THE ANCIENT WORLD WAS CALLING My interest in history and art history brought me to Alexandria. The city, established in 331B.C., by Alexander the Great, is one of the oldest extant cities in the world. Alexander personally picked out the site and together with his “urban planner”, they laid out the grid plan, much of […]
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We had not yet found Mahfouz’s house but we were very willing to keep following Ahmed. Turning down a narrow lane, Ahmed suggested a visit to his friend who owned a box “factory”. When we arrived, his friend was standing on the street in front of an ancient wooden double door secured by a lock
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LET’S GET GOING By the time we started walking, the hustle bustle of the day had retreated, replaced by people settling into their evening rituals, lived out on the street as well as behind closed doors. In the dim light we noticed mounds of black fabric piled up in front of doorways that only under
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Returning to Cairo from the White Desert, a Nile dinner cruise complete with the obligatory belly dancing show was next on the schedule. Without much deliberation, we decided not to attend, once again avoiding tour bus hordes and set tourist meals. However, noticing our cultural quotient was running on empty, we decided to attend a
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The White Desert, called Sahara al-Beida in Arabic, is a plain of large calcite deposits covered in white sand. With the development of desert safaris, it has become a popular destination and even though it has been turned into a 300 sq. km Protectorate, many fear this is not enough to preserve its pristine condition.
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When traveling in Egypt, one of the best ways to get away from the hordes of tourists is to book a desert safari. Having reached Bawati, the largest village and administrative center in the Bahariya Oasis, our program consisted of one night in the White Desert and then one night in a hotel in Bawati,
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SMALL EVENTS HAVE THEIR OWN SPLENDOR AND THE MEMORY OF THEM LASTS LONGER WHAT WAS WRONG IN CAIRO? We spent six full days touring Cairo, covered five thousand years of history from the Pharaonic days to the present, but never developed an affinity for the city or its people and never became captive to that
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When you leave home, take along a romantic sensibility and a traveler’s imagination so you can conjure up an attachment to the places you visit and sympathy for the people who are just trying to survive. You should leave the confines of the hotel, get out there, roam the city, walk the walks, engage the
A Visit to the Camel Market – Egypt 2009, Part 1 Read More »
GETTING THERE – ARRIVING IN CAIRO On October 25, having said our good byes to the mountain gorillas of Rwanda, Donald and I left Kigali, Rwanda, our next destination, Cairo. We flew out on a Kenyan Airways Boeing 727, a plane no longer considered safe to fly in the United States. At least this plane
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Tour of Western Desert of Egypt is a fascinating journey through remote oasis, namely Siwa, Bahariya, Farafra, Dakhla and Kharga Oasis, the Great Sand Sea or Ramla El Kebir, and Gilf Kebir, a moonscape-like plateau of striking mountain ridges, crater-like formations and rock sculptures. Beyond Bahariya Oasis begins vast Black Desert that turns into surreal
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