Downtown • £ newspapers and magazines.
d Map F4 • 31 Sharia Mohammed

@ Abou Tarek Koshari

The king of koshari has been
Mahmoud, just off Midan Tahrir,
Downtown • 02 2792 4572 • ££
in business since 1950 and this
is Cairo’s biggest and smartest
koshari outlet. A very filling meal & Simonds
This is the closest to an
costs only a couple of Egyptian authentic Italian espresso bar in
pounds. d Map F3 • 16 Sharia Maarouf, Cairo. d Map D2 • 112 Sharia 26th July,
cnr of Sharia Champollion, Downtown Zamalek • 02 2735 9436 • £
• 02 2577 5935 • £

£ Koshari al-Tahrir * Ibis Café

The terrace café at the
This is a good koshari with Nile Hilton Hotel serves good
several branches in Downtown. sandwiches and light snacks. It’s
d Map F4 • Midan Falaki, E of Midan as popular with city residents as
Tahrir; Sharia Abdel Khalik Sarwat, just W hotel guests. d Map F4 • Nile Hilton,
of Sharia Talaat Harb • £ Midan Tahrir, Downtown • 02 2578 0444
• Open 24 hours daily • £££

$ Maison Thomas
Reputedly in business since
( Akher Saa
1929, this is still the best pizza This popular fuul and
restaurant in Cairo. Take away or taamiya takeaway also has a sit-
eat on the premises in a European- down restaurant area. d Map G3
style deli interior. Hot and cold • 8 Sharia Alfy Bey, Downtown • Open
sandwiches are also available. 24 hours daily • £
d Map E2 • 157 Sharia


) Gad
  +, /0,

26th July, Zamalek

3 J WF S
/ J M F

0 ( ' ,$ 
$ + 6 + $5

This is another
& 25 1 ,& + (  $ / 1

• 02 2735 7057 • Open 6+

$ 5 , $ $6
3BNTFT
4UBUJPO
 6$
24 hours daily • ££
.VCBSBL
%7 ,
<$ 

 5 $
0 6(6 takeaway with a sit-
6+ $5,$



down restaurant
,$
$5
,/
*$0 $/

6+

% Fatatri Pizza /BTTFS "UBCB attached, and it

$%'$

at-Tahrir .PIBNNFE
/BHVJC has a particularly
/  1$ 6

0QFSB
This restaurant serves extensive menu.
6+$5
6(5

4BEBU
,$$

$ 6 /,*

both savoury and d Map F3 • 13 Sharia

0 . + $
/ 4$
5 ,


MF

$/ $/
/J

/$ $

sweet fiteer. d Map F4 26th July, Downtown

FS

,$

4BZZJEB
$5

6+
3J W

;FJOBC
• Sharia at-Tahrir • Open • 02 2576 3353 • Open
24 hours daily • £ 24 hours daily • ££

78 For information on Egyptian dishes see pp58–9

 Price Categories
For a two-course meal £ under £E30
for one with a soft ££ £E30–60
drink and including £££ £E60–120
service. ££££ £E120–250
£££££ over £E250

Around Cairo – Central Cairo

Above Alfy Bey

Restaurants
! Abu al-Sid
The most fashionable Cairo ^ Villa d’Este at the Conrad
International
restaurant of recent times has a This restaurant in a top hotel
menu of Egyptian classics. Alcohol (see p125) has a sophisticated
is served, as is sheesha (see menu of international dishes (see
p60). d Map D2 • 157 Sharia 26th July, p60). d Map E1 • Conrad International,
Zamalek • 02 2735 9640 • £££ 1113 Corniche al-Nil, Downtown • 02 2580
8000 • Closed lunch • £££££

@ Aqua at the Four Seasons

Nile Plaza
& L’Aubergine
Dine at one of Cairo’s top hotels One of the few restaurants
(see p125), where the seafood in Egypt to cater for vegetarians
menu includes cashew nut- is this small eatery with an upstairs
encrusted John Dory (see p60). bar and a downstairs dining area.
d Map E5 • Four Seasons at the Nile The menu changes regularly.
Plaza, 1089 Corniche al-Nil, Garden City d Map D2 • 5 Sharia Sayed al-Bakri,
• 02 2791 6900 • Closed lunch • £££££ Zamalek • 02 2738 0080 • £££

£ LeA long-standing
Steak
favourite, * Alfy Bey
This venue sees few tourists
this restaurant on a boat moored and serves traditional grilled
on the Nile serves great grilled meats, including kebabs, lamb
meat with French sauces (see p60). chops, pigeon and Um Ali for
d Map E2 • Le Pacha 1901, Sharia Saray dessert. d Map G3 • 3 Sharia Alfy Bey,
al-Gezira, Zamalek • 02 2735 6730 • ££££ Downtown • 02 2577 1888 • ££

$ Felfela
Felfela is treasured for its ( Abu Shakra
This popular chain serves
bric-a-brac décor and menu of charcoal-grilled meat for
Egyptian staples (see p60). takeaway or a sit-down meal.
d Map F4 • 15 Sharia Hoda Sharaawi, d Map F5 • 69 Sharia Qasr al-Ainy,
Downtown • 02 2392 Downtown

  +,/ 0,
3 J WF S
/ J M F

2751 • ££ • 02 2531 6111 • £££

0 (' , $ 
$ + 6 +$ 5

3BNTFT
6+
$ 5 , $$
6 6
4UBUJPO

% This smart
La Bodega
) Andrea
$% 7 6
6+$ , <$  06(
5,$
 
 5 $
6+ $5, $

 .VCBSBL
-8
This open-air


/<
,$
$5

/BTTFS

* $0 $/

6+

restaurant serves garden restaurant

&25

"UBCB
1,&+
$% '$

international dishes .PIBNNFE

/BHVJC
near the Pyramids
($/1,/
/  1$ 6

0QFSB
hard to find elsewhere 0,'$1
serves grilled chicken
6+$5

7$+5,5
6(5

4BEBU
 ,$ $
$ 6 /,*

in Cairo (see p61). and freshly baked

0 . + $
/ 4$
5 ,


MF

$ / $/
/J

/$ $

d Map E2 • 157 Sharia bread. d Map H2

FS

,$
$5

6+
3JW

26th July, Zamalek NP 4BZZJEB • 59–60 Marioutiya Canal,

PLOHV ;FJOBC
• 02 2735 0543 • ££££ Giza • 02 3383 1133 • ££

Recommend your favourite restauarnt on traveldk.com 79

Around Cairo – Old Cairo

Left Mosque of Amr Right Al-Azhar Park

Old Cairo

A ROMAN FORTRESS ORIGINALLY STOOD ON THE SITE OF CAIRO. Known as

Babylon-in-Egypt, it guarded a Nile crossing on the route to the ancient
Egyptian capital of Memphis (see p91). This was surrendered to the invading
armies of Islam in AD 640, who set up camp next door. The camp was made
permanent and was expanded north by successive Arab dynasties,
culminating in the walled city of Al-Qahira in 969, or Cairo. It is this area, from
Babylon in the south, now known as Coptic Cairo, to the northern gates of
Al-Qahira, now known as Islamic Cairo, that make up the venerable core of
today’s city, representing almost 1,400 years of continuously inhabited
history – a mere fraction of
the age of the Pyramids,
but certainly worth a
few days of exploration.

A view of Islamic Cairo


6 $, '
%

"UBCB
+ $5

5 7 

.8%5,
$7

 2&72%(5
$

3 2
7$ /
+( $/1 , /

6+$
,$ 

5 ,$

5 ,$ 
6+$
$5

   $ /  $
6+$

Carved stonework, Northern =+$

6+

5
5 ,$ 

0QFSB
Cemetery 4BEBU
.PIBNNFE
/BHVJC
5 , $/ 4
JM F

1,&

$6
$ / 0
S
/

4BBE
25

$/$$

;BHIMPVM
,*
WF

Sights
&
3J

$/

$ + 6 $ / ( 0 

'ARDEN
 .+

#ITY !S 3AYYIDA
$/

1 Islamic Cairo
,$

:EINAB
$5

6+
2 Khan al-Khalili
$/

4BZZJEB
3 The Citadel
6

;FJOBC
$
,
$5

4 Al-Azhar Park +
6

4ILULŽ:EINHOM /
$

5 Coptic Cairo $
6+

8
$ / 1 ,/

6+$5 ,$
$5

 7$ 5 , 4  0 $ *
72

5 $$
6 Coptic Museum
,$

/8<
67 5 $ ' 

81
6
,& + ( 


,.

-ISRŽ!L 1ADIMA
7 Mosque of Amr
.(
7

:

6 + $5 ,$6$/ $ +
 & 2 51

6 $ /(0
+$

8
$<

Mosque of Ibn Tulun

6+

&M.BMJL
',

#ITYŽOF
$5

FM4BMJI
'
,$ $

THEŽ$EAD
9 Mosque of Sultan
+
(/
, 1  $ /

Hassan
:$

/LDŽ#AIRO
1
6< 5 $

0 Northern Cemetery .BS

(JSHJT
 NJMFT  LN 

82 Preceding pages View from the courtyard of Al-Azhar Mosque, Cairo

! Islamic Cairo
Stretching several miles along
a north–south axis in the east of
Cairo, this part of the city still
keeps to its medieval street

Around Cairo – Old Cairo

pattern. Neighbourhoods are
unreconstructed and ramshackle,
housing a way of life largely
unchanged in centuries. Streets
are studded with several hundred
monuments, from humble
Ottoman-era fountains to splendid
Mamluk palace complexes, most
of which are accessible to
visitors (see p87). At the heart of
it all is Khan al-Khalili souq and Mosque of Suleyman Pasha in the Citadel
Al-Azhar Mosque (see pp14–15).

@ This is Cairo’s chaotic and

Khan al-Khalili # The Citadel
Overlooking the city from a
rocky spur of the Muqattam
vibrant bazaar area, parts of which Hills, the Citadel is a sizeable
date back to the 16th century. Its fortress, which from its founding
covered passageways, stone gates in the 12th century, served as the
and labyrinthine alleys still have a royal residence and barracks until
wholly medieval feel. The trade the late 19th century. Its earliest
in spices, brightly coloured cloth, parts date back to the reign of
perfumes, gold and silver bears the ruler Salah ad-Din (Saladin),
little relation to the Western depart- but over the course of its history
ment store or supermarket. Of it was reorganized and enlarged
course, you have to haggle – you on numerous occasions. There
will pay over the odds if you don’t are three mosques to visit, as
– but it’s all part of the theatre. well as former palace buildings
d Map J3 • Most shops are closed Fri am and museums (see p86).
d Map J6 • Sharia Salah Salem
• Open 8am–5pm • Adm

$ Al-Azhar Park
This beautiful park opened
to great acclaim in 2004. It has a
tall grassy hill at one end that
slopes down to an artificial lake
at the other end. It is landscaped
in classical Islamic fashion with
water features and flower beds,
but also has an amphitheatre,
children’s play area, a fine
restaurant (see p89) and cafés.
The views over Islamic Cairo are
superb. d Map J4–5 • Sharia Salah
Salem • 02 2510 3868 • Open 9am–2am
in summer (until midnight in winter)
Khan al-Khalili • www.alazharpark.com • Adm

83
 The Copts
Before the arrival of Islam Egypt
& Mosque of Amr
Egypt’s oldest mosque was
was Christian and its people were founded by Amr Ibn al-As, the
known as Copts. When the Arab Arab general who conquered
army occupied Egypt in AD 640, Egypt for Islam in AD 640.
Around Cairo – Old Cairo

its leader Amr instructed his Although it has been altered

people to take good care of the many times since and doubled in
Copts, for the Prophet himself size in 827, the Mosque of Amr
had given orders for them to do
today represents the beginnings
so. Today Copts make up
10 per cent of the nation. of Islam in Egypt. It remains a
very simple and humble structure.
Behind the mosque, which is just

% Coptic Cairo
The heart of the district of
a few minutes’ walk north of
Coptic Cairo, the surrounding
Cairo’s Coptic Christian community hard-mud wasteland is the site
centres on the Roman fortress of of Fustat, the first Arab city in
Babylon. The ancient gate towers Egypt. d Map M5 • Sharia Mar Girgis
of the former fortress provide • Closed for midday prayers Fri
access to a sunken compound
(evidence that the street level has
risen over the centuries), * Mosque of Ibn Tulun
Successive Arab dynasties
containing the Coptic Museum, expanded the original city of
numerous churches, a synagogue Fustat north. One of these was
and several cemeteries (see p88). the Tulunid dynasty (AD 868–905),
d Map M6 • www.coptic-cairo.com founded by Ibn Tulun, who was
sent to Egypt to govern on behalf

^ Coptic Museum
Founded in 1908, the museum
of the Abbasids of Baghdad. His
splendid mosque echoes those
houses an absorbing collection of his homeland of Iraq in its
representing a key period in world unique (for Egypt) minaret, which
history, when the old gods were has a staircase spiralling around
being replaced by Christianity. It is the outside of the tower. It is
housed in a beautiful building, with possible to climb the minaret to
exquisite painted ceilings and admire the view, not least of the
mashrabiya windows. From the mosque’s great courtyard with its
Old Wing it is possible to access elegant arcades and fine central
a Roman tower known as the ablutions fountain. Next to the
Water Gate. d Map M6 • Sharia Mar mosque is the Gayer-Anderson
Girgis • 02 2362 8766 • Open 9am–4pm Museum (see p46). d Map G6
• www.copticmuseum.gov.eg • Adm • Sharia Abdel Meguid • Open 8am–5pm

View from inside the courtyard of the Mosque of Ibn Tulun

84
 A Stroll up the
Main Street of
Medieval Cairo
Take a taxi to “Al-Hussein”.

Around Cairo – Old Cairo

You will be let out beside
Al-Azhar Mosque; walk to
a footbridge over the road,
cross and take the side
street immediately in front,
from where you emerge
Interior of the Mosque of Sultan Hassan onto Sharia al-Muiz li-Din
Allah, the main street of
medieval Cairo. You can buy
( Mosque of Sultan Hassan
After Al-Azhar (see pp14–15),
spices, silver, gold, brass
or copper ware at the many
the other essential mosque to stalls that line the street in
visit is that of Sultan Hassan. Khan al-Khalili. Continue
Begun in 1356, its size rivals the up the street, to find, one
great cathedrals of Europe. It is next to the other, the
Madrassa–Mausoleum of
entered through a soaring portal Qalaoun, the Mosque of
with a stalactite hood, which an-Nasir Mohammed and
leads through to a simple but the Madrassa of Sultan
impressive courtyard with four Barquq. These are three
massive arched recesses. The splendid monuments from
the Mamluk era, all of which
sultan himself lies at rest in his can be visited (see p87).
tomb chamber, to the right of the A short distance ahead,
prayer niche. The neighbouring the road divides at a small
mosque, Al-Rifai, although similar building with big grilled
in scale to Sultan Hassan, was windows on the right-hand
side: this is the Sabil-
built over 500 years later. d Map Kuttab of Abdel Rahman
H5 • Midan Salah ad-Din • Closed for Kathkuda (see p87). Bear
midday prayers Fri • Adm left and continue, passing
the small Mosque of Al-
Aqmar (see p87), then take
) Northern Cemetery
A lack of space caused
Darb al-Asfur on the right
to visit a fine old merchant’s
Cairo’s medieval rulers to build house, Beit al-Sihaymi
their funerary monuments (see p87), where you can
outside the city walls in the have tea in the courtyard.
desert. Here they created some Return to Sharia al-Muiz
li-Din Allah. After a short
of Cairo’s finest medieval time the road widens
monuments, from modest single- into a piazza beside the
chambered tombs to palatial walls of the Mosque of
complexes with multiple courts, Al-Hakim (see p87), built
minarets and domes. Less by a Fatimid sultan. The
mosque abuts the
exalted personages chose to be Northern Walls of the
buried here also, beside their original city of Al-Qahira;
rulers. Over the centuries the you can access the
homeless have moved into the ramparts via the nearby
tombs to the point today where gates (see p87). Return
the way you came, treating
the cemetery is a vibrant and yourself to lunch at the
living neighbourhood, often Naguib Mahfouz Café in
referred to as the City of the Khan al-Khalili (see p89).
Dead. d Map Q3–6

Sign up for DK’s email newsletter on traveldk.com 85

Around Cairo – Old Cairo

Left The Citadel walls Right Mosque of Mohammed Ali

The Citadel
! Mosque of Mohammed Ali
Built between 1824 and ^ Military Museum
The Citadel’s main building
1848, this grand Turkish-style houses a collection of ceremonial
mosque continues to dominate uniforms and arms, as well as a
the Cairo skyline. Mohammed large-scale model of the fortress.
Ali is buried in a white marble
cenotaph just inside the entrance.
& Mosque
Pasha
of Suleyman

@ Mosque of Sultan al-Nasir

This low-rise building behind
This small 16th-century mosque
was built in a Turkish style soon
the Mohammed Ali Mosque is after the Ottoman takeover of
more than 500 years older than Egypt. The underside of its dome
its neighbour, dating back to is beautifully decorated.
1318–35. Its ribbed minarets
have beautiful Persian tiling.
* The Walls
The walls were begun by

£ Gawhara Palace
South of the Mohammed Ali
Salah Al-Din and expanded by his
nephew A-Kamil. It is possible to
Mosque, this small palace is vist the interiors of some towers.
decorated in a French style and
its rooms contain displays of
19th-century furniture and dress. ( Carriage Museum
This building decorated with
a row of horseheads houses six

$ Citadel Prison Museum

Until 1952 the Citadel was a
royal carriages, the largest of
which belonged to the Khedive
British army barracks. You can Ismail, a gift from Napoleon IIII.
visit the cells where prisoners
were once detained in this
museum. The most famous ) The Terraces
The views from the terraces
detainee was Anwar Sadat, who by the Mohammed Ali Mosque
later became president of Egypt across Cairo to the Pyramids are
(1970–1981) but who was spectacular on a clear day.
arrested for revolutionary activities. 
$', '
$/  *
% $%
, $
$5
6+

% Police Museum
This single-room museum
,OWER
%NCLOSURE
.ORTHERN
covers some of Egypt’s most %NCLOSURE
6+$5,$6$

sensational crimes, including

those of Raya and Sakina,

0
/(
/$+$''

3OUTHERN
6$

Alexandrian sisters who were



%NCLOSURE
+
/$

serial killers and who murdered

6$

,1

,$
$5

30 women before being captured

6+

and executed in 1921.

86 For general background information about the Citadel see p84

 Around Cairo – Old Cairo
Left Mausoleum of Qalaoun Centre Mosque of Al-Aqmar Right Sabil-Kuttab of Abdel Katkhuda

More Islamic Monuments

! Madrassa–Mausoleum
Sultan Qalaoun
of
^ Beit al-Sihaymi
Visit this restored house to
Built in just 13 months in 1284–5, see how a wealthy merchant lived
this grand complex marries scale in the 18th century. d Map J3
with fantastic detailing, particularly • 19 Darb al-Asfur, off Sharia al-Muizz li-
in the sultan’s mausoleum. d Map Din Allah • Open 9am–5pm • Adm
J3 • Sharia al-Muizz li-Din Allah

@ Mosque of al-Nasir & Mosque of Al-Hakim

The Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim
Mohammed bi-Amr Allah (996–1021) was
This mosque, built during the infamous for his strange laws
reign of Al-Nasir Mohammed and random acts of violence. His
(1293–1340), a son of Qalaoun, is mosque is noted for its odd
noteworthy for its minaret, which pepper-pot minarets. d Map J3
has fabulously intricate, lace-like • Sharia al-Muizz li-Din Allah
decoration in a Moorish style.
d Map J3 • Sharia al-Muizz li-Din Allah
* Northern Walls
The northern walls date from

£ Madrassa of Sultan Barquq

This grand religious school
1087 and are the most complete
part of the fortifications that once
was completed in 1386. It is encircled Al-Qahira (Islamic Cairo).
possible to go up to the roof and They include two gates via which
ascend the minaret. d Map J3 you can ascend to the ramparts.
• Sharia al-Muizz li-Din Allah d Map J3 • Sharia al-Galai • Adm

$ Sabil-Kuttab of Abdel
Rahman Katkhuda ( Mosque and Madrassa
of Al-Ghouri
This graceful Ottoman structure The striped twin buildings of this
was a charitable institution complex were built in 1505 by the
funded by a nobleman. The sabil last Mamluk sultan Al-Ghouri. A
(public fountain) was on the part of his mausoleum serves as
ground floor, while the kuttab a cultural centre (see p67).
(primary school) was upstairs. d Map J4 • Sharia al-Muizz li-Din Allah
d Map J3 • Sharia al-Muizz li-Din Allah • 02 2511 0472 • Open 9am–3pm, 8:30pm–
midnight (closed 11:30am–1:30pm Fri)

% Mosque of Al-Aqmar
This pretty mosque
) Bab Zuweyla
supposedly gets its name (“the This is one of the original
moonlit”) from the way its masonry gates of the city of Qahira. Its
would shine in the moonlight. It two minarets were added later –
is one of the oldest buildings in they can be ascended via the Al-
the area, dating back to 1125. Muayyad Mosque next to it. d Map
d Map J3 • Sharia al-Muizz li-Din Allah J4 • Sharia Ahmed Mahir • Adm

For more information on Islamic Cairo see pp82–5 87

Around Cairo – Old Cairo

Left An Orthodox cemetery Centre Church of St Barbara Right Hanging Church

Coptic Cairo
! Hanging Church
Suspended above the ^ Church of the Virgin
This small 18th-century
compound’s Water Gate (see p84), church is notable for several fine
parts of this church may date icons. d Map M6 • Open 9am–4pm
back to the 4th century. Look out
for the black thirteenth pillar
supporting the pulpit, representing & Church of St Barbara
This lovely 11th-century
Judas. d Map M6 • Open 9am–5pm. church, dedicated to a 3rd-
Coptic mass: 8am Fri, 7am Sun century saint who was executed
for preaching Christianity, houses

@ Roman Towers
The main entrance to the
some fine icons, although the
most precious items were
Coptic Cairo compound is removed to the Coptic
between the two circular towers Museum (see p84). d Map M6
of Babylon’s western gate. The • Open 8am–8pm
righthand tower is in ruins, while
the other forms the base of the
Church of St George. d Map M6 * Ben Ezra Synagogue
Originally a church sold to
pay off taxes, this building

£ Church of St George
This is the only round church
became a synagogue in AD 882.
In the 1990s it was extensively
in Egypt, built that way because and lavishly restored. d Map M6
it sits on one of the original • Open 9am–4pm
fortress gate towers. The current
church dates to 1904, replacing a
10th-century church destroyed by ( The Cemeteries
East of the Coptic Museum
fire. d Map M6 • Open 8:30am–4pm and churches are three conjoined
cemeteries still used by people

$ Convent of St George
Although still a working
of the Greek Orthodox, Greek
Catholic and Coptic faiths. Many
nunnery, several rooms are open of the tombs are marked with
to visitors, including a medieval statues and mausolea. d Map M5–6
hall and a chapel with a casket
claimed to contain relics of St
George. d Map M6 • Open 9am–4pm ) Nilometer
Near Coptic Cairo, cut into
the bedrock at the southern tip

% Church of St Sergius
Sunk below street level, this
of Rhoda, this was used to record
the rising of the Nile water by the
5th-century church is Egypt’s ancient Egyptians. Its present
oldest. Steps descend to a form dates to the 9th century
crypt where the Holy Family is and is decorated with Koranic
supposed to have taken shelter. verses. d Map L6 • Sharia al-Malik
d Map M6 • Open 8am–4pm Salih, Rhoda • Open 9am–5pm • Adm

88 For general background information on Coptic Cairo see pp84–5

 Price Categories
For a two-course meal £ under £E30
for one with a soft ££ £E30–60
drink and including £££ £E60–120
service. ££££ £E120–250
£££££ over £E250

Around Cairo – Old Cairo

Above Fishawi’s

Cafés and Restaurants

! Fishawi’s
Cairo’s oldest and most ^ Al-Dahan
Serving some of the best
famed coffee house fills a narrow basic kofta and kebabs in Midan
alley in Khan al-Khalili. It claims al-Hussein, Al-Dahan can be
never to have closed in over found underneath the Al-Hussein
200 years. d Map J4 • Midan al- Hotel. d Map J4 • Midan al-Hussein,
Hussein • 02 2590 6755 • £ entered from the passage that leads to
Fishawi’s coffee house • ££

@ Egyptian Pancake House

This popular eatery serves
& Lakeside Café
fiteer topped with your choice of This pleasant café occupying
cheese, egg, tomato and ground several pavilions and a courtyard
meat. For dessert, choose from overlooking a man-made lake in
raisins, coconut and icing sugar. Al-Azhar Park serves light
d Map J4 • Midan al-Hussein • ££ Oriental meals and snacks.
d Map J4 • Al-Azhar Park, Sharia Salah

£ Providing air-conditioned
Naguib Mahfouz Café Salem • 02 2510 9162 • £££

tranquility in the middle of Khan

al-Khalili, this café with copper- * Gad
A branch of the popular fuul
top tables serves mainly and taamiya chain that has
sandwiches and refreshing cold restaurants all over Cairo (see
drinks. d Map J3 • 5 Siqqet al-Badestan p78). d Map J4 • Sharia al-Azhar, near
• 02 2590 3788 • ££ Al-Azhar mosque • ££

$ Khan al-Khalili Restaurant

Adjacent to and under the ( Abu Bassem Grill
This restaurant serves great
same management as the Naguib kebabs and meze and has an
Mahfouz Café, this restaurant outside area, while diners inside
serves international and Egyptian can enjoy the restaurant’s
dishes, notably grilled meats. medieval interior. d Map J4
d Map J3 • 5 Siqqet al-Badestan • 2 Zuqqaq al-Gahini, Midan al-Hussein
• 02 2590 3788 • ££££ • 02 2593 7935 • ££

% Hilltop Restaurant
In a grand faux-Mamluk ) Rifai
This humble eatery at which
building, and with commanding diners sit at tables laid out in the
views over Islamic Cairo and the street is regarded by many
Al-Azhar Park, this restaurant Cairenes as the city’s best kebab
serves grilled meats and meze. restaurant. d Map G5 • Sharia al-
It has a terrace for alfresco Barrani (opposite the Sayyida Zeinab
eating too. d Map J4 • Al-Azhar Park, mosque), Midan Sayyida Zeinab • Closed
Sharia Salah Salem • 02 2510 9150 • ££££ lunch • ££

For information about Egyptian dishes see pp58–9 89

Beyond Cairo

Left View across the Suez Canal from Port Said Right Red Pyramid, Dahsur

Beyond Cairo

C AIRO LIES JUST SOUTH OF THE POINT AT WHICH THE NILE DIVIDES into two
main branches that create a fertile fan between them, known as the
Delta, spreading north to the Mediterranean. This is an area in which life has
flourished throughout history. The apex of the Delta was the site of the first
great imperial city of ancient Egypt, Memphis, which has now almost
completely vanished. We get some intimation of its glory and vastness
thanks to the city’s great necropolises of Saqqara and the various
pyramid fields that remain. The Delta itself was
where later pharaohs created new capitals,
Alexander founded his new city, Alexandria (at the
point at which the Delta met the sea) and early
Christianity flourished. All of these places can be
visited as day trips from Cairo.

Sights
1 Memphis 6 Ismailia
2 Saqqara 7 Wadi Natrun
3 Dahshur 8 Abu Sir
4 Fayoum 9 Birqash Camel Market
5 Port Said 0 Alexandria
Colonial architecture, Ismailia

.FEJUFSSBOFBO
4FB

'XP\DW
3RUW6DLG
$OH[DQGULD



.DIUDO
"M/PV[IB 6KHLNK 6KLUELQ &$,52
$O0DWDUL\D
'DPDQKXU $O0DQVXUD .HUGDVVD
7DQWD


,VPDLOLD


%LUTDVK =DJD]LJ *L]D

&DPHO %HQKD 0DśDGL
0DUNHW %LOEHLV


:DGL $BJSP 7XUD

1DWUXQ *OUFSOBUJPOBM
&DLUR 
6XH]
$EX6LU
 VHHPDS
ULJKW 6DTTDUD 0HPSKLV


-BLF
3JWFS

/J

2BSVO %DGUDVKHH
6LQQXULV 

)D\RXP
+HOZDQ
MF



'BZPVN 'DKVKXU
0BTJT %HQL6XHI 

 NJMFT  LN   NJMFT  LN 

90
! Memphis
Not much remains of the
ancient city of Memphis, the
capital of Egypt during the Old
Kingdom. It is thought to have

Beyond Cairo
been founded about 3100 BC by
King Menes, the ruler who united
Upper And Lower Egypt. From
historical accounts we know that
it was a city of grand palaces
and temples, which were all torn
down by foreign invaders from
the Romans onwards, and the
ruins were buried. What remains
today is gathered in a small
open-air museum, the centrepiece Colossus of Ramses II, Memphis
of which is a colossal statue of
Ramses II, which lies in its own
special viewing pavilion. d Map J2 £ Dahshur
The two pyramids at Dahshur
• Off Hwy 27, 47 km (29 miles) S of Cairo were built by the 4th-Dynasty
• Open 8am–4pm • Adm king Sneferu, father of Khufu, the
builder of the Great Pyramid (see

@ Saqqara
One of the richest
pp12–13). The Bent Pyramid, thus
known because its sides start
archaeological sites in Egypt, steeply, then switch part way to
Saqqara was the royal burial ground a shallower slope, is considered
for some of the earliest rulers and to be Egypt’s first proper pyramid,
their courtiers. This is the site of as before this all pyramids were
Egypt’s prototype pyramid, a stepped. The other monument is
stepped structure built for King known as the Red Pyramid due
Djoser. The necropolis remained to its ancient red graffiti – this
in use for some 3,000 years can be entered and explored.
throughout the Pharaonic era, with d Map H2 • Off Hwy 27, 64 km
additions being made as late as (40 miles) S of Cairo • Open 9am–4pm in
the Graeco-Roman period. It merits summer (until 4pm in winter) • Adm
at least half a day’s visit (see p94).
d Map J2 • Off Hwy 27, 44 km (27 miles)
S of Cairo • Open 8am–5pm in summer $ Fayoum
Fayoum is Egypt’s largest
(until 4pm in winter) • Adm oasis and a popular spot for
second homes for Cairenes. A
prime location is a site overlooking
Lake Qarun, which is at the heart
of the oasis and home to an
amazing variety of bird species.
Visitors should head for Kom
Aushim, where you can visit the
remains of 3rd-century BC
crocodile temples – the Greeks
named this area Crocodilopolis,
after the animals that lived in the
lake (now long gone). d Map A2
Step Pyramid of Djoser, Saqqara • Off Hwy 27, 100 km (62 miles) S of Cairo

Share your travel recommendations on traveldk.com 91

Beyond Cairo

Deir Anba Bishoi monastery, Wadi Natrun

% Port Said
Founded in 1859 to house & Wadi Natrun
Prized by the ancient
workers on the Suez Canal, Port Egyptians as a source of the
Said is a major harbour. Its most salt deposit natron, a vital
prominent building is the green- ingredient in the mummification
domed Suez Canal Authority process, this remote valley just
Building, from where all shipping west of the Delta region was
is monitored. The National museum later equally valued by the early
and the Military museum are Christians as a hiding place from
worth a visit (see p93). d Map B1 persecution by the Romans.
• 225 km (139 miles) NE of Cairo Initially they sheltered in caves,
later building monasteries, of

^ Ismailia
Halfway along the length of
which four remain today.
Each monastery has a full
the Suez Canal, Ismailia was complement of monks and three
founded to house the workers on of the monasteries welcome
the canal in the 1860s. It is an visitors. d Map A2 • Off Desert Hwy,
extremely pretty town, with plenty 100 km (62 miles) NW of Cairo
of greenery surrounding European-
style houses. The Ismailia Museum
houses Graeco-Roman artefacts * Abu Sir
The four pyramids at Abu Sir
and items relating to the canal’s were built in the 5th Dynasty,
history. d Map B1 • 120 km (74 miles) and therefore date after the three
NE of Cairo • Ismailia Museum, Sharia great monuments at Giza. These
Salah Salem, Open 9am–4pm, Adm pyramids are much smaller than
their Giza counterparts and are
Egypt and the Camel very dilapidated. However, the
Although it has become part of isolated location on a sandy
the iconography of Egypt, the desert ridge rising away from the
camel is not native to the country. palm groves of the Nile plain
In fact, it is a relative latecomer. lends this little visited site great
Pharaonic tomb paintings show charm. The northernmost and
lions and hippos, as well as other best-preserved Pyramid of
creatures now extinct in Egypt, Sahure can be entered, although
but not camels, which were then
this is not recommended for
unknown. Historians believe that
they were introduced by the claustrophobics. d Map J2 • Off
invading Persians. Hwy 27, 27 km (17 miles) S of Cairo
• Open 8am–sunset • Adm

92
( Birqash Camel Market
A visit to Egypt’s largest
A Day Beside
the Suez Canal
camel market is a truly memorable
in Port Said
experience. Hundreds of camels
are sold at Birqash every Morning

Beyond Cairo
Monday and Friday morning (the Start your day near the
main day is Friday). The camels green-domed Suez Canal
are brought in their thousands Authority Building on the
edge of the canal. From
from northwestern Sudan in a here, take a fun, cheap
month-long trek to Aswan, from ride across the canal and
where they are then trucked up back courtesy of the car
to Cairo. They are bought as ferries that shuttle back
mounts, but also for their meat. and forth every 15 minutes
between here and the far
The best way to get to the shore. Returning to where
market is by organized tour or a you started, head north
taxi hired for half a day d Map A2 along the canal on Sharia
• Off Mansuriya Canal Road, 30 km Filisteen, passing at
(18 miles) NW of Cairo • Open mornings No. 43 the Tourist Office
(open 9am–6pm Sat–Thur),
from 6am Mon and Fri • Adm
where you can pick up a
good map. A few minutes’
walk further north along
Sharia Filisteen is the
Port Said National
Museum (open 9am–4pm
Sat–Thur), which has
exhibits from prehistory to
the canal era. Continue to
the end of the pedestrian
promenade, where you
will encounter an empty
sandstone plinth on which
a statue of Ferdinand De
Lesseps, French builder of
Birqash Camel Market the canal, once stood before
it was hauled down after
the 1952 Revolution. From
) Alexandria
After defeating the Persians
here, hop in a taxi for a
five-minute drive to Al-Borg,
in 332 BC Alexander the Great the best seafood restaurant
founded his new capital city on in Egypt (see p61).
the Mediterranean coast that Afternoon
same year. Under his successor Head inland to main
Ptolemy and the dynasty he Sharia 23rd July and follow
founded it became the most it west. Stop at the small
important city of the ancient Military Museum (open
world – an economic, political 9am–4pm Sat–Thur), which
has exhibits relating to the
and cultural rival to Rome. After Arab–Israeli wars. Then
falling into decline in the 4th cut diagonally across the
century, it was revived in the main plaza and continue
19th century, drawing thousands south to the town’s bazaar,
of Europeans. Although little of where, as well as cheap
goods, you’ll find examples
its ancient heritage remains, there of traditional Port Said
is still plenty to see in modern buildings fronted by multi-
Alexandria, Egypt’s second largest storey wooden balconies.
city after Cairo (see p95). d Map A1

93
Beyond Cairo – Saqqara

Left Step Pyramid Right Interior of the tomb of Mastaba of Ti

Saqqara
! Step Pyramid
The centrepiece of Saqqara ^ Tomb of Mereruka
This is the tomb of King
is the Step Pyramid, the first Teti’s son-in-law. It has 33
pyramid in Egypt. Built in the chambers and some magnificent
27th century BC by the architect wall paintings, including a hunting
Imhotep for the 3rd-Dynasty King scene in a marsh, as well as
Djoser, it marks a leap forward in a life-size statute of Mereruka
the history of world architecture. striding from a false door.

@ Step Pyramid Court

This is a vast enclosure with & Tomb of Ankhma-Hor
This is also referred to as
a corridor of 40 columns and a the “Physician’s Tomb” because
reconstructed boundary wall, part of its fascinating wall reliefs
of which bears a frieze of rearing depicting surgical operations.
cobras. On the north side, a These include surgery being
stone box (serdab) contains a performed on a man’s toe and,
life-size statue of King Djoser. apparently, a circumcision, as
practised over 4,000 years ago.

£ Pyrmaid of Unas
Unas was the last king of
* Serapeum
the 5th Dynasty. His pyramid A series of long, dark
contains the earliest known passageways house giant granite
examples of decorative writing. sarcophagi. Weighing up to
It is closed to the public but 70 tonnes each, these once
many of the tombs that line the contained mummified corpses
causeway are open to visitors. of bulls seen as an incarnation of
Ptah, god of Memphis.

$ Persian Tombs
These are some of the
( Mastaba of Ti
deepest underground burial This is the tomb of a court
chambers in Egypt. They belong official who served three kings
to three officials of the 27th during the 5th Dynasty. It has
Dynasty, which was founded by wall paintings that are unrivalled
the Persians in 525 BC. The tomb for the information they provide
walls bear colourful inscriptions. about life in ancient Egypt.

% Pyramid of Teti
The 6th-Dynasty pyramid has ) Imhotep Museum
This small museum has a
collapsed but the interior chambers short introductory film to the
can be visited. The walls are site, a large-scale model of the
decorated with the earliest Step Pyramid complex as it
examples of ancient funerary originally was and some superb
writings accessible to the public. artefacts uncovered at Saqqara.

94 For general information about the site of Saqqara see p91

 Beyond Cairo – Alexandria
Left Fort Qaitbey Right Roman amphitheatre at Kom al-Dikka

Alexandria
! Biblioteca Alexandrina
Inaugurated in 2002, this ^ Pompey’s Pillar
All that is left of the Serapeum,
new library is worth visiting for its Classical Alexandria’s main
architecture, Antiquities Museum temple complex (described as
and temporary exhibitions. d Map being second only to the Capitol
T2 • Corniche, Chatby • 03 483 9999 in Rome), is this pillar of red Aswan
• Library open 11am–7pm Sat–Thur, 3– granite, erected about AD 297.
7pm Fri; Antiquities Museum open 9am– d Map R–S3 • Sharia Ahmed al-Sawari,
7pm Sun–Thur, 1:30–7pm Fri, 11am–7pm Karmous • Open 9am–5pm • Adm
Sat • www.bibalex.org • Adm

@ This pretty 15th-century fort

Fort Qaitbey & Kom al-Dikka
This is an ancient hill that
has been excavated to reveal a
sits on the site of the Pharos, small semi-circular Roman theatre.
which was an ancient skyscraping On another part of the site are
lighthouse once regarded as one mosaics depicting birds. d Map S2
of the Seven Wonders of the • Sharia Yousef • Open 9am–5pm • Adm
Ancient World. d Map S1 • Eastern
Harbour • Open 9am–5pm • Adm
* Cavafy Museum
Constantine Cavafy (1863–

£ Graeco-Roman Museum
This museum contains
1933) was a Greek Alexandrian
poet of international renown. This
about 40,000 items covering the museum of his life and work is in
history of Alexandria (see p47). the flat where he spent the last
d Map T2 • 5 Al-Mathaf al-Romani years of his life. d Map S2 • 4 Sharia
• 03 486 5820 • Closed for renovation Sharm al-Sheikh, off Sharia Nabi Daniel
until 2011 • www.grm.gov.eg • Adm • Open 10am–3pm Mon–Wed, Fri & Sat;
10am–5pm Thur & Sun • Adm

$ Alexandria
Museum
National

( Pastroudis
One of Egypt’s newest museums Featured in Lawrence Durrell’s
has well-displayed artefacts (see Alexandria Quartet, this café from
p47). d Map T2 • 110 Tariq al-Horreya the early 20th century retains an
• 03 483 5519 • Open 9am–5pm • www. old-fashioned air and is a former
alexmuseum.gov.eg • Adm haunt of the city’s bohemians
and elite. d Map S2 • 39 Tariq al-Horreya

% Catacombs
as-Shoqafa
of Kom

) Midan Ramla
This fascinating underground burial This square at the heart of
complex dating from the 2nd Alexandria is ringed by splendid
century AD has carved Medusa early 20th-century institutions,
heads. d Map R3 • Sharia al-Nasseriya, notably the Trianon patisserie and
Karmous • Open 9am–5pm • Adm tearoom. d Map S2

For general information about the city of Alexandria see p93 95

Around the Nile – Luxor

The mortuary temple of Ramses II, the Ramesseum

Luxor

D ESPITE THE LARGE NUMBERS OF TOURISTS IT ATTRACTS, Luxor is little

more than a small town on the banks of the Nile. Hundreds of
thousands of international visitors flock here to marvel at what the modern
town was built upon, which is the spectacular ruins of Thebes, vast capital of
the pharaohs during the New Kingdom (1550–1069 BC). Only two temples
remain – Luxor Temple in the heart of the town and the Karnak temple
complex just north of the town.
Both were renowned throughout
the ancient world and have
attracted visitors ever since
ancient Greek and Roman times.
Even more extraordinary are the
sites on the West Bank, which is
where the pharaohs built their
grand funerary temples and
tombs. Cross by ferry or over the
road bridge. Tickets for most
monuments need to be bought in
advance from a special ticket
The Colossi of Memnon office on the West Bank.

Sights
1 Karnak
$RAŚŽ!BUL !L *EBANAH
.AGA 2 Luxor Temple
3 Luxor Museum
4 Mummification
D WK
G \ 3

M
BOB

Museum
6DQ

B
$

5
BEJZ

Valley of the Kings

+!2.!+
"M'

.AGŽ,OHLAH 6 Ramesseum

F

5 1 $.
/JM
FS

!L 4OD
.$

$ /

7 Temple of Hatshepsut
3JW

5,$
+$
6

!L +OM 'EZIRA
0 (6

8 Medinat Habu
 $+
,58/2  
9 Colossi of Memnon

,$
$5

%ZBA
6+

0 Tombs of the Nobles

$/1,&+(
,/
1
&25

 NJMFT  LN 

98 Preceding pages View of Aswan and the Nile

 £ Luxor Museum
Situated on the Corniche
halfway between Luxor Temple
and Karnak, this modern, purpose-
built museum exhibits an excellent

Around the Nile – Luxor

collection of statuary and artefacts,
almost all of which were found in
tombs and temples in the Luxor
area. Unlike most other museums
in Egypt, the presentation is
world-class, with pieces well lit
and informatively labelled in
Hypostyle Hall in the Temple of Amun, Karnak multiple languages, including
English. A visit here will greatly

! Karnak
The greatest of all Egypt’s
enhance your appreciation of
Luxor’s many monuments (see
ancient monuments is this vast p47). For a description of the
complex of multiple temples, museum’s best items, see p102.
courts and shrines. Karnak was a d Map Z1 • Corniche al-Nil, East Bank
political, religious and military • 095 237 0569 • Open 9am–2pm &
powerbase, home to the 5–10pm in summer, 9am–2pm & 4–9pm
pharaoh, the high priests and an in winter • Adm
enormous corps of administrators.
Pharaohs from the 12th to the
22nd Dynasty ruled from here, $ Mummification Museum
Although not large, this
including Ramses II and museum manages within a
Tutankhamun, and most of them relatively compact space to
left their mark in some way. explain not only the methods of
There is so much to see that it is mummification – occasionally in
worth visiting both by day and quite alarming detail – but also
again by night for the Sound and the reasons for it. Choice ancient
Light Show (see pp16–17). artefacts illustrate the texts,
including materials and tools

@ Luxor Temple
The modern town has
used in the mummification
process. The symbols and
grown up around this temple, icons of the afterlife are also
which occupies a prime, clearly explained via pictorial
central spot beside the Nile. boards. There are also
It exerts a commanding plenty of intriguing, fun
presence, acting as a exhibits, including a
constant reminder of how mummified cat and ram,
much in thrall to the a cross-section of a
pharaohs the modern mummified skull stuffed
town remains. Majestic with material where
by day, the temple takes the brain has been
on an unearthly quality by removed and a piece
night when precision of a mummified toe
flood lighting adds drama (see p47). d Map Y2
to the huge stone • Corniche al-Nil, East Bank
figures and the carved • 095 238 1501 • Open 9am–
reliefs that cover most Colossus of Ramses II, 10pm in summer (until 9pm in
surfaces (see pp20–21). Luxor Temple winter) • Adm

99
Around the Nile – Luxor

The impressive mortuary temple of Ramses III, Medinat Habu

% Valley of the Kings

By digging their tombs deep & Temple of Hatshepsut
Against its stark mountainous
into the Theban Hills the pharaohs backdrop, the partly rock-hewn
hoped to stop robbers stealing Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut
the priceless possessions buried is an awe-inspiring sight and one
with them. It was an unsuccessful of the most popular monuments
strategy. Every burial chamber on the West Bank. It was
discovered to date had been designed by Queen Hatshepsut’s
raided except for those of Yuya architect Senenmut in the 18th
and Thuya and Tutankhamun Dynasty. The temple was
(see p40–41). The vacant tombs damaged by Ramses II and his
are fascinating, with the corridor successors, and Christians later
walls and burial chambers turned it into a monastery
stunningly adorned with painted (hence its alternative name,
reliefs designed to help the Deir al-Bahri, which means
pharaoh navigate the “Northern Monastery”). Ongoing
Underworld (see pp24–5). restorations of the site have done
much to revive former glories and

^ Ramesseum
Ramses II was ruler of Egypt
have revealed some exquisite
decoration (see pp22–3).
for 67 years and he built his
mortuary temple as a statement
of his eternal greatness. The * Medinat Habu
It is a great mystery why
huge complex dedicated to this magnificent mortuary temple
Amun, which took almost 20 years raised by Ramses III is not
to build, now lies mostly in ruins visited more. It is second in size
with only some columns still only to Karnak, and is in a far
standing (see p38). d Map V3 more complete state than the
• 1 km (0.6 miles) NE of West Bank ticket nearby Ramesseum, on which
office • Open 6am–5pm • Adm Medinat Habu is modelled.
Ramses III’s military campaigns
Crossing the Nile are recorded in detail on the
Since the opening of the Luxor main entrance pylon and on the
Bridge in 1998, 7 km (4 miles) walls inside. In the second court,
south of town, all coaches, cars colourful reliefs are well preserved
and taxis use this route to get thanks to early Christians, who
from Luxor to the West Bank. For converted a part of the temple
pedestrians and cyclists there’s a into a church and covered the
frequent local ferry (£E1), or you offending images with plaster
can hire a motorboat or felucca
(see p38). d Map U4 • W of West Bank
for around £E20 per person.
ticket office • Open 6am–5pm • Adm

100
( Colossi of Memnon
Standing in a field beside
A Stroll Along
the Corniche
the road that runs from the Nile
to the Theban Hills, these two Morning
lone colossi are the first things Start the day with breakfast

Around the Nile – Luxor

most visitors see on arriving at at the Metropolitan Café
the West Bank. They represent on the lower level of the
Corniche by Luxor Temple.
Amenhotep III and are all that is It has great views across
left of the pharaoh’s mortuary the Nile. The morning is
temple, thought to have been a good time to visit Luxor
the largest ever built in Egypt. Temple (see pp20–21),
The temple was gradually before the heat gets too
overwhelming. Afterwards,
destroyed by the annual floods continue north up the
of the Nile and plundered for Corniche, turning right
building material by later pharaohs. onto Sharia al-Montazah;
d Map V3 • 1 km (0.6 mile) E of West here you have a view of
Bank ticket office the Avenue of Sphinxes
(see p20) that once
connected Luxor Temple
) Tombs of the Nobles
These are the tombs of the
with Karnak, and can also
clearly see how the
administrators and high officials modern town has been
of the New Kingdom. In contrast built on top of them.
Continue north up the
to the royal tombs hidden in the Corniche, stopping for a
Valley of the Kings, the nobles’ visit to the Mummification
tombs were built close to the Museum (see p99), then
surface and were open to passing a couple of run-
descendents to visit and leave down colonial-era buildings
on your right, one of which
offerings. Vivid artworks cover their was one of the earliest
walls, providing an insight into hotels in town and now
daily life in ancient Egypt. The houses the city council.
tombs are divided into six groups, Stop for lunch at Kebabgy
each of which requires its own in the Nile Shopping
Centre on the Corniche
ticket. For information on specific (see p106).
tombs, see p103. d Map V3 • W of
West Bank ticket office, follow signposts Afternoon
from Old Gurna for Sheikh Abd al-Gurna Just a short walk further
Tombs • Open 6am–5pm • Adm north on the Corniche is
the Luxor Museum (see
p99) with its superb
collection of artefacts from
various tombs and temples.
Afterwards, instead of
walking all the way back,
take a calèche, one of the
horse-drawn carriages that
patrol the town. The
official rate is £E30 per
hour, but the drivers
usually charge more. Ask
the driver to take you back
to the Old Winter Palace
Hotel (see p129) for a late
afternoon drink on the
front terrace.
Tomb of Sennefer, Tombs of the Nobles

Sign up for DK’s email newsletter on traveldk.com 101

Around the Nile – Luxor

Left A relief on the Talatat Wall Right Detail of the statue of Sobek enthroned with Amenhotep III

Luxor Museum
! Head of Amenhotep III
Displayed near the museum ^ The Glory of Thebes Hall
This hall is devoted to the
entrance is this massive pharaoh’s military history of ancient Egypt.
head in granite, originally part of Exhibits include ancient weapons,
Amenhotep’s immense mortuary reliefs depicting battle scenes
temple, of which nothing and Tutankhamun’s hunting chariot.
survives except the Colossi of
Memnon (see p101).
& Royal Mummies
Also in the Glory of Thebes

@ Golden Cow Head

Also near the entrance is a
Hall are two royal mummies of
Ahmose, the pharaoh who drove
gilded head representing Mehit- the Hyksos out of Egypt and
Weret, an aspect of Hathor, cow- reunited the country, starting the
headed goddess of love. It is golden New Kingdom era. There
carved from wood, with copper is also a mummy of what might
horns and eyes of lapis lazuli, be Ramses I.
and was discovered in the tomb
of Tutankhamun.
* Tutankhamun Treasures
On the first floor, glass

£ Cachette Hall
This hall contains 16 of the
cabinets display items from
Tutankhamun’s tomb, including
statues found beneath Luxor sandals, arrow heads, two solar
Temple in 1989, including a barques and several gilded shabti
statue of Amenhotep III, who (small figures placed in the tomb
largely built the temple. The to help the pharaoh in the afterlife).
statue is one of the finest pieces
of ancient Egyptian art.
( Akhenaten
A couple of eerie heads

$ Horemheb and Atum

Also notable in the Cachette
from large Osiride statues of the
heretic Pharaoh Akhenaten
Hall is the unusual paired statue (Amenhotep IV) are also on the
depicting King Horemheb first floor. They are from the Aten
kneeling before Atum, who is Temple at Karnak.
sitting on his throne and measures
almost 2 m (6.5 ft) in height.
) Talatat Wall
This is a reassembled wall

% Statue of Sobek
This beautifully expressive
of 283 painted sandstone blocks
from the Aten Temple at Karnak.
statue depicts the crocodile- It has reliefs depicting scenes of
god Sobek with his arm daily life during the time of
draped paternally around Akhenaten, all executed in the
the shoulders of the young hyper-stylized fashion peculiar
Pharaoh Amenhotep III. to the king’s reign.

102 For more information on the Luxor Museum, including

opening times, see p99
 Around the Nile – Luxor
Left Wall painting in the Tomb of Sennefer Right Wall painting in the Tomb of Nakht

Tombs of the Nobles

! Tomb of Sennefer
Sennefer was mayor of ^ Tomb of Ramose
Ramose was a governor of
Thebes and overseer of the Thebes around the time of
gardens at Amun under Akhenaten’s Amarna revolution,
Amenhotep III. His is one of the when the pharaoh overthrew
best preserved tombs, with a Egyptian polytheism in favour of
ceiling covered with brightly the worship of a single god, Aten.
coloured paintings of vines. This superb tomb is interesting
for featuring both Classical and

@ Tomb of Rekhmire
Rekhmire was a vizier under
Amarna-style reliefs.

Tuthmosis III and Amenhotep II

and his tomb depicts him & Tomb of Khonsu
Khonsu was an advisor to
collecting taxes and receiving Tuthmosis III. His tomb is
gifts from foreign lands. Among painted with colourful scenes
the tributes shown are vases depicting the Festival of Montu.
from Crete and a giraffe and
monkeys from Punt (present
day Somalia). * Tomb of Benia
Benia was a supervisor of
construction work. As with the

£ This tomb is decorated

Tomb of Nakht other two tombs in this group,
Benia’s tomb has paintings
with scenes of rural life, such as depicting vignettes of life, as
fishing, hunting and harvesting, well as statues of the deceased
as well as a banqueting scene and both his parents.
with dancers and a harpist. It
is one of the most fascinating
tombs with exceptionally vivid ( Khokha Tombs
This trio of tombs was built
and lively paintings. for New Kingdom officials.
Discovered in 1915, they were

$ Tomb of Menna
Menna was an inspector of
opened to the public only in
1995. Their decoration is similar
estates. Paintings in his tomb to the other tombs in this area.
depict him and his wife making
offerings to the gods. A scene in
the inner chamber also portrays ) Assasif Tombs
These are three more tombs
him hunting and fishing. that lie between the main Tombs
of the Nobles and the Temple of

% Tomb of Userhat
Userhat was one of
Hatshepsut. Some of the Assasif
tombs date from the Late Period,
Amenhotep II’s scribes. His tomb notably the Tomb of Pabasa,
has detailed scenes of everyday which has detailed bee-keeping
life, including a trip to the barbers. and fruit-picking scenes.

For general information about the Tombs of the Nobles and 103
details of opening times and admission prices see p101
Around the Nile – Luxor

Left The ruins of the village of Deir al-Medina Right Tomb wall painting, Valley of the Queens

Best of the Rest

! Deir al-Medina
The labourers who built the & Tomb of Ay
Ay was Tutankhamun’s
royal tombs lived here. Several of successor and his fine tomb has
their tombs and a small Ptolemaic both royal and noble imagery.
temple can be visited. d Map U3 d Map U2 • Western Valley • Open 6am–
• 1 km (0.6 mile) NW of West Bank ticket 5pm • Adm
office • Open 6am–5pm • Adm

@ Valley of the Queens * The Donkey Trail

Starting near the Tomb of
This holds the tombs of many Ramses I in the Valley of the Kings
royal wives and children. Although is a scenic trail that leads to the
there are nearly 80 tombs, only a Temple of Hatshepsut. The hike
few are open to the public. takes about 30 minutes, but beware
d Map U3 • 1 km (0.6 mile) NW of West the heat in summer. d Map V2
Bank ticket office • Open 6am–5pm • Adm • 2 km (1 mile) N of West Bank ticket office

£ Tomb of Nefertari
This stunning tomb has very ( Gurna Discovery
This is the sole remaining
fragile paintwork. Access is by house of Gurna, a former village
special arrangement and for a very on the site of the Tombs of the
high fee. d Map U3 • Valley of the Nobles (see p101). It contains a
Queens, 1 km (0.6 mile) NW of West Bank small museum of village life.
ticket office • Closed for restoration. d Map V3 • W of West Bank ticket office
Provisionally due to reopen mid-2010 • Adm • Open 8am–noon, 2–5pm Wed–Mon

$ Temple of Seti I
This temple is ruinous, but it ) New Gurna
Completed in 1948, New
has some interesting reliefs. Gurna was built as an attempt to
d Map X3 • 3 km (2 miles) E of West rehouse the residents of Gurna
Bank ticket office • Adm away from the antiquities, but it
has never been occupied. d Map W4

% Howard Carter’s House

The archaeologist famous
for discovering the tomb of
$RAŚŽ!BUL
Tutankhamun lived here. d Map X2 .AGA !L *EBANAH

• 3 km (2 miles) E of West Bank ticket office

DWK
G\3

M
BOB
6 DQ

^ Temple of Merneptah
B
$
BEJZ

The reconstructed remains

"M'

.AGŽ,OHLAH
of this mortuary temple are next
!L 4OD
to the Ramesseum. d Map V3
JMF
/
FS

!L +OM
• 1 km (0.6 mile) NE of West Bank ticket 'EZIRA
3JW

office • Open 6am–5pm • Adm

104
 Around the Nile – Luxor
Left Feluccas on the Nile Right Hot-air ballooning

Outdoor Activities
! Hot-Air Ballooning
From October until May ^ Swimming
If your hotel does not have a
several companies offer hot-air swimming pool, then the
balloon excursions over Luxor. Mercure Inn and Jolie Ville Luxor
They leave at dawn from sites on (see p129) allow non-guests to
the West Bank and flights last use their pools for a day fee. It is
about 30–40 minutes. They can not safe to swim in the Nile.
be booked through your hotel.

@ An even higher view of Luxor

Seaplane Flights & Golf
Luxor has an 18-hole, par
72 course at the Royal Valley Golf
can be enjoyed from an eight- Club. Daily memberships are
seater seaplane that carries offered, and the club has caddies,
passengers each morning. club rental and power carts. Many
Departures are from a jetty near of the big hotels provide special golf
Karnak and the flight lasts about packages. d Map Z6 • 13 km (9 miles)
30 minutes. You can book from Luxor town, E Bank • 095 928 0098
through your hotel.

£ Cycling is a great way to get

Cycling * Horse-Riding
Horses can be hired by the
hour from stables in Gezira, the
around the West Bank. You can small village next to the ferry
hire bikes by the day at several landing on the West Bank. Ask
places on Sharia al-Mahatta and for the Pharaoh’s Stables or
Sharia Televizyun in Luxor town, Arabian Horse Stables, or book
and then take them across the in advance through your hotel.
river on the ferry. d Map V2 d Map W6 • Arabian Horse Stables: 095
231 0024 • Pharaoh’s Stables: 095 231 2263

$ Felucca Trips
A popular felucca trip is to
( Tennis
sail to Banana Island (Geziret al- Some of the hotels in town
Moz), where you can stroll through have tennis courts, notably the
the banana groves. A round trip Hilton, Mercure Inn and Sheraton
takes two to three hours. d Map W6 (see p129). Non-residents may
be allowed to use the facilities.

% Bird-Watching
Crocodile Island is excellent
) Sunbathing
for bird-watching. There are at Egypt is a traditional Muslim
least 50 species of bird here. You country, where displays of flesh
can get a bus to the island from will offend locals (and, in the case
the Old Winter Palace hotel (see of improperly dressed women,
p129). d Map W6 • Crocodile Island, invite sexual harassment). Confine
4 km (2.5 miles S of Luxor town) sunbathing to your hotel pool.

105
 Price Categories
For a two-course meal £ under £E30
for one with a soft ££ £E30–£60
drink and including £££ £E60–£120
service ££££ £E120–£250
£££££ over £E250
Around the Nile – Luxor

Above Kebabgy

Restaurants and Cafés

! 1886 Restaurant,
Old Winter Palace
restaurant is popular with local
expats. d Map X6 • Sharia al-Roda al-
This upmarket French restaurant Sharifa, off Khaled Ibn al-Walid, East Bank
requires reservations and formal • 095 236 1451 • £££
dress (jacket and tie for men)
(see p61). d Map Y2–3 • Old Winter
Palace, Corniche al-Nil, East Bank & Tutankhamun
This small local restaurant
• 095 2380 422 • Closed lunch • ££££ near the ferry landing beside the
river has a great view across to

@ Kebabgy
Popular for snacks (including
the Luxor Temple. d Map X5 • Al-
Gezira, West Bank • 010 566 8614 • ££
pizza and pasta), this waterside
restaurant also serves grilled
meats. d Map Y2 • Nile Shopping * King’s Head Pub
A favourite with the town’s
Centre, Corniche al-Nil, East Bank • ££ UK visitors, this is a restaurant-
pub. d Map X6 • Sharia Khalid Ibn al-

£ LaTheMamma, Sheraton
best Italian food in town
Walid, East Bank • 095 228 0489 • ££

is served here on a terrace (see

p129). d Map X6 • Sheraton Luxor ( Al-Gezira
This rooftop restaurant with
Resort, Sharia Khaled Ibn al-Walid, Awamiya, great Nile views serves Egyptian
East Bank • 095 227 4544 • £££ specialities (see p130). d Map X5
• Al-Gezira, West Bank • 095 231 0034 • ££

$ Sofra
This simple but charming
) Al-Moudira
restaurant in a 1930s house This hotel serves lunch in its
serves Egyptian dishes. d Map Z3 Swimming Pool Pavilion and dinner
• 90 Sharia Mohammed Farid, East Bank in the Great Room, which has a
• 095 235 9752 • £££ Mediterranean-inspired menu
(see p129). d Map X2 • Haggar

% LaOldCorniche,
Winter Palace
Daba’iyya, West Bank • 012 325 1307 • ££££

.EW
The larger of this hotel’s eateries 'URNA
$
51 .

has a broader, more international

F

!L 4OD
/JM

.$


$/
menu than the 1886. d Map Y2–3
FS

5,$
+$
3JW

'EZIRA
M


• Old Winter Palace, Corniche al-Nil, East
BOB

(6
+0
B
$

$
 
Bank • 095 2380 422 • Closed lunch • ££££
BEJZ



2AMLEH
,$
$5
"M'

6+

,58/2
%ZBA

^ The Lantern
,/
/1

Owned by an Anglo-Egyptian
+($
51,&

couple (as reflected in the menu,

&2

which includes both shish NP

PLOHV
tawouk and chicken curry), this

106 Recommend your favourite restaurant or café on traveldk.com

 Around the Nile – Luxor
Left Granite falcon (Horus), Temple of Horus, Edfu Right Carved wall, Temple of Hathor, Dendara

Around Luxor
! Tell al-Amarna
The remains of the city built ^ Edfu
Halfway between Luxor
by pharaoh Akhenaten and his and Aswan, Edfu is the first stop
wife Nefertiti consists of widely on most Nile cruises for the
dispersed desert ruins. Few Temple of Horus, the largest and
tourists get to this remote site. best preserved Graeco-Roman
d Map B3 • Al-Minya Governorate, temple in Egypt (see p38).
12 km (7 miles) SW of Mallawi • Adm d Map C5 • 115 km (71 miles) S of
Luxor • Open 6am–5pm in summer,

@ Abydos
The cult centre of Osiris,
7am–4pm in winter • Adm

Abydos was the holiest of places

in Pharaonic times. The remains & Al-Kab
This was once the ancient
include the Temple of Seti I (see city of Nekheb, dedicated to the
p38). d Map B4 • 150 km (90 miles) NW vulture goddess, Nekhbet. Little
of Luxor • Open 8am–5pm • Adm remains today except for four
tombs of ancient nobles.

£ Dendara
Just outside Qena is a well-
d Map C5 • 15 km (9 miles) S of Edfu
• Open 7am–5pm • Adm
preserved, large Graeco-Roman
temple dedicated to Hathor. It is
one of the most intact temples in * Silsilah
On the banks of the Nile
Egypt (see p39). d Map B4 • 60 km between Edfu and Kom Ombo
(37 miles) N of Luxor • Open 7am–6pm in are ancient quarries cut into rocky
summer, 7am–5pm in winter • Adm cliff faces. Feluccas sailing from
Aswan often stop here to let

$ Western Desert
This lies between the Nile
passengers view ancient graffiti.
d Map C5 • 35 km (22 miles) S of Edfu
Valley and the border with Libya.
Tourist agencies run day trips to
the sands of the White Desert – ( Kom Ombo
Overlooking the Nile, this is
make enquiries at your hotel. a dual temple on a symmetrical
plan, jointly dedicated to the

% Esna
This small market town is
falcon god Horus and crocodile
god Sobek. d Map C5 • 40 km
best known for the remains of (25 miles) N of Aswan • Open 6am–5pm
the Temple of Khnum, of which in summer, 7am–4pm in winter • Adm
only the hypostyle hall has been
excavated. The site is visited on
the return leg (Aswan–Luxor) of ) Daraw
This small town hosts a
most Nile cruises. d Map B5 • 54 km famous Tuesday camel market,
(33 miles) S of Luxor • Open 7am–5pm in with animals from Sudan. d Map
summer, 7am–4pm in winter • Adm C5 • 32 km (20 miles) N of Aswan

107
Around the Nile – Aswan & Lake Nasser

Left Nubia Museum Right Tombs of the Nobles

Aswan and Lake Nasser

E GYPT’S SOUTHERNMOST CITY WAS AN IMPORTANT garrison town guarding

the frontier in ancient times. It has also always been a major trading post
for goods arriving from Africa. Even today the town feels more “African” than
Middle Eastern, in part due to the darker skin of many of its inhabitants, who
are Nubians rather than Arabs. Life here moves at a languid pace and the
sightseeing is less frenetic than in Luxor. The Nile is also particularly beautiful
here, dotted with islands and with a west bank of sandy, desert slopes that
come right down to the water’s edge. Aswan is gateway to Lake Nasser (see
p113), the vast reservoir that stretches about 500 km (300 miles) behind the
High Dam, south into neighbouring Sudan.

Sights
1 Souq 6 Tombs of the Nobles
2 Nubia Museum 7 Unfinished Obelisk
3 Elephantine Island 8 Temple of Philae
4 Kitchener’s Island 9 High Dam
5 Felucca Rides 0 Abu Simbel
Elephantine Island

(GIX
/J

JMF
MF

6LOVLODK
S
/

(*<37 .RP2PER
WF
3J

1UBBET
$VZDQ !L (AWWA
VHHPDSULJKW
/
1,

.DOÂEVKD
$/

&MFQIBOUJOF
-BLF


*TMBOE
/BTTFS
+(

6+$
,&

5 ,$
)$ 5  $ % %
'$5
51

, '  $6
&2

$54$/%$1

+OTI !SWAN
6 + $ 5 , $  02 + $ 0 0 ( ' 
<$ 6 6 , 1 
7RVKND
5,$6+

"NVO
*TMBOE 'FSJBM
(BSEFOT
6+$

*TJT
7

*TMBOE
$'$
,4 6
7$ 5

68 '$1

 NJMFT  LN   ZBSET  NFUSFT 

108
 It also has a garden with a typical
distinctive Nubian house, and a
water feature showing the Nile’s
course and cataracts (see p47).
d Map S6 • Sharia al-Fanadek • 097 231

Around the Nile – Aswan & Lake Nasser

9222 • Open 9am–9pm • www.numibia.
net/nubia • Adm

£ Elephantine Island
The largest of the islands at
Aswan, Elephantine Island is also
the site of the town’s oldest
settlement. In ancient times it
was the cult centre of the ram-
Aswan souq headed god of the Nile flood,
Khnum. Among the ruins at the

! Souq
Filling one long street (Sharia
southern end are those of the
Temple of Khnum, built by
al-Souq) that runs parallel to the Nectanebo in the 4th century BC.
riverside Corniche, Aswan’s Regular ferries connect the island
colourful souq is the best in Egypt with the Corniche. d Map S5–6
outside of Cairo. It is especially
good for spices and dyes. Look
out for dried hibiscus, boiled to $ Kitchener’s Island
Behind Elephantine Island is
make the drink karkade. You can the much smaller Kitchener’s
also buy Nubian jewellery, Island, named for the British
scarves, skullcaps, embroidered general Horatio Kitchener, who
galabiyyas and locally-made was presented with the island in
baskets. As in Cairo, it’s important the 1890s as a reward for leading
that you haggle, or face paying the Egyptian army’s successful
way over the odds. d Map T4–5 campaigns in Sudan. Kitchener, a
keen botanist, planted the island

@ Nubia Museum
Nubia is the area between
with exotic plants and flowers
from all over the world. To get to
Aswan in Egypt and Khartoum in it you need to hire a felucca and
Sudan. This museum has displays ask the captain either to wait or to
on Nubian life from the earliest return for you at an agreed time.
settlements to the modern day. d Map S5 • Open 7am–sunset • Adm

Kitchener’s Island

109
 & Unfinished Obelisk
One of the strangest sites
in Egypt is a huge obelisk still
attached to the bedrock in an
ancient quarry in the hills south
Around the Nile – Aswan & Lake Nasser

of Aswan that supplied the

ancient Egyptians with red
granite for their temples and
statues. Three sides of the shaft
were completed before a flaw
was discovered in the stone and
the obelisk was abandoned. Had
it been completed, it would
have weighed an astonishing
1.8 million kg (1,197 tons) and
stood 41 m (134 ft) high. d Map
T6 • 1.5 km (1 mile) S of Aswan • Open
A felucca sailing past the Tombs of the Nobles 7am–5pm • Adm

% Felucca Rides
Aswan is the finest place to * Temple of Philae
A highlight of Aswan, and
go sailing in a felucca. You can reason alone to pay a visit to
hire one by the hour or for the the town, is this Graeco-Roman
day and use it as your personal temple dedicated to the cult of
transport to visit Elephantine and Isis. It is situated on its own
Kitchener’s islands and the picturesque island in the middle
tombs on the west bank. The of the Nile and the only way to
more adventurous might consider visit it is by motor launch, which
a two-night, three-day cruise to makes for a supremely dramatic
Edfu. The boats take up to six approach. It lies between the
people and conditions are basic. Aswan and High Dams, a
The felucca captains congregate 15-minute drive south of town,
on the Corniche. Alternatively, and is usually visited as part of
you can have your hotel make an organized tour, although it is
the arrangements. possible to get a taxi – just ask
for Shallal, which is where the

^ Tombs of the Nobles

The hills on the west bank of
motorboats dock (see pp28–9).

the Nile at Aswan have tombs Dam

hewn out of the rock dating from Egypt’s fortunes have historically
the Old and Middle Kingdoms, always been linked to the annual
many of which are decorated. flooding of the Nile. In order to
The best (No.31) is that of Prince regulate this the British built the
Sarenput II, governor of southern Aswan Dam between 1898 and
Egypt during the 12th Dynasty. It 1902. This soon proved too small
is decorated with statues of the to control the river’s unpredictable
floods and in the 1960s President
prince and painted scenes of
Nasser began construction of the
hunting and fishing. To get to the High Dam. The resultant
tombs take a local ferry from the increases in agricultural
Corniche near the railway station. production and hydroelectricity
d Map S4 • Qubbet al-Hawa, west bank have saved Egypt from famine.
• Open 7am–5pm • Adm

110
( High Dam
Built between 1960 and
A Day in Aswan
1971, the enormous High Dam is Morning
3,830 m (12,562 ft) across, 111 m Aswan is not a great
(364 ft) high and 980 m (3,214 ft) sightseeing city like Cairo

Around the Nile – Aswan & Lake Nasser

wide at its base. At the eastern or Luxor. It is a mellow
town, partly because the
end of the dam there is a visitors’
heat slows down the
pavilion detailing the construction tempo. Start the day with
of the dam and at the western breakfast on your boat
end there is a lotus-shaped before going ashore. Then
tower, built to commemorate the head inland until you come
to Sharia al-Souk, and walk
Soviet Union’s assistance in the
south. In recent years the
project, that also has an souq has been smartened
observation deck. The dam is up and part of it has been
usually visited as part of tours to converted into a pedestrian-
Abu Simbel. d Map C5 • 17 km only promenade, but it
remains authentic and is
(11 miles) S of Aswan • Open 7am–5pm
the most charming bazaar
in Egypt. For a unique
souvenir look out for local
Nubian handicrafts and
cassettes of Nubian music.
Eventually the souq peters
out and Sharia al-Souq
swings right to connect
with the Corniche. Just
north of here are a string
of moored boats that
double as restaurants,
with the Aswan Moon
(Corniche al-Nil • 097 231
61 08) being a great spot
to stop off for lunch.
Afternoon
The Sun Temple at Abu Simbel
The best way to combat
the afternoon heat is to

) Abu Simbel
Hewn out of a solid cliff in
take to the water in a
felucca. Boat captains
tout for business on the
the 13th century BC, the great
Corniche and charge by
Sun Temple and the smaller
the hour. You can choose
Temple of Hathor at Abu Simbel to drift languidly or be
are a breathtaking sight. dropped off on Kitchener’s
Although dedicated to the gods, Island or on Elephantine
the Sun Temple is really a Island for further exploring.
Later on, hire a felucca or
monument to the pharaoh
catch the local ferry from
Ramses II, as a statement of near the Aswan Museum
his power. His image dominates (see p112) on Elephantine
the façade in the form of four Island back to the
seated colossi. The temple is mainland and head to
the nearby Old Cataract
usually visited as a day trip from
Hotel (see p131) for
Aswan, a convoy of coaches sundowners on the
departing early in the morning terrace. At dusk the river
and returning late in the takes on a pink hue, which
afternoon. Abu Simbel also has is beautiful and calming.
its own airport (see pp30–31).

Share your travel recommendations on traveldk.com 111

Around the Nile – Aswan & Lake Nasser

Left Aswan Dam Centre Aga Khan Mausoleum Right A Nubian village, Elephantine Island

Best of the Rest

! Aga Khan Mausoleum
The Aga Khan III (1877–1957), ^ Issa Island
Issa Island is home to the
leader of the Ismaili sect of Shiia Nubian Restaurant, which has a
Muslims, had himself buried in lovely garden. It is reached by free
this Fatimid-style tomb atop a ferry from near the Egypt Air office.
hillside. d Map R5 • West Bank d Map S6 • Issa Island • 097 910 8000

@ Monastery of St Simeon
This 7th-century monastery & Nubian House
This café/restaurant high on
was abandoned after an attack in a hilltop overlooking the Nile
the 12th century. Its ruins are a serves Nubian food and sometimes
30-minute desert hike from the has live music, but most people
river’s edge. d Map R5 • West Bank come for the magnificent views.
• Open 8am–4pm • Adm d Map S6 • Uphill from the Basma Hotel,
Elephantine Island • 097 232 6226

£ Aswan Museum
This small museum is home
* Fatimid Cemetery
to artefacts found in and around This large dusty expanse is
Aswan and Elephantine Island, dotted with hundreds of mud-
ranging from primitive prehistoric brick tombs, many of which date
weapons to Graeco-Roman back to the 9th and 10th centuries.
mummies. d Map S6 • Elephantine d Map S6 • Between the Nubian
Island • Open 8am–4pm • Adm Museum and the Unfinished Obelisk

$ Nilometer
The walls of the square shaft ( Sehel Island
A felucca trip to this island,
of 90 rock-cut steps descending 4 km (2.5 miles) from Aswan, is
to the river are marked to record a popular half-day excursion, not
the height of the annual flood. so much for anything that’s there,
This helps predict the likely crop but more for the pleasure of
yield for the coming year. sailing the Nile. d Map R6
d Map S6 • Elephantine
Island • Adm included in
) Aswan Dam
JMF
FS
/

ticket for Aswan Museum At the time of

3JW

its construction (1898–

1,/
 $/

%
,JUDIFOFST
Old Cataract *TMBOE 1902), this British-
+(
1,&

Hotel built dam was the

&25

This Moorish-styled &MFQIBOUJOF

*TMBOE !SWAN
largest in the world.
hotel, with a lovely It was superseded
$/%$ 1'$5

verandah overlooking in the 1970s by the

$5 4

*TJT
the Nile, remains the *TMBOE High Dam. d Map B6
'$7

6+
,$

top hotel in town

46$

• 11 km (7 miles) S
$5

NP 6+
7$5,

(see pp53 & 131). PLOHV of Aswan

112
 Around the Nile – Aswan & Lake Nasser
Left Temple of Kalabsha Right Pharaonic relief inside the Temple of Kalabsha

Lake Nasser
! Temple of Kalabsha
This striking temple was built ^ Abu Simbel
The imposing Sun Temple
by Emperor Augustus in the 1st was built by Ramses II at the
century AD on the site of earlier height of the New Kingdom era
buildings. It was moved north of its and is one of the most
original location when Lake Nasser impressive ancient sites in
was created. d Map B5 • Just W of Egypt (see pp30–31).
the High Dam • Open 7am–5pm in
summer, 7am–4pm in winter • Adm
& Lake Nasser Cruises
Cruises on Lake Nasser take

@ Kiosk of Qertassi
The remains of this Roman-
three days to sail from near the
High Dam to Abu Simbel, calling
era pavillion beside Kalabsha at Wadi al-Sebua, Amada Temple
Temple have two fine Hathor- and Qasr Ibrim (see p133).
headed columns at the entrance.
d Map B5 • W of High Dam • Adm
included in the ticket for Kalabsha Temple * Crocodiles
Once common in Egypt, and
worshipped in ancient times,

£ This small temple was built

Wadi al-Sebua crocodiles were hunted to
extinction by the 1950s. However,
by Ramses II. Approached by a in recent years they have returned
half-buried avenue of sphinxes, it in large numbers to Lake Nasser
has colossi of the pharaoh. d Map where they now thrive.
B6 • 140 km (87 miles) S of High Dam

$ Dedicated to Amun-Ra and

Temple of Amada ( Angling
Lake Nasser is renowned for
its fish stocks, particularly Nile
Ra-Harakhty, Amada was built perch, which grow here to monster
during the reigns of Tuthmosis III dimensions. Several companies
and Amenhotep II. It has some organize big game freshwater
well-preserved reliefs. angling expeditions, notably
d Map B6 • 185 km (115 African Angler.
$VZDQ
miles) S of High Dam d www.african-angler.co.uk
(*<3 7

% Qasr Ibrim
Although dating .DOÂEVKD
-BLF
) Wadi Halfa
There is a weekly
back to 1000 BC, the /BTTFS ferry from the High
main surviving Dam that takes 24
structure in this fort 7RVKND hours to cruise the
are the ruins of an 8th- $EX
whole length of Lake
century cathedral. 6LPEHO Nasser to Wadi Halfa
d Map B6 • 60 km (37 in Sudan. You will need
6 8 '$ 1
miles) N of Abu Simbel a Sudanese visa.

113
STREETSMART
Planning Your Trip
116
Getting There

CAIRO & THE NILE’S TOP 10

and Around
117
Practical Information
118
Etiquette
119
Things to Avoid
120
Security and Health
121
Shopping and
Eating Tips
122
Cruise Tips
123
Places to Stay
124
Cruise Ships
133
Streetsmart

Left Tourist office Centre Internet café Right Covering up in the sun

Planning Your Trip

! Internet
Information
be secured in advance
from Egyptian consulates
but the best advice is to
get hold of all the maps
The following websites in your own country but and guides you think you’ll
can help you research it is much easier and need before leaving home.
which parts of this cheaper to obtain them
fascinating country you
want to cover during your
on arrival at Cairo or
Luxor airport; this takes * Time and
Electricity
visit. They also provide just a few minutes and Egypt is two hours ahead
background information costs the equivalent of of Greenwich Mean Time
on ancient Egyptian US $15 irrespective of in winter, which means it
history and Egyptology. your nationality. is two hours ahead of the
d www.touregypt.com UK and seven hours ahead
• www.sis.gov.eg/En
• www.egyptology.blog % Egyptian
Consulates
of the US East Coast.
Egypt’s clocks move
spot.com • www. If you wish to organize forward for Daylight
drhawass.com your Egyptian visa in Saving Time usually on the
advance or have any last Friday in April and
@ Climate
Avoid July and August,
queries, a complete list
of Egyptian embassies
back again on the last
Thursday in September.
which are unbearably and consulates can be Electricity is 220V and
hot, with temperatures at found on the following sockets are for round-
a constant of around 30– website: www. pronged, twin-pin plugs.
40˚C (85–105˚F). The best embassyworld.com
weather is December to
( Insurance
February, when the
temperatures in Upper ^ Egyptian National
Tourist Offices
Travellers should take
out both health and
Egypt are much less For brochures, maps and personal belongings
uncomfortable, and, in upcoming events, contact insurance. Although it is
Cairo, it can even get the Egyptian Tourist Office possible to get good
chilly in the evenings, in your own country. medical assistance in
making a jacket necessary. d UK: 170 Piccadilly, Egypt, it has to be paid
London. 020 7493 5283 for (state facilities should
£ When to Go
As far as temperature
• USA: 630 Fifth Avenue,
Suite 2305, New York.
be avoided at all cost) and
the best hospitals and
goes, winter is the best 212 332 2570 • Canada: doctors are expensive. If
time of year, although 2020 University Avenue, you have anything stolen
hotels and cruises get Suite 2260, Montreal, you need to obtain an
booked up over Christmas Quebec. 514 861 4420. official theft report from
and New Year. November the police, called a mahdar.
and late January/February
& Tourist
in Egypt
Offices
are good for avoiding the
worst of the crowds. You There are tourist offices ) What to Take
You can buy most
may also want to steer in all of the large towns things in Egypt but you
clear of the holy month of and cities in Egypt, but should bring your own
Ramadan (see p62), when they tend to be of little sunscreen. You should
opening hours are erratic. use with uninformed also bring any prescription
staff and little in the way or non-prescription
$ Visas
Most nationalities
of maps or other printed
material. Hotel desks are
medicines. Egyptian
pharmacies are very good,
require a tourist visa to usually a better source of but drugs may go under
enter Egypt. These can up-to-date information, unrecognizable names.

116 Preceding pages Interior view of a coffee house

 Streetsmart
Left Overnight sleeper train Centre Cairo taxi Right Superjet long-distance bus logo

Getting There and Around

! By Air From
Europe
Aswan with Cairo. Flying
time in both cases is
is also the best way to
travel between Luxor
Flying to Egypt from the around one hour and and Aswan.
UK takes five to six hours. flying Cairo–Luxor costs
There are international
airports at Alexandria,
around £E600 one way.
* Taxis
Within Egypt’s towns,
Cairo and Luxor, although
most major carriers fly % Egypt’s Airports
Cairo airport is around
by far the most convenient
way to get around is by
into Cairo only. Major 20 km (12 miles) taxi. Taxis are plentiful
airlines flying direct from northeast of the city and, by Western standards,
the UK to Egypt include centre. There is no cheap. Beware of
British Airways, BMI and adequate public transport unmetered taxis. Yellow
EgyptAir, although you and the only realistic cabs are reliable and
may get cheaper fares option is to take a taxi, have a meter. Blue cabs
with other carriers that which costs around £E80 can be more expensive
involve a change of to central Cairo. Luxor as they charge a flat fee
flights, such as Air France and Aswan airports are according to distance.
via Paris, for example. much easier to negotiate d Yellow cabs 1615 • Blue
and are far closer to their cabs 02 3760 9616
@ By
Air
Intercontinental respective city centres.
( Car Hire
From the USA, only
EgyptAir flies direct to ^ Train
The only real
Driving in Egypt can
be terrifying. Egyptians
Cairo (daily from New alternative to flying do not seem to obey any
York, taking 11 hours). A between Cairo and Luxor road rules, communicate
number of European and and Aswan is to take the by means of the horn
Gulf airlines serve Cairo train. There are three and are adverse to using
from a much wider range tourist trains, all of which headlights at night. If you
of departure points, travel overnight and offer feel you need the freedom
although New York still sleeper carriages. Ideally, of a car to get around, it
offers by far the biggest you depart Cairo around isn’t any more expensive
choice of airlines. 9pm and arrive in Luxor to hire a car and driver or
about 6am the following just negotiate a day rate
£ Packages and
Charter Flights
morning. For current
schedules, prices and
with a local taxi.

The best-value flights are

with the growing number
reservations visit www.
sleepingtrains.com ) Boat
The Nile runs from the
of charter packages and very south of Egypt all the
low-cost carriers, most of
which fly directly to Luxor, & Long-Distance
Buses
way up the middle, exiting
into the Mediterranean in
rather than Cairo. Just type Buses are the best way the north, but the central
“Luxor cheap flights” into to travel between Cairo stretch of the river,
an Internet search engine and destinations such as through what is known
to be presented with all- Alexandria, Port Said and as Middle Egypt, is
inclusive flight and hotel Ismailia. Services are closed to passenger
deals at very low prices. more frequent and faster traffic because of ongoing
than trains. Various and long-standing security
$ Domestic Flights
Internal flights are
companies compete on
the routes, with Superjet,
concerns. Boat travel
(other than by small boat
operated by EgyptAir. It where available, being such as felucca) is only
connects both Luxor and the most reputable. Bus possible south of Luxor.

117
Streetsmart

Left Postbox Centre National Bank of Egypt Right Banknote

Practical Information
! Business &
Shopping Hours $ Credit Cards
Credit cards are * Mail
The best place to
Banks and offices tend to accepted in large buy stamps and post
open Sunday to Thursday restaurants and shops letters is at your hotel.
from 8am or 9am until and at most hotels, but Airmail letters take
5pm. Shops open from that’s about it. They will between around a week
around 10am until 9pm or not be accepted in smaller to 10 days to the UK and
later, but may close for shops and in souqs, and Europe and a couple of
midday prayers on Friday. you can’t buy tickets for weeks to the USA and
In Alexandria many shops sites with them. American Australia. If you need to
close from 2pm until Express, MasterCard and send something quickly,
5pm. During Ramadan Visa are the most likely use EMS (Express Mail
opening hours become to be accepted. Service), which is
totally unpredictable. offered by most major
% International post offices. Parcels
@ Currency
Egypt’s basic unit
Phone Calls
The cheapest way of
must be sent via main
post offices. In Cairo the
of currency is the phoning overseas is to main post office is on
Egyptian pound (£E). use a telephone office Midan Ramses.
One pound is divided into (known as a centraal),
100 piastres (pt). Egyptian
banknotes have Arabic
where you pay at the end
of the call. You can also ( Shipping
Couriers
&

numerals on one side, buy a phonecard (ask at If you are buying

Western numerals on the kiosks for a Menatel anything sizable, such as
other and come in card) to use in street an item of furniture or a
denominations from 5pt phone booths. Rates are carpet, then the seller
to £E200. Always carry cheaper 8pm–8am. should be able to
some smaller notes as organize the shipping for
the higher value notes
can sometimes be ^ Mobile Phones
Not all networks
you. Private courier firms
such as DHL (www.dhl.
difficult to change. provide roaming services com) and FedEx (www.
in Egypt. If you are fedex.com/eg) do exist in
£ Banks & ATMs
Money can be
planning to use your
mobile a lot you can buy
Egypt, with offices in
Cairo and Luxor, but they
changed at banks and a SIM card from a local are expensive.
Forex bureaus, which are provider such as Mobinil
private moneychangers
found in larger towns.
or Vodafone, both of which
have shops throughout ) Public
Conveniences
Forex bureaus tend to Egypt. You can then buy Public toilets in Egypt are
offer better rates than top-up cards from kiosks often unsanitary. Take the
banks but they don’t and grocery stores. opportunity to make use
always take traveller’s of the facilities in hotels,
cheques. Automatic Cash
Dispensers (ATMs) have & Internet Access
There are Internet
upmarket restaurants and
Western-style fast-food
proliferated rapidly in cafés all over Egypt, franchises and cafés,
recent years, although while many hotels offer an which tend to be better
not all are compatible online terminal for guests’ maintained. Even then
with international banking use. Charges are usually there’s often no toilet
cards. The best place to £E5–10 per hour, paper so get into the
look for ATMs is in the although five-star hotels habit of carrying a packet
lobby of larger hotels. charge considerably more. of tissues in your bag.

118
 Streetsmart
Left Sign prohibiting photography Centre Typical café Right Shoes left outside a mosque

Etiquette
! Islam
While nowhere near
persistent sexual
harassment, from wolf
can do so. Expect indoor
restaurants and cafés to
as conservative as Iran or whistles and lewd be very smoky.
Saudi Arabia, Egypt is an comments to furtive
Islamic country. Intimate
behaviour in public (such
gropes or bottom
pinching. For this reason * Tipping
A tip is called
as kissing or even women should not walk baksheesh and it is
holding hands) will be around alone. Having a expected by everybody.
seen as offensive, and male friend along greatly Anybody that does you
there are considerations reduces, but does not any kind of service from
of dress to be observed eliminate, the hassle. carrying bags to looking
(see below). For more after your shoes when
dos and don’ts see p120.
% Photographing
People
you visit a mosque will
expect a small gratuity.
@ Hospitality
Egyptians are
If you are taking a
photograph of somebody,
Usually £E1 is sufficient.
A temple attendant who
genuinely hospitable be sure to ask their opens up a “restricted
people, although it’s permission. In rural area” for you will expect
often hard to know when areas, in particular, something more like £E5.
this is the case or the Egyptians can be
friendly welcome is just
an overture that leads to
sensitive about having
their picture taken and ( Begging
Egyptians give freely
a perfume or papyrus it can sometimes lead to to beggars – it is a
shop. Don’t be naïve, but uncomfortable situations requirement of Islam.
at the same time avoid if you aren’t careful. Children sometimes stand
rudeness or aggressive outside supermarkets and
behaviour in response to
insistent offers and ^ Other
Photographic
ask for food rather than
money. What you will
demands from would-be Considerations encounter as a visitor is
guides or salesmen. Often Egyptians may lots of children asking
stop you taking for money, which is
£ Dress
Avoid too much
photographs of things
they feel show the
something quite different,
as they prey on tourists.
exposed skin. Shorts, for country in a “backward” Most Egyptians find
both men and women, light. Also, photographing them a nuisance too and
are not acceptable when bridges, train stations, will shoo them away.
walking around town (but policemen or police
are fine on the boat or
beach). Women should
stations – anything that
might be considered ) Visiting Mosques
Shoes must be
also avoid skimpy tops “strategic” – is removed before entering
that leave shoulders or absolutely forbidden and a mosque and there are
midriffs bare, and short may result in your often a shoe rack and
skirts. However, it is not camera being confiscated shoe guardian at the door
necessary for women to until you can prove you for this purpose. It is also
cover their hair. have deleted the images. essential that proper
clothing is worn – people
$ Female Travellers
Egypt is not a place & Smoking
A large percentage of
wearing shorts or
sleeveless T-shirts may
for solo female travellers. men in Egypt still smoke be refused admission
Many women visitors and as yet there are few or offered a shawl to
have a problem with bans on where people cover up with.

Sign up for DK’s email newsletter on traveldk.com 119

Streetsmart

Left Some places have very little shade Centre Holding hands is to be avoided Right Mineral water

Things to Avoid
! Dehydration
It is terrifically hot in
most Egyptians do
not drink as they * Trying to Do
Too Much
Egypt and there is little consider it contrary to There is an immense
shade at most tourist Islam. Getting drunk is a amount to see and do in
sites. Dehydration is a sure way of demeaning Egypt, particularly in Cairo
very real threat so drink yourself in the eyes of and Luxor. Be realistic in
plenty of fluids (not the locals. your goals. It takes
alcohol or coffee, both months to see everything,
of which exacerbate the
problem) and put a little % Drugs
There are drugs
not days. A good plan in
Luxor is to sightsee in
extra salt on your food. around in Egypt. the mornings, give
Bottled water is sold Marijuana is not yourself the afternoon off,
everywhere but it is uncommon in Sinai but and then possibly visit a
always wise to carry a there’s also a harder drug temple in the evening for
bottle with you. scene in the cities that is the Sound and Light show.
a current cause of
@ Tap Water
Tap water in Egypt is
consternation. It is all
illegal and penalties for ( Losing
Temper
Your

heavily chlorinated and anyone found using “Just for looking, just for
relatively safe to drink drugs are harsh. At the looking!” Vendors’ cries
but if you are not used to very least you will be are incessant (“Cheaper
it, it could still upset your deported and not allowed than Asda price!”). Every
stomach. For this reason to return to the country. Egyptian you meet seems
it is best to stick to to want to sell you
mineral water (ask for
“baraka”, a leading ^ Overstretching
the Plumbing
something (“My brother
has very nice perfume
brand), which is cheap Egyptian plumbing is not shop!”). They are just
and readily available. very robust. Toilets get trying to make a living
blocked very easily. For and it’s not easy. So even
£ Fake Guides
At many historic sites,
this reason there will
often be a wastebasket
at the umpteenth tug of
your sleeve, keep your
especially the Pyramids in the toilet cubicle, cool and just say a polite
and Karnak, you may be which is for used toilet “No thanks”.
approached by locals paper. It may not seem
offering their services as
guides: be wary. Many of
particularly hygienic but
is preferable to the ) Believing
Are Told
All You

these men have next to flooding that will General Montgomery did
no knowledge whatsoever otherwise be the result. not ride your camel at
and the extent of their the Pyramids. Your
commentary runs little
further than: “Very big, & Public Displays
of Affection
felucca captain is not
called Michael/Chris/
very old”. If you feel you No kissing in public, no Bruce, just the same as
need a guide, consider holding hands, no you. That yellow powder
hiring one in advance walking with arms you are snapping up as a
through your hotel. around each others’ bargain is not saffron.
waists. Egypt is very That papyrus is not “very
$ Getting Drunk
Alcohol is served in
conservative and if you
want to avoid giving
old” but was probably
plucked from a banana
some restaurants and offence this is something plant last week…Enjoy
bars do exist in Egypt, couples need to be Egypt but beware of
particularly in hotels, but aware of. being too gullible.

120
 Streetsmart
Left Mind pickpockets in crowded streets Centre Tourist police Right Detail of pharmacy sign

Security and Health

! Vaccinations &
Other Precautions
safe, but in cheaper
hotels the pests often * Crime
Crime is minimal
There are no compulsory come as standard. You in Egypt. However,
inoculations for Egypt, can employ mosquito pickpockets work in Cairo,
although you should coils, rub-on repellent particularly around Midan
always be up to date or a plug-in vaporizer, Tahrir and on the buses
with polio and tetanus all of which are sold to the Pyramids. Casual
vaccinations. It’s also at pharmacies. theft is no more or less
worth being vaccinated prevalent than in any
against typhoid. Egypt is
not in a malarial zone. % Animal Dangers
There are snakes and
other country. Take the
same precautions you
scorpions in Egypt, would anywhere – don’t
@ Food Safety
Just as it is unwise to
particularly in the south
of the country, but the
leave valuables lying
around in plain sight.
drink the local tap water danger is minimal as they
(see p120), it is also not
recommended to eat
are mostly nocturnal and
avoid people. A greater ( Tourist Police
If you have a problem
salads as the vegetables threat comes from the or need to report a crime
will have been rinsed wild dogs that are go to the Tourist Police,
under the tap. Avoid raw occasionally encountered who can be found at
meats and anything that roaming city streets in tourist sites, airports and
looks undercooked, and packs. Do not approach stations. They are
always thoroughly wash as they are feral and often supposed to be trained
(in purified water) any quite vicious – a bite will to assist foreign visitors
fruits that are eaten necessitate precautionary and should speak a
unpeeled, such as grapes. rabies shots. second language, usually
English. They dress like
£ Stomach Upsets
No matter what ^ Pharmacies
Egypt’s pharmacies
normal police but wear
an armband reading
precautions are taken, are excellent and are “Tourist Police”.
many visitors to Egypt usually staffed with well-
will come down with
diarrhoea. If and when
trained individuals who
mostly speak English and ) Terrorism
The Egyptian
you do, keep your bodily who can dispense a wide economy is extremely
fluids topped up with range of medicines. If dependent on tourism
plenty of bottled water you have any health and the government has
and eat only the blandest problems in Egypt the invested heavily in
of foods such as plain pharmacy should be your making sure nothing
boiled rice and vegetables. first port of call. If the happens to its foreign
You may also want to pharmacist doesn’t know visitors. Since the terror
take rehydration salts. what’s wrong they will attacks of the late 1990s
Medicines like Imodium recommend a doctor. the country’s tourist
should only be used if attractions have been
you have to travel or if the
symptoms don’t clear up & Doctors
Most hotels and
flooded with armed
security, and travel
after a couple of days. better pharmacies should between towns is only
be able to recommend a permitted in armed
$ Mosquitoes
Mosquitoes can be a
good English-speaking
doctor. They charge for
convoys. It’s alarming to
be surrounded by men
nuisance. Five-star hotels consultations – expect to with guns, but it is for
are usually air-tight and pay around £E100. your own safety.

121
Streetsmart

Left Copper- and brassware Centre Glasses of tea Right A shop in a souq

Shopping and Eating Tips

! Haggling
If you shop in the $ Antiquities
Do not be fooled into
viewed as a luxury item,
most basic menu items
souqs, haggling is buying any sort of are meat-free, such as
unavoidable. Prices are antiquity, pharaonic or fuul, taamiya, kushari and
never written down; you otherwise, as 99 per some types of fiteer.
have to ask and if you cent of these are fakes. Also, many of the meze
agree the first price the And if it is real, you are served in upmarket
shopkeeper names, you not allowed to take it out restaurants are based
will be paying way over of the country anyway – around beans, pulses,
the odds. If you want export of anything dating seeds and vegetables,
something, look around before the 20th century such as hummus, tahini
and ask the price at is illegal. and tabbouleh.
several different stalls.
Then decide how much
you are prepared to % Where to Shop
The most fun places * Taxes
Although restaurant
pay and make an offer for shopping are the prices are comparatively
well below it. colourful souqs in Cairo cheap compared to the
(Khan al-Khalili is the West, bills are subject
@ The Offer of Tea
When haggling, just
best) and the souq in
Aswan. For more
to a 12 per cent service
charge and a 10 per cent
because you accept a unusual items, Cairo has sales tax – in other
cup of tea from the some great boutiques, words you pay almost
shopkeeper does not particularly in the 25 per cent more than
mean that you are under upmarket neighbourhoods the prices listed on
any obligation to buy. If of Zamalek and Doqqi the menu.
you are not happy with (see p76).
the price you should walk
( Tipping
away. Bear in mind that
however little you pay, a ^ Types of
Restaurants
In addition to the
service charge (see above)
shopkeeper will never Egypt doesn’t have a it is expected that you tip
sell anything at a loss. strong tradition of dining in restaurants. Egyptians
out and even a city as big always do, and as rich
£ What to Buy
Tourist souvenirs are
as Cairo has surprisingly
few good restaurants
foreigners your waiter
will be mortally offended
plentiful (see pp54–5). outside of the five-star if you don’t. The standard
Copper- and brassware hotels. What there is in is around 10 per cent.
(pots, trays and hanging abundance, however, is
lamps) are particularly
worth buying as Egyptian
good street food, in the
form of fuul, taamiya, ) Opening Hours
Streetfood vendors
craftsmanship in kushari and fiteer (see tend to keep long hours,
metalwork is generally pp58–9). Kebabs, often opening around 7am
excellent. The best served simply with or 8am for breakfast and
jewellery and carpets are bread and salad, are staying open until after
produced by the Bedouin always tasty, too. midnight. Restaurants
and are found only in will open for lunch, close
boutiques, rather than in
the souqs where the & Vegetarians
The concept of
in the afternoon and then
reopen in the evening,
quality can be poor. Spices vegetarianism is usually from 7pm until
are cheap and excellent incomprehensible to 11pm. Few restaurants
quality, while the opposite most Egyptians. However, outside Cairo stay open
is true of clothing. given that meat is until very late.

122
 Streetsmart
Left Guide at a temple Centre Cruise ship moored at Luxor Right Edfu Temple

Cruise Tips
! The Options
Nile cruises booked $ What to Wear
In addition to light * Booking
For the best choice
as a package holiday can clothes for sightseeing of Nile cruises go to a
be good value. Seven it’s worth bringing specialist such as Nile
nights on a boat plus something slightly more Cruises Direct or
flights can be much formal for dinner, although Discover Egypt. Prices
cheaper than flights alone none of the boats require are higher at peak times,
booked independently. jacket and tie. It can get which include Christmas,
The downside is that you chilly at night on the river New Year and Easter.
will be on a big boat with so bring something a bit When booking, avoid
hundreds of other tourists. warmer for a late-night berths on the lower
If you have the budget it’s drink on deck. decks, which offer the
worth paying more for a poorest views. d www.
smaller boat with an
agency such as % Food
Three meals a day are
nilecruisesdirect.com
• www.discoveregypt.co.uk
Abercrombie and Kent or included on all package
Voyages Jules Verne.
d www.akegypt.com
cruises, with packed
lunches for excursions. ( Dahabiyyas
These replicas of
• www.vjv.co.uk Meals are buffet, mixing 19th-century sailboats
Egyptian with international are the Rolls-Royces
@ Itineraries
There are two basic
dishes – something for
everyone. The quality of
among Nile cruisers.
Advantages are gorgeous
itineraries. The most the fare depends on the period surrounds, high-
popular is seven nights boat, but at the higher class cuisine and a small
from Luxor to Aswan and end it is very good indeed. number of fellow
back again. The other travellers. Prices are,
option is to sail one way
spending two to three ^ Evening
Entertainment
of course, high. Most
boats are privately owned
nights on board depending Most boats have a bar or by small companies,
on which direction you lounge and will host a including Nour el-Nil,
sail. There’s also a Lake galabiyya party, where all Nubian Nile Cruises and
Nasser cruise, which takes are encouraged to dress Dahabiyya. d www.
three, four or eight days, in the traditional Egyptian nourelnil.com • www.
depending on whether men’s robe (sold onboard). nubiannilecruises.com
you depart from Aswan or Some boats feature local • www.dahabiyya.com
Abu Simbel (see below). musicians, while the
bigger boats have a
) Lake Nasser
£ What Will I See?
Sailing from Luxor,
disco-party every night. The lesser-known
alternative to a Nile cruise
the boat stops at Edfu
and Kom Ombo before & Guides
All boats have their
visits Aswan, Abu Simbel
and several temples in
spending two nights at own tour guides to between (see p113). Luxor
Aswan, where you visit shepherd tourists around is not included but you
Philae and have the option the ancient sites and can visit it independently.
of paying for an extra answer questions. The Highlights are the lake’s
excursion to Abu Simbel. more upmarket boats unspoilt desert scenery
The return leg visits Esna have trained Egyptologists and relative solitude (only
and, on docking at Luxor, who also deliver lectures six boats operate on the
includes a full-day’s about the sites that will lake). The best boats are
sightseeing at Karnak be visited on the run by Belle Epoque Travel.
and the West Bank. following day. d www.eugenie.com.eg

Share your travel recommendations on traveldk.com 123

Streetsmart

Left Hotel doorman Centre Hotel reception desk Right Inside the historic Cairo Marriott

Accommodation Tips
! Staying in Cairo
The most convenient $ Making
Reservations * Historic Hotels
You can book yourself
places to stay are by the Most Egyptian hotels and into a piece of history at
Nile in central Cairo, which even hostels have a number of historic
is close to the Egyptian Internet booking, but you hotels (see pp52–3)
Museum, Khan al-Khalili should always follow up mostly built in the late
and Islamic Cairo. An with an email and print 19th century when
increasing number of out the confirmation. Egypt was enjoying its
five-star hotels are located Egyptian hoteliers are first tourist boom. Most
in the neighbourhood of famously slipshod when of these properties are
the Pyramids but this it comes to bookings and now managed by
means all the other sites it is not unheard of for international hotel chains
of Cairo are a long taxi- guests to turn up and and offer all the facilities
ride away. find their reservation has expected of a five-star
not been recorded. establishment, but with
@ Luxor and Aswan added period charm.
Both Luxor and
% Finding Something
on the Spot
Aswan are small enough
that, in terms of location, Out of season (June– ( Hotel Touts
Tourists arriving at
it doesn’t really matter August) this is possible the railway station in
where you stay. All of the but at other times it is Luxor or Aswan are
best accommodation not recommended. All swamped by touts
clusters around the Nile the best places get offering cheap rooms.
and you should make booked up in advance Most are hustling for
sure that your room has and at peak times commissions. The hotel
river views. An interesting (Christmas, New Year, they recommend is
alternative in Luxor is to Easter and Islamic feasts) simply the one that
stay on the relatively even the worst places charges the highest
undeveloped West Bank, will also be fully booked. commission – and most
where facilities tend to often it’s the seediest
be more basic but this is
compensated for by the ^ Tipping
Service workers are
hotels that need the help
of the touts to fill their
timeless rural setting. badly paid in Egypt and rooms. The tout’s
tipping the staff is never commission will be
Price amiss. The simplest way added to your bill.
£ Considerations is to leave something in
Prices are highest around
Christmas, New Year and
your room for the maids.
Porters who carry your ) Hotel Rerouting
In Cairo some taxi
Easter, and also during bags to your room should drivers ferrying tourists
the Islamic feasts of Eid receive £E5. from the airport top up
al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr, their earnings by touting
which fall at the end of
Ramadan. Conversely, & Hidden Extras
Hotel rooms are
for hotels. They may tell
you that the hotel for
out of season (June– subject to about an extra which you’re heading is
August), it is often 20 per cent in taxes. In now closed and they can
possible to get some two- or three-star hotels recommend somewhere
excellent deals. Rates you may be charged extra better. This is not true
are usually quoted in for air-conditioning, fridge and the recommended
US dollars, although if and TV. Check when hotel is paying drivers for
paying by cash you do so booking that the rate any guests they can
in Egyptian pounds. quoted is all-inclusive. steer its way.

124
 Price Categories
For a standard, £ under £E350
double room per ££ £E350–700
night (with breakfast £££ £E700–1,000
if included), taxes ££££ £E1,000–1,500
and extra charges. £££££ over £E1,500

Streetsmart
Mena House Oberoi

Top-End Hotels in Cairo

! Cairo Marriott
The former palace
superb, but this is the
newer of the two and
great area and you’ll be
reliant on taxis. d Map
has undergone a great has a more central D4 • Midan Galaa, Doqqi
deal of change but it still location. d Map E5 • 02 3336 9800 • www.star
boasts some glorious • 1089 Corniche al-Nil, wood hotels.com • ££££
public spaces and the Garden City • 02 2791 7000
nicest garden in town
(see p52). d Map E2
• www.fourseasons.com/
caironp • £££££ * Ramses Hilton
Right behind the
• 16 Sharia Saraya al-Gezira, Egyptian Museum and
Zamalek • 02 2728 3000
• www.marriott.com • ££££ % Grand Hyatt
A vast, 716-room
beside the Nile, this is a
purpose-built 36-storey
hotel, the Grand Hyatt tower-hotel. The central
@ Villa Belle Epoque
This 1920s villa with
sits commandingly on
the very northern tip of
location is good except
the hotel is surrounded
13 period-style rooms, the island of Rhoda, just by busy roads that are
lovely gardens, pool and south of central Cairo. terrifyingly difficult to
restaurant is described as Almost all rooms enjoy cross. d Map E3 • 1115
Cairo’s first boutique hotel. fantastic Nile views and Corniche al-Nil, Downtown
It is in the leafy Ma’adi the facilities are first class. • 02 2577 7444 • www.
suburb, 8 km (5 miles) d Map E5 • Corniche hilton.co.uk/ramses • ££££
south of central Cairo. d al-Nil, Rhoda • 02 2365
Map J2 • Short walk from
Rd 9, Maadi • Bookable
1234 • www.cairo.grand.
hyatt.com • £££££ ( Semiramis
InterContinental
through Bales Wordwide: This is possibly the best-
0845 057 1819 • www.bales
worldwide.com • £££££ ^ Mena House
Oberoi
located hotel in town – it
is on the river, just south
The hotel with the most of Midan Tahrir. River-
£ Conrad
International
distinguished pedigree of
any in Egypt opened in
facing rooms have fine
views of the Opera House
A relative newcomer, 1869 and has played host on the island of Gezira.
the Conrad is one of the to generations of world There are a couple of
city’s most luxurious leaders and royals. The excellent hotel restaurants
hotels – it has five location beside the and good facilities all
executive levels and a Pyramids is unique, but round. d Map E4
helipad. The restaurants make sure to book rooms • Corniche al-Nil, Garden City
are superb. Next door is in the main building and • 02 2795 7171 • www.
an upmarket shopping not in the modern garden ichotelsgroup.com • £££££
mall, but otherwise you annex (see p52).
need a taxi to get
anywhere. d Map E1
d Map H2 • Pyramids
Road, Giza • 02 3377 3222 ) Sofitel al-Gezira
This is one of Cairo’s
• 1191 Corniche al-Nil, Bulaq • www.oberoimenahouse. most stylish hotels. Public
• 02 2580 8000 • www. com • £££££ spaces look stunning
conradhotels.com • ££££ and as the hotel is a
& Cairo Sheraton cylindrical tower on the
$ Four Seasons
Nile Plaza
One of the city’s oldest
five-star establishments,
southern tip of the island
of Gezira, all rooms have
There are two Four this 650-room hotel sits terrific Nile views.
Seasons hotels in town beside the river on the d Map D–E5 • 3 Sharia al-
(the other is the Four west bank of the Nile. Half Majlis al-Thawra, Gezira
Seasons at the First of the rooms have good • 02 2737 3737 • www.
Residence). Both are river views but it’s not a sofitel.com • £££££

Unless otherwise stated, all rooms have en-suite bathrooms 125

and air conditioning
Streetsmart

Left Flamenco Centre Talisman Right Cosmopolitan Hotel

Mid-Range Hotels in Cairo

! Flamenco
The Flamenco is a
while common areas
are filled with examples
Cairo. Make sure to ask
for an inward-facing pool-
well-maintained business of Egyptian arts and view room, and not one
hotel in a fashionable crafts. It’s a stunning on the main road.d Map
area full of cafés and hotel in a great location. D5 • 60 Sharia al-Giza, Doqqi
restaurants. It has two d Map G3 • 39 Sharia • 02 336 7000 • www.
bars and there’s a 24-hour Talaat Harb, Downtown pyramisaegypt.com • £££
Internet café opposite. • 02 2393 9431 • www.
It’s worth paying the
premium for a room with
talisman-hotel.com • ££
* Windsor Hotel
Almost nothing has
a view of the Nile. d Oasis Hotel been changed since the
Map D1 • 2 Sharia al-Gezira % If you are considering 1950s at Cairo’s most
al-Wusta, Zamalek • 02 staying by the Pyramids authentic period hotel –
2735 0815 • www.golden the Oasis offers good not so great perhaps for
tulipflamenco.com • £££ value for money: spacious, its plumbing and spartan
comfortable rooms; free furnishings, but this hotel
@ Hotel President
It is often possible to
shuttle bus Downtown;
numerous restaurants
is loved for its colonial air
(see p52). d Map G3 • 19
get bargain rates through and bars; and an attractive Sharia Alfy Bey, Downtown
on-line booking agencies garden swimming pool. • 02 2591 5810 • www.
at this three-star hotel. d Map H2 • Cairo– windsorcairo.com • ££
Although located some Alexandria Desert Road
distance from the main
sights, the backstreets of
• 02 3838 7333 • www.
oasis.com.eg • ££££ ( Baron Hotel
Situated between the
Zamalek are lively with airport and central Cairo,
plenty of good cafés,
bars and restaurants. d ^ Cosmopolitan
Hotel
the Baron Hotel is modern
with full amenities, and
Map D1 • 22 Taha Hussein, This historic, lovely Art overlooks the remarkable
Zamalek • 02 2735 0718 Nouveau-era hotel Baron’s Palace, a villa
• www.presidenthotel doesn’t quite live up to fashioned to resemble a
cairo.com • ££ the old-world grandeur of Hindu temple. d Map J1
its foyer. Rooms are very • 8 Mahaad al-Sahari,
£ Havana Hotel
A small Anglo-
basic but the location is
excellent and the room
off the Airport Road,
Heliopolis • 02 2291 5757
Egyptian, family-run rates are usually highly • www.baronhotelsegypt.
hotel, the Havana is well competitive (see p52). com • £££
looked after and the staff d Map F3 • 1 Sharia Ibn
are very welcoming.
Mohandiseen is a
Talab, off Sharia Qasr al-
Nil, Downtown • 02 2392 ) Hotel Longchamps
With only 22 rooms,
10-minute taxi ride from 3956 • ££ the Longchamps tends to
Downtown. d Map H1 be booked weeks in
• 26 Sharia Syria, Pyramisa Suites advance. It’s a homely
Mohandiseen • 02 3749 & Hotel hotel with good, clean
0758 • www.havanahotel The Ministry of Tourism rooms and a fine
cairo.com • ££ classes this as a five-star restaurant, and there are
hotel; it is not, but then plenty of shops and
$ Talisman
Quite close to being
neither are its mid-range
prices, for which you get
restaurants nearby. d
Map D1 • 21 Sharia Ismail
a boutique hotel, the large rooms in a modern Mohammed, Zamalek • 02
Talisman’s 22 rooms are establishment a short 2735 2311 • http://
decorated in rich colours, taxi ride from central hotellongchamps.com • ££

126 Unless otherwise stated, all rooms have en-suite bathrooms

and air conditioning
 Price Categories
For a standard, £ under £E350
double room per ££ £E350–700
night (with breakfast £££ £E700–1,000
if included), taxes ££££ £E1,000–1,500
and extra charges. £££££ over £E1,500

Streetsmart
Above Hotel Longchamps

Budget Hotels in Cairo

! Victoria Hotel
The Victoria is about
much going on outside
your balcony you may not * Horus
Hotel
House

a century old and is want to sleep anyway. More like a European

located approximately a d Map J3 • Midan al- B&B than a hotel, this is
10-minute walk from the Hussein, entered from the a small, friendly family-
Egyptian Museum. It’s passage that leads to run establishment on a
cleaner and better looked Fishawi’s coffee house quiet residential street.
after than many hotels • 02 2591 8089 • £ Rooms vary in quality –
in this price range and ask for one that has been
has a small garden and
appealing period bar. % Garden City
House Hotel
recently renovated.
There’s a nice terrace, a
d Map G2 • 66 Sharia A little run-down breakfast room and a
Gomhuriya, Downtown (although clean), this small 24-hour bar. d
• 02 2589 2290 • www. remains one of Cairo’s Map D1 • 21 Sharia Ismail
victoria.com.eg • £ best budget options Mohammed, Zamalek • 02
thanks to its friendly and 2735 3634 • www.horus
@ Fontana Hotel
Just across the
helpful staff. The location
is also excellent, just two
househotel.4t.com • £

square from Cairo’s

railway station, the
minutes’ walk from
Midan Tahrir. d Map F4 ( Hotel Osiris
The Osiris is a modern,
Fontana occupies the • 23 Sharia Kamal al-Din cosy hotel decorated in a
upper floors of a mid- Salah, Downtown • 02 unique Oriental-inspired
rise apartment block. 2794 8400 • www.garden style.Located in the heart
The views of the city are cityhouse.com • £ of Downtown, it offers
great, especially from quiet rooms, comfortable
the hotel’s rooftop bar,
which also has a small ^ Pension Roma
Usually booked solid,
beds, an Internet café, a
rooftop terrace with a
swimming pool. the Roma has an old- panoramic view of Cairo
d Map G2 • Midan world elegance and is as well as a restaurant
Ramses, Downtown • well maintained. Rooms serving delicious
02 2592 2321 • £ vary and some are homemade Egyptian
enormous, but none has food. d Map F4 • 49
£ Mayfair
This quiet hotel in an
air conditioning. d Map G3
• 169 Sharia Mohammed
Sharia Nubar, Bab al-Louq,
Downtown • 02 2794 5728
attractive 1930s residential Farid, Downtown • 02 2391 • www.hotelosiris.over-
block has a nice breakfast 1088 • www.pensionroma. blog.com • £
terrace, free WiFi and a com.eg • £
kitchen. Not all rooms
) Lotus Hotel
have air conditioning.
d Map D2 • 9 Sharia Aziz & Odeon
Hotel
Palace A hotel for the truly
budget conscious, the
Osman, Zamalek • 02 2735 While there is nothing Lotus dates from 1950,
7315 • www.mayfaircairo. palatial about the Odeon, as is still reflected by the
com • £ its rooms are large, mattresses. However, the
although a little worn location, just off Midan
$ Al-Hussein
This is currently the
around the edges. The
24-hour rooftop bar is
Tahrir, is superb. The staff
are friendly and it’s a
only hotel at the heart of popular with local expats. great place to meet
medieval Cairo. Rooms d Map F3 • 6 Sharia Abdel fellow travellers. d Map
are very basic with Hamid Said, Downtown F4 • 12 Sharia Talaat Harb
ceiling fans and it is • 02 2577 6637 • www. • 02 2575 0966 • www.
noisy but there’s so hodeon.com • £ lotushotel.com • £

127
Streetsmart

Left Windsor Palace, Alexandria Centre Mercure Forsan Island Right Cecil Hotel, Alexandria

Hotels Beyond Cairo

! Four Seasons
Hotel Alexandria
the period detail, but the
rooms are large and many
have en-suite bathrooms,
but the best provide
A luxurious hotel, the have views over the great value. d Map S2
Four Seasons has its own central square and the • 5 Sharia Adeeb Ishtak, off
beach and marina, a spa attractive Eastern Harbour the Corniche, Eastern
and a circular infinity (see p53). d Map S2 Harbour • 03 480 0330 • £
pool on a fourth-floor • 52 Sharia Saad Zaghloul
terrace. All rooms have
sea views. d Map S2
• 03 486 1467 • www.
paradiseinnegypt.com • £££ * Hotel de la Poste,
Port Said
• 399 Sharia al-Geish, San Entering the Hotel de la
Stefano • 03 581 8000 Windsor Palace, Poste is like stepping
• www.fourseasons.com/ % Alexandria back in time. Although
alexandria • £££££ Perched since 1906 on renovated, it retains many
the Corniche facing the of its early 20th-century
@ Al-Salamlek,
Alexandria
sea, the Palace is an old
hotel with “cage lifts”
fixtures. The high-
ceilinged rooms are basic
Al-Salamlek more than and high-ceilinged rooms. but have fans. Except for
makes up for a fairly Facilities are limited but if a small restaurant and bar,
remote, if picturesque, you get a sea-facing facilities are sparse, but
location in former royal room you’ll spend all your the location is central.
gardens, 11 km (7 miles) time soaking up the view. d Map B1 • Sharia al-
east of Alexandria city d Map S2 • Corniche, Gumhurriya • 066 322
centre. Once a lodge Eastern Harbour • 03 480 4048 • £
for royal guests, it 8700 • www.paradise
recreates a belle époque
experience (see p53).
innegypt.com • ££–£££
( Sonesta Port Said
At the north end of
d Map T1 • Montazah Union Hotel, town by the mouth of the
• 03 547 7999 • www. ^ Alexandria Suez Canal, this is a
sangiovanni.com • £££££ The best of Alexandria’s modern, international
budget options, the hotel. Rooms are well-
£ Cecil Hotel,
Alexandria
Union is on the Corniche
facing the sea, although
equipped and there are a
small shopping centre,
Alexandria’s most famous not many rooms actually restaurants and a pool
hotel gained its fame in enjoy the view. Some that overlooks the canal.
the 1930s–40s when it rooms can also be tiny d Map B1 • Sharia Sultan
was one of the city’s and not all have en-suite Hussein • 066 332 5511
glitziest social venues. It bathrooms, so consider • www.sonesta.com • ££££
is now in its dotage but paying a little extra for a
still boasts a superb
central location and
deluxe room on the upper
floor. d Map S2 • Corniche, ) Mercure Forsan
Island, Ismailia
period charm (see p53). Eastern Harbour • 03 480 The Mercure is a modern
d Map S2 • 16 Midan Saad 7312 • £ hotel in a fabulous
Zaghloul • 03 487 7173 setting of large leafy
• www.sofitel.com • ££££
& Crillon Hotel,
Alexandria
grounds on the edge of
the Suez Canal. It has a
$ Metropole,
Alexandria
After the Union the
Crillon is Alexandria’s
private beach where you
can sunbathe and watch
The Metropole is one of next best budget hotel. the tankers sail by. d
Alexandria’s grand old Within an old apartment Map B2 • Forsan Island
hotels. Clumsy makeovers block, rooms vary in size • 064 391 6316 • www.
have obscured some of and facilities, and not all mercure.com • £££

128 Unless otherwise stated, all rooms have en-suite bathrooms

and air conditioning
 Price Categories
For a standard, £ under £E350
double room per ££ £E350–700
night (with breakfast £££ £E700–1,000
if included), taxes ££££ £E1,000–1,500
and extra charges. £££££ over £E1,500

Streetsmart
Opulent interior of Al-Moudira

Luxury Hotels in Luxor

! Old Winter Palace
The oldest hotel in
and, in the strangely
named Pink Panda, it has
• Kings Island • 095 227
4855 • www.jolieville
town is still the finest. Upper Egypt’s only hotels.com • ££££
Rooms are vast with high Chinese restaurant.
ceilings and bathrooms
the size of tennis courts.
d Map X6 • Sharia Khaled
Ibn al-Walid, East Bank * Mercure
Hotel
Inn Luxor

The views from the front • 095 237 0100 • www. Midway between Luxor
rooms across the Nile to pyramisaegypt.com • £££ Temple and the Luxor
the West Bank are Museum, the Mercure
unbeatable (see p53). d
Map Y2–3 • Corniche al-Nil, % Al-Moudira
In a remote location
boasts a good location
even if the hotel is a little
East Bank • 095 2380 422 and surrounded by tired and the facilities
• www.sofitel.com • £££££ sugarcane fields, Al- aren’t great. Aim to get a
Moudira is an oasis – a room with a Nile view
@ Sofitel Karnak
About 6 km (4 miles)
low-rise hotel of traditional
mud-brick architecture
and set your alarm for
6am to watch the hot-air
from Luxor town centre, set in lush gardens. balloons drifting above the
this is a stylish hotel set Rooms are spacious and West Bank. d Map Z1
within its own extensive striking. This is a real • Corniche al-Nil, East Bank
gardens that are filled experience. d Map B4 • 095 238 0944 • www.
with palm trees and • Haggar Daba’iyya, 5 km accor-hotels.com • £££
bougainvillea. There are (3 miles) from Luxor Bridge,
tennis courts and a
swimming pool by the
West Bank • 012 325 1307
• www.moudira.com • £££ ( Steigenberger
Nile Palace Luxor
Nile. d Map Z4 • El Zinia Rooms are comfortable,
Gebly Street, East Bank
• 095 237 8020 • www. ^ Hilton Luxor
Resort & Spa
large and well-equipped
in this highly rated hotel
sofitel.com • ££££ Just north of the temple by the Nile. The house
of Karnak, this is Luxor’s restaurants (including
£ Sheraton
Resort
Luxor most luxurious hotel.
Facilities include the
Thai and Italian) are good
and service is excellent.
At the very southern end Nayara Spa with two d Map X6 • Sharia Khaled
of Luxor town, the elevated infinity pools Ibn al-Walid • 095 236 6999
Sheraton is nevertheless overlooking the Nile and • www.luxor.steigenberger.
a short walk from the seven restaurants and com • ££££
main shop and restaurant bars. If money is no
strip. The garden setting
beside the Nile is
object, this is your option.
d Map Z2 • New Karnak, ) Sonesta St George
The swankiest hotel
attractive, but be warned – Luxor • 095 237 4933 on the strip south of
only the upper floors • www.hilton.com • £££££ town, the Sonesta has
have Nile views. d Map full amenities, including
X6 • Sharia Khaled Ibn al-
Walid, Awamiya, East Bank & Jolie
Resort
Ville Luxor pool and sunbeds. Service
and staff are excellent.
• 095 227 4544 • www. Accommodation is in There is a pontoon area
starwoodhotels.com • ££££ bungalows among palm beside the Nile, which is
trees on the hotel’s own wonderful for watching
$ Pyramisa Isis
The Pyramisa is a
island just south of Luxor
(there is a free shuttle).
the sun set over the
West Bank. d Map X6
five-star complex within a This is a relaxing resort, • Corniche al-Nil, East Bank
large garden by the Nile. great for walking and • 095.238 2575 • www.
Rooms are good value birdwatching. d Map B4 sonesta.com/Luxor • ££££

Recommend your favourite hotel on traveldk.com 129

Streetsmart

Left Hotel Sheherazade Centre Marsam Hotel Right Al-Gezira Hotel

Good-Value Hotels in Luxor

! Gaddis Hotel
The Gaddis offers
after. It also has a good
café and restaurant.
pool from which there
are good views over the
faded four-star amenities, d Map Y2 • Off Sharia Nile. d Map Z1 • Sharia Dr
but often at very Karnak, East Bank • 095 Labib Habachi, East Bank
competitive rates. It has 237 2386 • www.nefertiti • 095 237 2284 • www.
pleasant rooms, a hotel.com • £ philippeluxorhotel.com • £
swimming pool and is
conveniently located close
to many restaurants. % Saint
Hotel
Joseph
* New Pola Hotel
A budget option
d Map X6 • Sharia Khaled From the outside this among the five-star
Ibn al-Walid, East Bank modern hotel is less than hotels on Luxor’s main
• 095 238 2838 • www. inspiring but inside it is hotel strip, this is a
gaddishotel.com • £ smart with spacious modern, 85-room high-
rooms that have their rise hotel with good
@ Windsor Hotel
Located one block
own balconies – make
sure to book one that
views from upper Nile-
facing rooms. It has
away from the Corniche faces the Nile. There is shaded gardens and a
near the Luxor Museum, also a rooftop garden and rooftop pool. d Map X6
the Windsor is slightly swimming pool. d Map • Sharia Khalid Ibn al-
shabby but the staff are X6 • Sharia Khalid Ibn al- Walid, East Bank • 095
friendly. It has a small Walid, East Bank • 095 238 236 5081 • www.newpola
courtyard swimming pool 1707 • £ hotel.com • £
and most rooms have a
balcony. d Map Z1
• Sharia Nefertiti, East Bank ^ Hotel
Sheherazade
El-Gezira Hotel &
( Gezira Gardens
• 095 237 5547 • £ The architecture of the The Al-Gezira is a popular
Scheherazade is stunning budget hotel with a roof
£ Al-Nakhil
Situated on the edge
and reflects the
traditional Islamic style
garden, a minute’s walk
from the West Bank ferry
of the small village of described in the book, landing. Nearby, the
Al-Gezira a few minutes’ One Thousand and One Gezira Gardens is a mini-
walk from the ferry Arabian Nights. The holiday village of self-
landing on the West rooms are homely and catering apartments
Bank, Al-Nakhil provides comfortable. This is an sleeping four right by the
a chance to sample local exceptional hotel in Nile. d Map X5 • Bairat al-
life. Small and friendly Al-Gezira village just by Gezira, West Bank • 095
(with only 11 rooms), it is the ferry landing. 231 0034 • www.el-gezira.
beautifully decorated and d Map X5 • Bairat al- com • £
surrounded by palm Gezira, West Bank
trees. d Map X5
• Bairat al-Gezira, West
• 010 3971 570 • www.
hotelsheherazade.com • £ ) Marsam Hotel
Located among the
Bank • 095 2313 922 ancient monuments, the
• www.el-nakhil.com • £
& Philippe Hotel
Situated near the
Marsam was built for
American archaeologists
$ Nefertiti Hotel
In as central a
Luxor Museum, just off
the Corniche, this three-
in the 1920s. It has
30 simple mudbrick
location as is possible, star hotel has 69 rooms rooms with ceiling fans
this hotel overlooks that are pleasant, if a set around a courtyard
Luxor Temple. Although a little impersonal and old- and a lovely garden.
budget hotel, it is classy, fashioned. It has a roof d Map V3 • Gurna, West
friendly and well looked garden with a swimming Bank • 010 342 6471 • £

130 Unless otherwise stated, all rooms have en-suite bathrooms

and air conditioning
 Price Categories
For a standard, £ under £E350
double room per ££ £E350–700
night (with breakfast £££ £E700–1,000
if included), taxes ££££ £E1,000–1,500
and extra charges. £££££ over £E1,500

Streetsmart
Above Isis Island Hotel Aswan

Top Aswan & Abu Simbel Hotels

! Old Cataract,
Aswan
over the Nile. Its richly-
planted gardens harbour
sure to get a balcony
facing the Nile as views
This is Aswan’s grand a large, heated and are excellent. Room
old hotel, built in 1899 floodlit swimming pool. prices are open to
on the finest site in all The 189 rooms may be a negotiation. d Map T4
Egypt overlooking the little dated but are a • Corniche al-Nil • 097 223
first cataract of the Nile. generous size. d Map S6 0102 • www.marhaba-
The interior is executed • Sharia Al-Fanadek • 097 aswan.com • ££
in a beautiful neo- 231 0901 • www.basma
Islamic style. Closed for hotel.com • ££££ Orchida St
renovation until May 2010 *George, Aswan
(see p53). d Map S6
• Sharia Abtal al-Tahrir % New Cataract,
Aswan
Centrally located on a
pedestrianized street
• 097 231 6000 • www. This is a modern annex of near the Corniche, this
accorhotels.com • ££££ the Old Cataract, built by hotel has a small rooftop
the Soviets in the 1960s. swimming pool with
@ Mövenpick
Aswan
Resort Its architecture is
unattractive but it is very
great views of the
Nile. There is a large
This hotel is reached by much cheaper than its restaurant. d Map T5
boat. It enjoys a terrific venerable neighbour and • Sharia Mohammed Khalid,
setting amidst the palm you get to share the Corniche al-Nil • 097 315
groves on the northern swimming pool and 997 • www.orchida-sg-
tip of Elephantine Island beautiful tropical garden. hotel.com • ££
and has good facilities, Closed for renovation until
spectacular views and a
lovely swimming pool.
April 2010. d Map S6
• Sharia Abtal al-Tahrir ( Seti Abu Simbel
An overnight stay in
d Elephantine Island • 097 231 6000 • www. Abu Simbel provides the
• Map S5 • 097 230 34 55 accorhotels.com • ££££ opportunity to see the
• www.moevenpick-hotels. Temple of Ramses II after
com • £££££
^ Isis Corniche
Hotel, Aswan
the crowds have returned
to Aswan. Situated right
£ Isis
Aswan
Island Hotel, On the Corniche in the
centre of Aswan, this is a
by Lake Nasser, this is
the top hotel in town,
A 447-room five-star small resort hotel, not as with a garden and three
hotel that occupies its fancy as some of the swimming pools that
own island, just to the competition but with overlook the lake.
south of Aswan, the Isis decent rooms and a d Map B6 • Abu Simbel
has full facilities, swimming pool beside Lake Resort • 097 340 0720
including two swimming the river. The hotel faces • www.setifirst.com • £££
pools and even a zoo. the northern end of
Guests are ferried to the
shore by private launch.
Elephantine Island.
d Map T5 • Corniche al-Nil ) Nefertari,
Abu Simbel
d Map R6 • Isis Island • 097 231 5200 • £££ Although this is not as
• 097 231 7400 • www. attractive as the Seti, it is
pyramisaegypt.com • ££££
& Marhaba
Aswan
Hotel, cheaper. Rooms are
basic but the Nefertari is
$ Basma
Aswan
Hotel, This large modern hotel
near the train station has
nevertheless close to the
temples and has a pool
Perched on Aswan’s rooms of a decent size and lake views. d Map B6
highest hill, the Basma but some bathrooms are • Abu Simbel • 097 340
offers a panoramic view poorly maintained. Make 0508 • ££

131
 Price Categories
For a standard, £ under £E350
double room per ££ £E350–700
night (with breakfast £££ £E700–1,000
if included), taxes ££££ £E1,000–1,500
and extra charges. £££££ over £E1,500
Streetsmart

Keylany, Aswan

Budget Aswan & Abu Simbel Hotels

! Keylany, Aswan
This simple, small
the West Bank. The
36 rooms vary in size
Noorhan is very basic but
rooms do have either air
hotel of 25 rooms is and quality and not all conditioning or fans and
nevertheless smart have air conditioning. there is Internet access.
and has a rooftop There is a small This is the place to meet
breakfasting area, WiFi rooftop terrace with a other backpackers.
and an Internet café. It is swimming pool. d Map T4 • Off Sharia
located just off the main d Map T5 • 99 Corniche Souq • 097 231 6069 • £
souq street. d Map T5 al-Nil • 097 231 4580
• Sharia Kaylany, off Sharia
Salah ad-Din • 097 2323
• www.hathorhotel.com • £
* Nubian Oasis
Hotel, Aswan
134 • www.keylanyhotel.
com • £ % Sara Hotel, Aswan
If you are in Aswan
This is a perennial
backpacker favourite,
to get away from it all, although more for the
@ Nuba
Aswan
Nile Hotel, this may be the hotel to
choose – it’s built on a
atmosphere and
camaraderie rather than
Located just off the clifftop overlooking the the quality of the
large square in front Nile about two miles facilities. The rooms with
of the railway station, south of town. It boasts bathrooms cost extra. It
this hotel is a decent fantastic views over the has a lounge and roof
budget option. It has first cataract and the garden where beer is
friendly staff and desert beyond. Rooms served. d Map T4
comfortable rooms that are spotless and there’s a • 234 Sharia Saad Zaghloul
have a fridge and good-sized swimming • 097 231 2126/2123 • £
satellite television pool. A shuttle bus runs
d Map T4 • Sharia Abtal al-
Tahrir, off Midan al-Mahatta
into town hourly. d Map
C5 • Sharia al-Fanadek, ( Bet el Kerem,
Aswan
• 097 231 3267 • £ Medinat Nasr • 097 232 Owned by a Dutch/
7235 • www.sarahotel- Nubian couple this is an
£ Philae
Aswan
Hotel, aswan.com • ££ apartment house by the
Nile within walking
The location of the Philae
Hotel can’t be faulted: on ^ Nile Hotel, Aswan
Centrally located on
distance of the ferry. It
has seven double rooms
the Corniche facing the the Corniche near the and is ideal for groups
Nile with the colourful local ferry across to and families. d Map S4
Aswan souq just one Elephantine Island, this is • Nagh al-Kuba, West Bank
block behind it and the a modern hotel offering • 019 384 2218 • www.
ferry to Elephantine 30 rooms, all overlooking betelkerem.com • £
Island almost opposite. the Nile. It has a
It is modern and
comfortable with all
restaurant and a business
centre. d Map S5 ) Eskaleh EcoLodge,
Abu Simbel
basic facilities. d Map S5 • 15 Corniche al-Nil • 097 Run by a Nubian musician
• 79 Corniche al-Nil • 097 231 4222 • www.nilehotel- and his family this is a
231 2090 • £ aswan.com • £ charming lodge built in
traditional style with just
$ Hathor
Aswan
Hotel,
& Noorhan, Aswan
A major backpacker
five rooms and an
excellent restaurant. It
The front-facing rooms haunt, just a few doubles as a Nubian
of this hotel on the minutes’ walk south of cultural centre. d Map B6
Corniche have fantastic the railway station, the • 2 miles south of Abu
views across the river to accommodation at the Simbel • 012 368 0521 • £

132 Unless otherwise stated, all rooms have en-suite bathrooms

and air conditioning
 Streetsmart
Left A dahabiyya operated by Nour El Nil Right Philae

Cruise Ships
! Philae
It is designed to look
80 passengers. Facilities
and service on both
16–20 passengers in
languorous luxury, taking
like a Mississippi paddle boats are top-class and six days to sail from
steamer, but no luxury is include an onboard Luxor to Aswan.
spared on this boat Egyptologist. d www. d www.nourelnil.com
managed by Oberoi akegypt.com
Hotels. The 58 cabins
* MS Semiramis
and suites all have their
own balconies and are % SS Misr &
SS Karim
Thomas Cook & Sons
were the first people to
catered to by a butler The steamer SS Misr start Nile cruising as a
service. d www. was built in 1918 and commercial concern in
oberoihotels.com was used by King Farouk the 1870s. The modern-
(see p65), while the day incarnation of the
@ Radamis I & II
These two large
smaller SS Karim is even
older and was also
company offers
competitively-priced
boats are operated by formerly used by royalty. packages. The MS
the Mövenpick group. Both boats are charming, Semiramis is one of
Slightly cheaper than the especially the SS Karim, the most comfortable
smaller cruise ships, their which has the ambience of the cruise ships with
facilities are nevertheless of a floating gentleman’s 66 cabins and full
five-star, and there are club. The boats are facilities. d www.
options of four-day, leased to the high-end thomascook.com
five-day and eight-day travel company Voyage
packages. d www.
movenpick-nilecruises.com
Jules Verne.d www.vjv.
co.uk ( SS Kasr Ibrim &
Eugénie
The alternative to a Nile
Sudan Star Goddess cruise is a Lake Nasser
£ One of the most ^ The Sonesta cruise. These were the
exclusive vessels on the Collection of Hotels, first two boats on the
Nile, the Sudan was built Resorts and Cruises lake and remain the best.
in the late 19th century operates five Nile Both are grand, belle
and used by King Fouad I cruisers, including the époque-style ships with
of Egypt and Sudan, and standard Moon Goddess, spacious cabins and
during the filming of the and Sun Goddess. The luxurious amenities such
film version of Agatha Star Goddess is the as a steam bath on the
Christie’s Death on most exclusive ship and Eugénie. d www.eugenie.
the Nile. It has just has 33 suites named com.eg, www.kasribrim.
22 cabins, each with a after composers, each com.eg
small balcony. d www. with its own terrace and
steam-ship-sudan.com full-size bathtub. d www.
sonesta.com ) MS Tania
One of the less
Sun Boat III & IV expensive cruise ships
$ These are two
beautiful vessels & Assouan, Al-Nil,
Meroe & Malouka
that sails Lake Nasser
between Aswan and
operated by Abercrombie All four of these boats, Abu Simbel is this
& Kent, one of the operated by Nour El Nil, elegant vessel with
leading tour agencies are dahabiyyas – replicas 28 cabins, which is
specializing in Egypt. of the old-style sailboats operated by local
Boat III takes just that ferried 19th-century Egyptian travel
36 passengers, passengers up the Nile. company Travco.
while Boat IV carries They all carry only d www.travcotels.com

Sign up for DK’s email newsletter on traveldk.com 133

 General Index
Page numbers in bold type Amada, Temple of (Lake Belzoni, Giovanni Battista 40
refer to main entries.
Nasser) 113 Ben Ezra Synagogue (Cairo) 88
1886 Restaurant, Old Winter Amenhotep III 21, 101, 102 Benia, Tomb (Luxor) 103
Palace (Luxor) 61, 106 Tomb 24 Bent Pyramid (Dashur) 91
Index

1902 Restaurant, Old Cataract Amr ibn al-As 43 Bet el Kerem (Aswan) 132
(Aswan) 61 Amun 16, 17, 37, 113 Biblioteca Alexandrina
Temple of (Karnak) 16, 18–19 (Alexandria) 95
A ancient treasures abroad 41 bird-watching 105
Abdeen Palace Museum (Cairo) Andrea (Cairo) 79 Birqash Camel Market 93
74 angling (Lake Nasser) 113 Birth Colonnade (Temple of
Abdou, Fifi 64 animal danger 121 Hatshepsut) 23
Abou Tarek Koshari (Cairo) 78 Ankhma-Hor, Tomb (Saqqara) 94 Birth House (Philae) 29
Abu al-Haggag Mosque (Luxor) antiquities, buying 122 boats, Nile 26, 117
21 Anubis 22, 37 La Bodega (Cairo) 61, 79
Abu al-Sid (Cairo) 60, 77, 79 Aqua at the Four Seasons Nile books, set in Egypt 49
Abu Bassem Grill (Cairo) 89 Plaza (Cairo) 60, 79 Botanical Garden (Karnak) 19
Abu Shakra (Cairo) 79 Arab–Israeli War 43, 74 brassware 54
Abu Simbel 7, 26, 30–1, 39, Arabic Music Institute (Cairo) 75 British, in Egypt 43
111, 113 Arcadia Mall (Cairo) 55 burial traditions 36
hotels 131–2 architecture, Islamic 44–5 buses, long distance 117
Abu Sir 92 art galleries 67, 75
Abydos 38, 107 see also museums C
accommodation 124–33 Assasif Tombs (Luxor) 103 Café Riche (Cairo) 73, 75
Aga Khan Mausoleum (Aswan) Aswan 108–13 cafés
112 hotels 124, 131–2 Central Cairo 78
Agricultural Museum (Cairo) Aswan Dam 28, 110, 112 Luxor 106
74 Aswan Museum 111, 112 Old Cairo 89
Ahmose, Pharaoh 35 Aswan Souq 55, 109, 111 Cairo
air travel 117 Aten Temple (Karnak) 102 art & culture venues 75
Akhenaten 9, 35, 102, 107 ATMs 118 Central Cairo 70–9
Akhenaten Centre of Arts Attarine (Alexandria) 55 The Citadel 83, 86
(Cairo) 75 Atum 102 Coptic Cairo 84, 88
Akher Saa (Cairo) 78 L’Aubergine (Cairo) 79 day trips 90–5
Al-Aqmar Mosque (Cairo) 85, 87 Augustus, Emperor 113 food & drink 78–9, 89
Al-Azhar Mosque (Cairo) 6, 14– Avenue of Sphinxes hotels 124, 125–7
15, 45, 85 Karnak 16 Islamic monuments 83–6, 87
Al-Azhar Park (Cairo) 56, 83 Luxor Temple 20, 101 museums 71, 72, 74, 84, 86
Al-Borg (Port Said) 61, 93 Ay, Tomb (Luxor) 104 Old Cairo 82–9
Al-Dahan (Cairo) 89 Azza Fahmy Boutique (Cairo) 76 shopping 76
Al-Gezira Hotel (Luxor) 106, 130 unmissable experiences 77
Al-Ghouri, Sultan 87 B walking tours 73, 85
Al-Hussein (Cairo) 127 Bab Zuweyla (Cairo) 87 Cairo International Book Fair 63
Al-Kab 107 banks 118 Cairo International Film Festival
Al-Moudira (Luxor) 106, 129 Baron Hotel (Cairo) 126 62
Al-Nakhil (Luxor) 130 bars 66 Cairo Jazz Club 75
Al-Salamlek (Alexandria) 53, 128 Bashayer (Cairo) 76 Cairo Marriott 52, 77, 125
Al-Sawy Culture Wheel (Cairo) Basma Hotel (Aswan) 131 Cairo Opera House Complex
75, 77 Baybars 43 71
alcohol 66, 120 begging 119 Cairo Sheraton 125
Alexander the Great 35, 93 beit (private houses) 44 Cairo Tower 71, 77
Alexandria 35, 93, 95 Beit al-Harawi (Cairo) 15 Cairo Zoo 56
hotels 128 Beit al-Sihaymi (Cairo) 45, 85, 87 camels 92
underwater discoveries at 41 Beit as-Sennari (Cairo) 72 camel rides 13, 57
Alexandria National Museum Beit Sherif (Cairo) 76 markets 93, 107
47, 95 Beit Zeinab (Cairo) 15 car hire 117
Alfy Bey (Cairo) 79 belly dancing 66, 77 carpets 54–5

134
Carriage Museum (Cairo) 86 Court of Ramses II (Luxor Egypt’s Awakening (Mokhtar)
Carter, Howard 25, 104 Temple) 20 64
Catacombs of Kom as-Shoqafa creation myth 37 Eid al-Adha 63
(Alexandria) 95 credit cards 118 El Abd bakery (Cairo) 73, 77
Cavafy Museum (Alexandria) 95 Crillon Hotel (Alexandria) 53, 128 electricity 116

Index
Cecil Hotel (Alexandria) 53, 128 crime 121 Elephantine Island (Aswan) 109,
cemeteries 45, 85, 88, 112 Crocodile Island 105 111
Central Cairo 70–9 crocodile temples (Kom entertainment 66–7, 123
Champillion, Jean-François 40 Aushim) 91 Eskaleh EcoLodge (Abu Simbel)
Chapel of Anubis (Temple of crocodiles 113 132
Hatshepsut) 22 cruises 55, 123 Esna 26, 107
Chapel of Hathor (Temple of cruise ships 133 Ethnology Museum (Cairo) 74
Hatshepsut) 23 Lake Nasser 27, 123 etiquette 14, 105, 119
Chapels of the Hearing Ear Nile 7, 26–7
(Karnak) 19 shopping 55 F
charter flights 117 cult temples 36 Farouk, King 43, 65
children’s activities 56–7 culture, ancient 36–7 Fatatri Pizza al-Tahrir (Cairo) 78
Christian era 42, 84, 92 currency 118 Fatimid Cemetery (Aswan) 112
Christie, Agatha 27, 49, 53 cycling 105 Fatimid Dynasty 42, 70
churches Fayoum 91
Church of the Virgin (Cairo) 88 D Felfela (Cairo) 60, 73, 78, 79
Hanging Church (Cairo) 88 dahabiyyas 27, 123 feluccas 27, 56, 77
Qasr Ibrim (Lake Nasser) 113 Daraw 107 Aswan 110, 111
St Barbara (Cairo) 88 Dashur 13 Luxor 105
St George (Cairo) 88 Death on the Nile (book & film) festivals & events 62–3
St Sergius (Cairo) 88 27, 49 films, set in Egypt 48–9
Cilantro (Cairo) 78 dehydration 120 Fish Gardens (Cairo) 56
cinema 66 Deir al-Bahri Cache 40 Fishawi’s (Cairo) 89
The Citadel (Cairo) 83, 86 Deir al-Medina (Luxor) 104 Flamenco (Cairo) 126
Citadel Prison Museum (Cairo) Dendara, Temple of (Qena) 39, folkloric performances 67
86 41, 107 Fontana Hotel (Cairo) 126
Cleopatra (film) 48 Diwan Bookshop (Cairo) 57, 75 food and drink 58–9
Cleopatra VII, Queen 35 Djoser 13, 35, 91, 94 on cruises 123
climate 116 doctors 121 eating tips 122
coffee houses 66, 77 dogs, wild 121 safety 120, 121
Colonnade of Amenhotep III domes 44 see also bars; cafés;
(Luxor Temple) 21 domestic flights 117 restaurants; streetfood
The Colossi (Abu Simbel) 30 Donkey Trail (Luxor) 104 Fort Qaitbey (Alexandria) 95
Colossi of Memnon (Luxor) 101 Downtown (Cairo) 71 Four Seasons Hotel (Alexandria)
Colossus of Ramses II (Karnak) Dr Ragab’s Papyrus Institute 128
18 (Cairo) 55 Four Seasons Nile Plaza (Cairo)
Colossus of Ramses II Dr Ragab’s Pharaonic Village 125
(Memphis) 91 (Giza) 57
Conrad International (Cairo) 125 Dream Park (Cairo) 57 G
consulates 116 dress code 119, 123 Gad (Cairo) 78, 89
Convent of St George (Cairo) 88 drinks, top 10 Egyptian 59 Gaddis Hotel (Luxor) 130
copperware 54 driving 117 Garden City (Cairo) 72
Coptic Cairo 84, 88 drugs 120 Garden City House Hotel
Coptic Museum (Cairo) 46, 84 drunkenness 120 (Cairo) 127
Copts 42, 46, 84, 88 Gawhara Palace (Cairo) 86
La Corniche , Old Winter Palace E Gayer-Anderson Museum
(Luxor) 106 Edfu 26, 38, 107 (Cairo) 45, 46
Cosmopolitan Hotel (Cairo) 52, Egyptian Museum (Cairo) 6, 8– Gezira Gardens (Luxor) 130
126 11, 46, 56, 71 Giza Plateau 12
cotton 54, 76 Egyptian Pancake House (Cairo) Giza, Pyramids of 6, 12–13, 57
couriers 118 89 Glory of Thebes Hall (Luxor
Court of Amenhotep III (Luxor Egyptology 23 Museum) 102
Temple) 21 milestones 40–1 gods & goddesses 17, 37

135
 Golden Cow Head (Luxor I Khonsu 17
Museum) 102 Ibis Café (Cairo) 78 Temple (Karnak) 17
golf 105 icons, popular 64–5 Tomb (Luxor) 103
Graeco-Roman Museum Imam, Adel 64 Khufu 11, 35
(Alexandria) 47, 95 Imhotep Museum (Saqqara) 47, Pyramid (Giza) 12
Grand Egyptian Museum (Giza) 94 kings & queens 35
Index

9, 11 inlay work 55 King’s Head Pub (Luxor) 106

Grand Hyatt (Cairo) 125 insurance 116 Kiosks
Great Festival Temple (Karnak) International Luxor Marathon 63 Nectanebo (Philae) 28
18–19 Internet access 118 Qertassi (Lake Nasser) 113
guides 120, 123 Irwin, Robert 49 Trajan (Philae) 29
Gurna Discovery (Luxor) 104 Isis 29, 37 Kitchener, Horatio 109
Temple of (Philae) 28 Kitchener’s Island (Aswan)
H Isis Corniche Hotel (Aswan) 131 109
Hadrian’s Gate (Philae) 29 Isis Island Hotel (Aswan) 131 Kom al-Dikka (Alexandria) 95
Hafez, Abdel Halim 64, 67 Islam 42, 82 Kom Aushim 91
haggling 122 architecture 44–5 Kom Ombo 26, 107
Hakim 67 etiquette 119 Koshari al-Tahrir (Cairo) 78
Hanging Church (Cairo) 88 festivals 62–3
Hathor 23, 37, 102 Islamic Art, Museum of (Cairo) L
Temples 29, 31, 39, 107 45, 46, 74 Lake Nasser 30, 108, 113
Hathor Hotel (Aswan) 132 Islamic Cairo 83 cruises 27, 113
Hatshepsut 23, 35 Islamic Ceramics Museum Lake Qarun 91
Obelisks (Karnak) 18 (Cairo) 74 Lakeside Café (Cairo) 89
Temple of (Luxor) 7, 22–3, 39, Ismail, Khedive 43, 70 The Lantern (Luxor) 106
100 Ismailia 92, 128 Lateran Obelisk 19
Havana Hotel (Cairo) 126 Israel, peace with 43 Lehnert & Landrock (Cairo) 76
health 120, 121 Issa Island (Aswan) 112 Longchamps, Hotel (Cairo) 127
Heba Linens (Cairo) 76 itineraries Lotus Hotel (Cairo) 127
hieroglyphs 36, 40 Aswan 111 Luxor 98–107
High Dam (Aswan) 27, 28, 30, Central Cairo 73 excursions 107
110, 111 Luxor 101 hotels 124, 129–30
Hilltop Restaurant (Cairo) 89 Medieval Cairo 85 outdoor activities 105
Hilton Luxor Resort & Spa 129 Nile cruises 26, 123 restaurants & cafés 106
history Port Said 93 Luxor Museum 99, 101, 102
ancient 34–5 Luxor Statue Cache 41
post-Pharaonic 42–3 J Luxor Temple 6, 20–1, 39, 99,
Horemheb 102 jewellery 54, 76 101
Tomb 24 Jolie Ville Luxor Resort 129
horse-riding 105 M
Horus 29, 37 K madrassas 14, 44
Temples 38, 107 Ka-Aper, Statue of (Egyptian Al-Ghouri (Cairo) 87
Horus House Hotel (Cairo) 127 Museum) 10 Sultan Barquq (Cairo) 85, 87
hospitality 119 Kalabsha, Temple of (Lake Sultan Qalaoun (Cairo) 45, 85,
hot-air ballooning 105 Nasser) 113 87
hotels 55, 124–32 Karnak 6, 16–19, 39, 99 Mahfouz, Naguib 49, 64
Abu Simbel 131–2 Karnak Cachette 40 Mahmoud Khalil Museum
Alexandria 128 SS Kasr Ibrim 133 (Cairo) 72
Aswan 131–2 Kebabgy (Luxor) 106 Mahmoud Mokhtar Museum
Cairo 125–7 Keylany (Aswan) 132 (Cairo) 74
historic 52–3, 124 Khafre 12, 13 mail services 118
Luxor 129–30 Pyramid (Giza) 13 Maison Thomas (Cairo) 77, 78
Port Said 128 Khan al-Khalili (Cairo) 15, 55, 83, Mamluks 42
Howard Carter’s House (Luxor) 85 La Mamma, Sheraton (Luxor)
104 Khan al-Khalili Restaurant 106
hygiene 121 (Cairo) 89 Manial Palace (Cairo) 45, 72
hypostyle halls 18, 21, Khnum, Temples 107, 109 marble (inlaid) 45
31 Khokha Tombs (Luxor) 103 Marhaba Hotel (Aswan) 131

136
Mariette, Auguste 8, 40 mosques (cont.) museums (cont.)
Marsam Hotel (Luxor) 130 Ibn Tulun (Cairo) 45, 84 Solar Boat (Giza) 13
mashrabiya 44 Islamic architecture 44–5 Umm Kulsum (Cairo) 74
Mashrabiya Gallery (Cairo) 75 Mohammed Ali (Cairo) 86 music
Mastaba of Ti (Saqqara) 94 Mosque and Madrassa of Al- Arabic 66, 75, 76

Index
mausoleums 45 Ghouri (Cairo) 87 Egyptian playlist 67
Aga Khan (Aswan) 112 Sayyidna al-Hussein (Cairo) 15 rock, pop and jazz 67
Sultan Qalaoun (Cairo) 45, 85, Suleyman Pasha (Cairo) 45, 86 Mut 17
87 Sultan al-Nasir (Cairo) 86 mythology 37
Mayfair 127 Sultan Hassan (Cairo) 45, 85
medical services 121 Sultan Qaitbey (Cairo) 45 N
Medinat Habu (Luxor) 38, 100 mosquitoes 121 Naguib Mahfouz Café (Cairo)
Meidum 13 Moulid of Abu al-Haggag 85, 89
Memphis 82, 91 (Luxor) 63 Nakht, Tomb of (Luxor) 103
Mena House Oberoi (Giza) 52, Moulid of Al-Hussein 63 Napoleon Bonaparte 42, 72
125 Mövenpick Resort Aswan 131 Narmer 10, 35, 91
Menes see Narmer Mubarak, Hosni 43 Narmer Palette (Egyptian
Menkaure Pyramid (Giza) 13 muezzins 77 Museum) 10
Menna, Tomb (Luxor) 103 mummies 9, 36, 102 Nasser, Gamal Abdel 43, 64–5
Mercure (Forsan Island, Mummification Museum National Circus (Cairo) 57
Ismailia) 128 (Luxor) 47, 99, 101 National Museum, Alexandria 95
Mercure Inn Luxor Hotel 129 museums 46–7 National Museum, Port Said 93
Mereruka, Tomb (Saqqara) 94 Abdeen Palace (Cairo) 74 Nectanebo 28
Merneptah Agricultural (Cairo) 74 Nefertari, Tomb (Luxor) 104
Temple (Luxor) 104 Alexandria National 47, 95 Nefertari Hotel (Abu Simbel)
Tomb 25 Aswan 111, 112 131
Metropole (Alexandria) 53, 128 Carriage (Cairo) 86 Nefertiti, Queen 10
Midan Al-Hussein (Cairo) 15 Cavafy (Alexandria) 95 Nefertiti Hotel (Luxor) 130
Midan Ramla (Alexandria) 95 Citadel Prison (Cairo) 86 New Cataract Hotel (Aswan) 131
Midan Tahrir (Cairo) 71, 73 Coptic (Cairo) 46, 84 New Gurna 104
Midan Talaat Harb (Cairo) 73 Egyptian (Cairo) 6, 8–11, 46, New Kingdom 9, 34
Middle Kingdom 11, 34 56, 71 New Polar Hotel (Luxor) 130
mihrab 15, 45 Ethnology (Cairo) 74 Nile
Military Museum (Cairo) 86 Gayer-Anderson (Cairo) 45, 46 in Cairo 73
Military Museum (Port Said) 93 Graeco-Roman (Alexandria) cruising 7, 26–7
minarets 15, 44 47, 95 Delta 90
mobile phones 118 Grand Egyptian (Giza) 9, 11 Nile Hotel (Aswan) 132
Modern Egyptian Art, Museum Imhotep (Saqqara) 47, 94 Nilometer (Aswan) 112
of (Cairo) 71, 75 Islamic Art (Cairo) 45, 46, 74 Nilometer (Cairo) 88
Mohammed Ali 43, 86 Islamic Ceramics (Cairo) 74 Nofret 10
Mokhtar, Mahmoud 64, 74 Ismailia 92 Nomad (Cairo) 76
monasteries Luxor 99, 101, 102 Noorhan (Aswan) 132
St Simeon (Aswan) 112 Mahmoud Khalil (Cairo) 72 Northern Cemetery (Cairo) 45,
Wadi Natrun 92 Mahmoud Mokhtar (Cairo) 74 85
Montu 17 Military (Cairo) 86 Northern Walls (Cairo) 85, 87
Montuhotep II 35 Military (Port Said) 93 Nuba Nile Hotel (Aswan) 132
Temple (Luxor) 23 Modern Egyptian Art (Cairo) Nubia Museum (Aswan) 47, 109
mortuary temples 36 71, 75 Nubian House (Aswan) 112
mosques Mummification (Luxor) 47, 99, Nubian Oasis Hotel (Aswan)
Abu al-Haggag (Luxor) 21 101 132
Al-Aqmar (Cairo) 85, 87 National (Port Said) 93 Nut 37
Al-Azhar (Cairo) 6, 14–15, 45, Nubia (Aswan) 47, 109
85 October War Panorama O
Al-Hakim (Cairo) 85, 87 (Cairo) 74 Oasis Hotel (Cairo) 126
Amr (Cairo) 44, 84 Open-Air (Karnak) 17 obelisks 18, 19, 20, 110
an-Nasir Mohammed (Cairo) Police (Cairo) 86 October War Panorama (Cairo) 74
85, 87 Post Office (Cairo) 74 Odeon Palace Hotel (Cairo) 127
etiquette 14, 119 Railway (Cairo) 74 Old Cairo 82–9

137
 Old Cataract Hotel (Aswan) 27, Pyramids Roman Towers (Cairo) 88
53, 61, 111, 112, 131 Abu Sir 92 Rosetta Stone 40, 41
Old Kingdom 8, 34 Bent (Dashur) 13, 91) rugs 54–5
Old Winter Palace (Luxor) 53, Giza 6, 12–13, 57, 73 rulers 43
61, 101, 106, 129 international 65
Omar Effendi (Cairo) 76 Meidum 13 S
Index

Open-Air Museum (Karnak) 17 Red (Dashur) 13, 91 sabil-kuttab 45

opening hours 118, 122 Step (Saqqara) 13, 91, 94 Abdel Rahman Katkhuda
Opet Festival (Luxor) 21 Teti (Saqqara) 94 (Cairo) 45, 85, 87
Orchida St George Hotel, Unas (Saqqara) 94 Sacred Lake (Karnak) 17
Aswan 131 Pyramisa Isis (Luxor) 129 Sadat, Anwar 43
Osiris 29 Pyramisa Suites Hotel (Cairo) 126 safety 120, 121
Osiris, Hotel (Cairo) 29, 127 Sahure, Pyramid of (Abu Sir) 92
Ottoman Turks 42 Q St Joseph Hotel (Luxor) 130
outdoor activities 105 Qalaoun, Sultan 45, 85, 87 Salah ad-Din (Saladin) 43
Qasr Ibrim (Lake Nasser) 113 Saqqara 13, 91, 94
P Sara Hotel (Aswan) 132
palaces 17, 18, 20 R Sarenput, Prince, Tomb of
papyrus 54 Ra 37 (Aswan) 110
parks and gardens Ra-Harakhty 30, 113 scorpions 121
Al-Azhar Park (Cairo) 56, 83 rabies 121 seaplane flights 105
Botanical Garden (Karnak) Rahotep, Prince 10 Sehel Island (Aswan) 112
19 rail travel 117 Semiramis InterContinental 125
Fish Gardens (Cairo) 56 Railway Museum (Cairo) 74 Sennefer, Tomb of (Luxor) 103
see also theme parks Ramadan 62 Senouhi (Cairo) 76
Pastroudis (Alexandria) 95 Ramesseum (Luxor) 38, 100 Serapeum (Saqqarra) 8, 94
Pension Roma (Cairo) 127 Ramose, Tomb (Luxor) 103 Seth 37
perfume 54 Ramses Hilton (Cairo) 125 Seti Abu Simbel 131
Persian Tombs (Saqqara) 94 Ramses I, Tomb 25 Seti I
Pharaoh’s Rally 62 Ramses II 20, 31, 35 Mummy 9
Pharaonic memorabilia 55 Colossi 18, 30, 91 Temples 38, 104, 107
pharmacies 121 Mummy 9 Tomb 25
Philae, Temple of (Aswan) 7, Ramesseum (Luxor) 38, 100 Seti II 18
28–9, 39, 110 Ramses III 38, 100 Sharia Al-Qalaa (Cairo) 76
Philae Hotel (Aswan) 132 Temple (Karnak) 18 Sharif, Omar 65
Phillipe Hotel (Luxor) 130 Tomb 25 sheesha, smoking 77
photography 119 Ramses IV, Tomb 25 Sheherazade, Hotel (Luxor) 130
planning your trip 116 Ramses VI, Tomb 25 Shepheard’s Hotel (Cairo) 52
plumbing 120 Ramses Pillars (Abu Simbel) 31 Sheraton Luxor Resort 129
police 121 Ramses Wissa Wassef Art shipping services 118
Police Museum (Cairo) 86 Centre (Giza) 55 ships, cruise 133
Pompey’s Pillar (Alexandria) 95 Rasuul, Ahmed Abdel 40 shopping 54–5, 118, 122
Port Said 92 Red Pyramid (Dashur) 91 Central Cairo 76
day tour 93 Rekhmire, Tomb of (Luxor) 103 Shrine of Seti II (Karnak) 18
hotels 128 reliefs Silsilah 107
Post Office Museum (Cairo) 74 Hypostyle Hall, (Abu Simbel) Simonds (Cairo) 78
postal services 118 31 smoking 77, 119
Poste, Hotel de la (Port Said) Punt Expedition (Temple of snakes 121
128 Hatshepsut) 23 Sneferu 91
Precinct of Amun (Karnak) 16 religious life 36 Sobek 102, 107
Precinct of Montu (Karnak) 17 rerouting, hotel 124 Sofitel al-Gezira (Cairo) 125
President Hotel (Cairo) 126 reservations, hotel 124 Sofitel Karnak (Luxor) 129
prices 122, 124 restaurants 60–1, 122 Sofra (Luxor) 106
priests, temple 19 Cairo 79, 89 Solar Boat Museum (Giza) 13
The Prophet’s Birthday 63 Revolt (1882) 43 Sonesta (Port Said) 128
Ptolemy 35, 93 Revolution (1952) 43 Sonesta St George (Luxor) 129
public toilets 118 Rifai (Cairo) 89 Souk (Aswan) 55, 109, 111
Pylons 17, 18, 20 Roman paintings 11, 21 Sound of Cairo 76

138
Sound and Light Shows 67 temples (cont.) Tutankhamun (restaurant)
Abu Simbel 31 Khnum (Elephantine Island) (Luxor) 106
Giza 13 109 Tuthmosis III 17, 35
Karnak 17 Khnum (Esna) 107 Tomb 24
Philae 29 Khonsu (Karnak) 17
U

Index
souvenirs 54–5 Luxor 6, 20–1, 39
sphinxes Medinat Habu (Luxor) 38 Umm Kulsum 64, 67
Karnak 16 Merneptah (Luxor) 104 Museum (Cairo) 74
Luxor Temple 20, 101 Montuhotep 23 Unas, Pyramid (Saqqara) 94
The Sphinx (Giza) 12, 41 Philae (Aswan) 7, 28–9, 39 UNESCO 31
spices 55 Ramesseum (Luxor) 38, 100 Unfinished Obelisk (Aswan) 110
sports 66, 105 Ramses III (Karnak) 18) Union Hotel (Alexandria) 53,
Le Steak (Cairo) 60, 79 Seti I (Abydos) 38, 107 128
steamers 27 Sun (Abu Simbel) 31 Userhat, Tomb of (Luxor) 103
Steigenberger Nile Palace Luxor Wadi al-Sebua (Lake Nasser)
129 113 V
Step Pyramid (Saqqara) 13, 91, tennis 105 vaccinations 121
94 Tentmakers’ Souq (Cairo) 55 Valley of the Kings (Luxor) 7,
stomach upsets 121 The Terraces (Citadel, Cairo) 86 24–5, 100
streetfood 78, 122 terrorism 121 Valley of the Queens (Luxor) 104
Suez Canal 43, 92, 93 Teti, Pyramid of (Saqqara) 94 Valley Temple (Giza) 13
Suez Canal Authority Building Thebes see Luxor vegetarians 122
(Port Said) 93 theme parks 57 Victoria Hotel (Cairo) 126
Suleyman the Great 43 Thomas Cook & Son 27 Villa Belle Epoque (Cairo) 125
Sun Festival of Ramses II (Abu Thoth 37 Villa d’Este at the Conrad
Simbel) 31, 62 Thutmose Gallery (Tell al- International (Cairo) 60, 79
Sun Temple (Abu Simbel) 31 Amarna) 40–1 visas 116
sunbathing 105 Thuya 11
swimming 105 Tomb 11, 40 W
time zone 116 Wadi al-Sebua (Lake Nasser) 113
T tipping 119, 122, 124 Wadi Halfa (Sudan) 113
Talatat Wall (Luxor Museum) toilets 118, 120 Wadi Natrun 92
102 tombs walking tours see itineraries
Talisman (Cairo) 126 Mastaba of Ti (Saqqara) 94 The Walls (Citadel, Cairo) 86
taxes 122 paintings 36–7 water, drinking 120
taxis 117 Persian (Saqqara) 94 websites 116
tea, offers of 122 Tombs of the Nobles (Aswan) Western Desert 107
telephone services 118 110 what to buy 122
Tell al-Amarna 40, 107 Tombs of the Nobles (Luxor) what to take 116
temples 19, 36, 38–9 101, 103 when to go 116
Abu Simbel 7, 30–1, 39 Valley of the Kings (Luxor) 24–5 Whirling Dervishes 67
Amada (Lake Nasser) 113 Valley of the Queens (Luxor) White & Blue (Alexandria) 61
Amun (Karnak) 16, 18–19 104 wikala 44
Aten (Karnak) 102 see also catacombs; Al-Ghouri (Cairo) 15, 45
crocodile (Kom Aushim) 91 cemeteries; mausoleums; Windsor Hotel (Cairo) 52, 127
Dendara 39 pyramids Windsor Hotel (Luxor) 130
Great Festival (Karnak) 18–19 tourist offices 116 Windsor Palace (Alexandria) 53,
Hathor (Abu Simbel) 31 tourist police 121 128
Hathor (Dendara) 39, 107 touts, hotel 124 women travellers 119
Hathor (Philae) 29 Townhouse Gallery (Cairo) 75 woodwork, Islamic 45
Hatshepsut (Luxor) 7, 22–3, Trajan, Emperor 29
39, 100 transport 117 Y
Horus (Edfu) 38, 107 Tutankhamun 9, 102 Yacoubian Building (Cairo) 49,
Horus and Sobek (Kom Death Mask 11 73
Ombo) 107 Galleries (Egyptian Museum) 9 Yuya, Tomb 11, 40
Isis (Philae) 28 Lion Throne 11
Kalabsha (Lake Nasser) 113 Tomb 24, 41 Z
Karnak 6, 16–19, 39 Treasure (Luxor Museum) 102 Zamalek (Cairo) 55, 72

139
 Acknowledgments
The Author Designer
Andrew Humphreys is a Nicola Erdpresser
travel writer and journalist who
Acknowledgments

Picture Researcher
spent several years living in
Ellen Root
Cairo. He has written
extensively on Egypt for a Cartographic Editor
variety of publishing companies Stuart James
and was a key contributor to
Eyewitness Egypt. DTP Designer
Jason Little

Main Photographer Production Controller

Eddie Gerald Danielle Smith

Additional Photography Picture Credits

Max Alexander, Alistair Duncan, a = above; b = below/bottom;
Neil Lukas, Ian O’Leary, Rough c = centre; l = left; r =right;
Guides/Angus Osborn 35br, t = top.
Rough Guides/Eddie Gerald,
Jon Spaull, Peter Wilson. Every effort has been made to
trace the copyright holders, and
Maps we apologize in advance for any
Encompass Graphics Ltd unintentional omissions. We
would be pleased to insert the
Fact Checker
appropriate acknowledgements
Anne Tiernan
in any subsequent edition of
Indexer this publication.
Helen Peters
The publishers would like to
Proofreader thank the following individuals,
Huw Hennessy companies, and picture libraries
for permission to reproduce
AT DORLING KINDERSLEY their photographs:

Publisher 4CORNERS IMAGES: Reinhard

Douglas Amrine Schmid 32–3.

List Manager THE ART ARCHIVE: Bibliothèque

Christine Stroyan des Arts Décoratifs Paris/Gianni
Designer and Illustrator Dagli Orti 40t; Egyptian
Maite Lantaron Museum Cairo/Gianni Dagli Orti
9bl; Gianni Dagli Orti 29tl.
Editor Rada Radojicic
CORBIS: O. Alamany & E.
Senior Editor Sadie Smith
Vicens 102tr; The Art Archive/
Design Manager Sunita Gahir Alfredo Dagli Orti 10tr;

140
Bettmann 42t, 43tl, 49r; Kenneth Garrett 24–5c;
Stefano Bianchetti 42br; National Geographic/Robert W.
Gianni Dagli Orti 1, 9tl, 24c, Nicholson 40cla; Photographer’s
34bl, 34tc; epa/Khaled El-Fiqi Choice/Stephen Studd 30cla;
62b; epa/Mike Nelson 62tl, 63tl; Popperfoto/Bentley Archive 65cla;

Acknowledgments
Free Agents Limited 24crb; Robert Harding World Imagery/
Wolfgang Kaehler 31bl; Reed Oliviero Olivieri 36tl; Stone/Stuart
Kaestner 10tc; Araldo de Luca Westmorland 8cla; Taxi/Jochem
42c; Jose Fuste Raga 7cr; D. Wijnands 16–7c; Time & Life
Sandro Vannini 6cra, 11br, 34c, Pictures 41bl; Time & Life
34tl; Werner Forman 34tr; Pictures/Thomas Hartwell 64bl.
Roger Wood 9cra, 10bc, 10tl,
11tc, 19cr; Zefa/Tony Craddock HEBA LINENS: 76tl;
96–7; Wendy Wrangham 118tl. HEMISPHERE IMAGES:
Jean du Boisberranger 61br;
EL GEZIRA HOTEL: 131tr. HOTEL SHEHERAZADE: 130tl.

FOUR SEASONS HOTEL CAIRO THE KOBAL COLLECTION:

AT THE NILE PLAZA: 60cl. 20th Century Fox 48tr; Columbia
48br; EMI 48tl.
GETTY IMAGES: AFP/Cris
Bouroncle 63br; AFP/Khaled LEONARDO MEDIABANK:
Desouki 62tr; Bridgeman Art 125tl, 128tc, 133tr.
Library 10cla, 12c, 35c, 37bl,
41r; DEA/G. Dagloi Orti 7ca, NOMAD GALLERY: 76tr; NOUR
50–1, 102tl; DEA/S. Vannini ELNILCRUISES: 27cr, 133tl.
25bc, 25tl, 36cla, 36tr; Hulton
Archive/Keystone 64tl; Iconica/ PRESS ASSOCIATION IMAGES:
Eric Meola 31tl; The Image AP Photo 64tr.
Bank/Daryl Benson 20-1c; The
Image Bank/Frans Lemmens All other images are © Dorling
12–3c; The Image Bank/Sylvain Kindersley.
Grandadam 38br; National
Geographic/David S. Boyer 30c; For further information see
National Geographic/ www.dkimages.com

Special Editions of DK Travel Guides

DK Travel Guides can be purchased in To find out more, please contact:
bulk quantities at discounted prices (in the United States)
for use in promotions or as premiums. SpecialSales@dk.com
We are also able to offer special (in the UK) TravelSpecialSales@uk.dk.
editions and personalized jackets, com

corporate imprints, and excerpts from (in Canada) DK Special Sales at

general@tourmaline.ca
all of our books, tailored specifically to
(in Australia) business.development
meet your own needs. @pearson.com.au

141
 Phrase Book
The Arabic given here is the Modern Standard How much is it? kam thaman haza (m)
Arabic. This varies from the language spoken hazeehee (f)
on the street (Egyptian Colloquial Arabic), What time is it? as-saah kam
which is a dialect of the standard language. I must go now labod an azhab al-a’n
Nevertheless, if you speak clearly and slowly Do you take credit hal taqbal Visa,
Phrase Book

cards? Access?
you should have no difficulty in being
Where is the toilet? ayn ajed al-hamam?
understood. Transliteration from Arabic script Go away! emshee!
to the Roman alphabet is a difficult task. You (for children only)
will repeatedly come across contradictory Excellent! momtaaz!
spellings in Egypt. Here we have given a left yasaar
simple phonetic transcription. The characters right yameen
in bold indicate stressed syllables. up fawq
down asfal
In an Emergency
Help! an-najdah! Travel
Stop! qeff! driver’s licence rokhsat qiyaadah
I want to go oreed al zehab I’ve lost my way ana dalayt at-tareeq
to a doctor lel tabeeb I want to go to… oreed al zehab le…
I want to go to a oreed al zehab lel garage (for repairs) garaaj meekaaneekee
pharmacist saydaliya petrol/gas banzeen
Where is the nearest ayn yoogad aqrab petrol/gas station mahattat banzeen
telephone? telifoon? A ticket to…please law samaht,
Where is the hospital? ayn toogad al tazkarat zehaab le…
mostashfa? airport mataar
ticket tazkarah
Communication Essentials passport jawaaz safar
Yes/No naam/laa visa veeza
Thank you shokran airport shuttle baas al-mataar
You’re welcome tasharafna When do we arrive in...? mata nasel ela…?
Please (asking for min fadlak When is the next train mata yaqoom al-
something) to…? qetaar alzaheb le…?
Please (offering) tafadal What station is this? hazehe ay mahattah?
Good morning sabaah al-khayr train qetaar
Good afternoon as-salaam alaykum sleeping car arabat nawm
Good evening masa’ al-khayr bus otobees
Goodbye maa as-salaamah bus station mahatet el-otobees
Excuse me, please min fadlak, law samaht boat markeb
today al-yawm cruise jawlah bahareeyah
yesterday al-ams ferry abaarah
tomorrow ghadan taxi taaksee
this morning haza as-sabaah
this afternoon al-yawm baad az-zohr Staying in a Hotel
this evening haza al-masa’ Have you got any hal yoogad ghoraf
here hona vacancies? khaaleeyah?
there honaak I have a reservation andee hajz
what? maza? I’d like a room with oreed ghorfah be-
when? mata? a bathroom hammam
where? ayn? hotel fondoq
air-conditioning takyeef
Useful Words and Phrases double room ghorfa mozdawajah
I don’t understand la afham single room ghorfa be-sareer
Do you speak hal tatakalam waahed
English/French? engleezee/faransee? shower dosh
I don’t know la aaref toilet towaaleet
Please speak more men fadlak toilet paper waraq towaleet
slowly tahadath bebote’ key meftaah
My name is… esmee… lift/elevator mesad
How do you do, kayf haalak, breakfast fooor
pleased to meet you tasharafna be- restaurant matam
mearefatak bill faatoorah
How are you? kayf haalak?
Sorry! aasef Shopping
God (Allah) willing enshaallah I’d like… oreed…
Can you help me, min fadlak, momken Do you have…? hal andak…?
please? tosaaednee? How much is this? be-kam haza?
Can you tell me…? men fadlak qol lee? I’ll give you… ha aateek…
I would like…. oreed… Where do I pay? ayn adfaa?
Is there…here? yugad…hona? to buy yashtaree
Where can I get…? ayn ajed…? to go shopping yatasawwaq

142 When two different vowels occur together, for example ae- and
aa-, each is pronounced separately.
Sightseeing luhoom mashweeyah mixed grilled meats
mosque jaamea baazenjaan aubergine
street, road shaarea abookaado avocado
house bayt koronb cabbage
square midan karafs celery
beach shaatee’ felfel haamee chilies
museum mathaf khiyaar cucumber

Phrase Book
church kaneesah adas lentils
castle, palace qasr khass lettuce
baamyah okra
Eating Out basal onions
A table for…one/two, ma’eda le-shakhs bataates potatoes
please wahed/le-shakhsayn, rozz rice
law samaht tamaatem tomatoes
I’d like… oreed… khodaar vegetables
May we have the bill momken al-hesaab, mooz bananas
please? law samaht? fawaakeh mojaffafah dreid fruits
Enjoy your meal bel-hanaa’ wash- teen figs
shefaa’ fawaakeh fruits
beer beerah aays kreem ice cream
bottle zojaajah zabaadee yoghurt
cake kayk bateekh watermelon
coffee qahwah baskooweet biscuits
– no sugar – saadah halawiyaat dessert
– medium – mazboot metabbel spiced
– sweet – sukkar zeyaadah mashwee grilled
– with milk – bel-haleeb maqlee fried
cup fenjaan
glass koob Numbers
plate tabaq 0 sefr
sandwich sandwetsh 1 waahed
snack wajbah khafeefah 2 ethnayn
sugar sukkar 3 thalaathah
table ma’eda 4 arbaah
tea shaay 5 khamsah
mint neanaa 6 settah
(mineral) water miyaah 7 sabah
(maadaneeyah) 8 thamaaneeyah
wine nabeez 9 tesah
10 asharah
Menu Decoder 11 hedaash
shorbah soup 12 etnaash
samak fish 13 thalaathaash
salaatat baazenjaan aubergine salad 14 arbaataash
samak sayaadeeyah fish with rice 15 khamastaash
samak medakhan smoked fish 16 settaash
salaatat baazenjaan aubergine salad 17 sabaataash
shammaam melon 18 thamaantaash
mekhallalaat pickles 19 tesataash
hommos hummus 20 aeshreen
zaytoon olives 30 thalaatheen
waraq aenab mahsee stuffed vine leaves 40 arbaaeen
baaba ghanooj aubergine and tahina 50 khamseen
paté 60 setteen
jebnah cheese 70 sabaeen
labnah curd cheese 80 thamaaneen
baydah egg 90 tesaeen
sheareeyah noodles 100 me’ah
jambaree shrimp 500 khamsme’ah
habaar squid 1,000 alf
toonah tuna
lahm baqaree beef Days of the Week
firaakh chicken Monday yawm al-ethnayn
koftat dajaaj chicken pieces Tuesday yawm ath-tholatha’
batt duck Wednesday yawm al-arbeaa’
lahm daanee lamb Thursday yawm al-khamees
lahm meat Friday yawm al-jomah
koftah meatballs Saturday yawm as-sabt
luhoom mashweeyah mixed grill meats Sunday yawm al-ahad
hamaam pigeon
shaawerma sliced split-roast lamb
boftayk steak

143
 Selected Street and Regional Index
Cairo Masri, Sharia al- F5 The Nile
26 July, Kubri F2 Matbaal al-Amiriya, Sharia al- E1 Abu Simbel B1
6 October, Kubri G2 Mesaha, Sharia K1 Abu Tig B4
Abdel Moneim Riad Square F3 Mohammed Farid, Sharia G3 Abydos B4
Selected Street and Regional Index

Abu Seifan, Sharia M4 Mohammed Mahmoud, Al-Kharga A4

Abul Suud, Sharia M4 Sharia F4 Al-Qusiya A3
Adawiya, Sharia al- F2 Mohammed Marashli, Al-Badari B4
Ahmad Mahir, Midan H4 Sharia D1 Alexandria A1
Akhram, Sharia al- K4 Mugharablin, Sharia al- H5 Al-Kab C5
Armidan, Sharia al- H6 Muizz li-Din Allah, Sharia al- J3 Al-Manshah B4
Ataba, Midan H3 Murad, Sharia K4 Al-Mansura B1
Azhar, Sharia al- H3 Mustafa Kamel, Midan G3 Al-Nouzha A1
Aziz al-Saud, Sharia abd al- L2 Nasiriya, Sharia al- G5 Aswan C5
Aziz as-Suud, Sharia abd al- L4 Nubar, Sharia F5 Asyut B3
Bairam at-Tonsi, Sharia F6 Opera, Midan G3 Benha B2
Barrani, Sharia al- F6 Orabi, Sharia G2 Beni Suef B2
Brazil, Sharia E1 Port Said, Sharia H3 Birqash Camel Market A2
Bulaqal-Gadid, Sharia E2 Qadima, Sharia Misr al- P6 Cairo B2
Busir, Sharia al- H3 Qadri, Sharia J6 Dalga A3
Bustan, Sharia al- G4 Qalaa, Sharia al- H5 Damanhur A1
Champollion, Sharia F3 Qarafet Bab al-Wazir, Sharia J5 Daraw C5
Clotbey, Sharia H2 Qasr al-Ainy, Sharia al- F5 Eastern Desert
Corniche al-Nil E5 Qasr-al-Nil, Kubri E4 (Arabian Desert) B3
Daiyyura, Sharia ad- M3 Qasral-Nil, Sharia F3 Edfu C5
Darb al-Ahmar, Sharia al- J5 Rafi, Sharia ar- K2 Esna B5
Dawud, Sharia N3 Ramses, Midan G2 Fayoum A2
Fatih, Sharia al- K5 Ramses, Sharia G2 Fayoum Oasis A2
Fustat, Sharia al- N5 Rhoda, Sharia al- L4 Gebel Qattar C3
Gabana Musallama, Sharia M5 Saad Zaghlul, Sharia K5 Giza B2
Gala, Midan al- D4 Sabtiya, Sharia as- G1 Gulf of Suez C3
Gala, Sharia al- F3 Sahafa, Sharia as- F2 Helwan B2
Gamaa, Sharia al- K2 Salah ad-Din, Midan H6 Hurghada C3
Gamal Abd al-Nasser, Salah ad-Din, Sharia D2 Ismailia B1
Sharia D3 Salah Salem, Sharia J6 Kafr al-Sheikh A1
Gamal Abd an-Nasser, Saliba, Sharia as- H6 Kalābsha B6
Sharia K5 Saraya al-Gezira, Sharia E3 Kom Ombo C5
Gamaliyya, Sharia al- J3 Sayyalet ar-Rhoda, Sharia M4 Lake Nasser C6
Gami Amr Ibnal-Aas, Sharia M5 Sayyida Aisha, Sharia as- P4 Lake Qarun A2
Geish, Sharia al- H3 Sayyida Nafisa, Midan as- Q4 Luxor B4
Gezira, Sharia al- D2 Sayyida Nafisa, Sharia as- Q3 Maghagha A3
Geziret Badran, Sharia G1 Sayyida Zeinab, Midan G5 Manfalut A3
Giza, Shari al- K3 Sayyida, Sharia as- H6 Minya A3
Giza, Sharia al- D5 Shanan, Sharia F2 Mount Sinai (Gebel Musa) C3
Gumhuriyya, Sharia al- G2 Sharia 26 July D2 Nile C5
Hada az-Zuhriya, Sharia al- D4 Sharia Abu al-Farag E1 Nile Delta A1
Hasanal-Akhbar, Sharia G4 Sharia Ahmad Mahir H4 Port Said B1
Hassa Sabry, Sharia D2 Sharia Ahmed Hilmi G1 Qena C4
Hassanal-Anwar, Sharia K3 Sharia as-Sarsy E5 Qus C4
Hussein, Midan al- J4 Sharif, Sharia G3 Samalut A3
Ibn Tulun, Sharia G6 Sheikh Rihan, Sharia Ash- F4 Saqqara B2
Ibn Zinki, Sharia D2 Shubra, Sharia G1 Sharm al-Sheikh C3
Ibrahimal-Gibali, Sharia M5 Shurafa, Sharia al- K5 Silsilah C5
Imam al-Laythi, Sharia al- Q4 Sikkat Ash-Sharqawi, Sharia H4 Sinai C2
Imam al-Shafii, Sharia al- Q4 Simon Bolivar, Midan F4 Sinnuris A2
Ismail Mohammed, Sharia D1 Syra, Sharia ain al- Q5 Sohag B4
Khalig al-Masri, Sharia al- G5 Tahrir, Midan F4 Suez B2
Khalig, Sharia al- F6 Tahrir, Sharia at- D4 Suez Canal (Qana al-Suweis) B2
Kubri al-Gamaa (University Talaat Harb, Midan F3 Talla A3
Bridge) L3 Talaat Harb, Sharia F3 Tanta A1
Kubri al-Giza K4 Tariq An-Nasr, Sharia J6 Tell al-Amarna B3
Madabigh, Sharia al- N4 Tariq Magra al-Uyun, Sharia N4 Temple of Dendara C4
Maglis As-Shaab, Sharia F4 Tiraal-Bulaqiya, Sharia at- G1 Temple of Philae C5
Magra al-Uyun, Midan P4 Umm Kulsum (Gabaliya), Tima B4
Mahatta, Sharia al- K5 Sharia D2 Toshka B6
Malik Salih, Sharia al- L5 Wasif, Sharia K2 Wadi Halfa B6
Mamum, Sharia al- K6 Yahya Ibn Zid, Sharia F6 Wadi Natrun A2
Manial, Sharia al- L3 Yaqub, Sharia ard P4 Western Desert
Mansuri, Sharia al- F2 Yazid, Sharia Ibn N4 (Libyan Desert) A4
Mar Girgis, Sharia M5 Zaghloul, Midan Saad E4 White Desert A3
Marwan, Sharia Ibn K1 Zakariy Rizq, Sharia E2 Zagazig B1

144