10 Things not to miss in Egypt

 

 

 

 

 

1 The pyramids

 

It would be a travel-weary soul indeed who failed to be impressed by the spectacles of Giza, the only survivors of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It took teams of 10,000 workers the ?ve non-farming months of 20 years to build each pyramid and they are awesome. Although climbing the pyramids is no longer permitted, you can walk right around them, take a camel ride between them and even go inside to the main chambers (providing you don’t suffer from claustrophobia as the entry tunnela are narrow, steep and hot). By contrast, the nearby Sphinx is, as English playwright Alan Bennett observed, like meeting someone famous who turns out to be smaller than you might have imagined from seeing them on TV or in photographs.


2 Cairo’s Egyptian Museum

 

You could spend a month in this vast, fusty and cavernous museum and barely scratch the surface. Highlights include the Tutankhamun Galleries with everything from clothes, funerary couches, golden sarcophagi and statues to canopic jars containing the boy king’s internal organs. Tut’s death mask, 11kg of solid gold with details in lapis lazuli, obsidian and quartz, completes the sensory overload. Don’t miss the royal mummy room with 11 of Egypt’s most celebrated rulers laid out for the passing parade, or the animal mummy exhibit where royal pets from cats and dogs to crocodiles are preserved. The ancient Egyptian jewellery room is also astonishing, particularly for the inspiration it has provided modern jewellers with lots of seashell and star?sh motifs.


3 Old Cairo

 

Coptic Cairo is a fascinating precinct in Old Cairo, also home to Cairo’s oldest synagogue, Ben Ezra. The 9th century Hanging Church is so called because it’s built on top of the Water Gate of Roman Babylon — there’s a glass panel in the ?oor so you see the gate below. The Church of St Sergius has pillars dating from the 3rd and 4th centuries, but is said to be built over a cave where Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus lived for six weeks after ?eeing persecution by King Herod of Judea, who had decreed that all ?rst-born should be killed. The crypt is now ?ooded, but it’s still impossible not to feel the intense spirituality of the place.


4 Khan Al-Khalili

 

Cairo’s bustling central market since the 14th century, it meanders across countless alleys. In the midst of all the touts and tat, this is a great place to pick up souvenirs as long as you’re prepared to bargain. Take a break at Fishawi’s Co?eehouse, which claims not to have shut in 200 years except in the mornings during Ramadan when everyone is fasting. And try fateer from the stall that has “Egyptian pancakes” written on the wall.


5 A ride on the Nile

A felucca ride on the Nile is the best way to escape the hustle on land. We took a two-hour sunset cruise in Luxor, but there are full-day and even week-long cruises on these time-honoured Nile sailing boats. Longer cruises usually head up-river from Aswan — the strong current keeps you moving even when the wind drops

 

 

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6 The Luxor Museum

 

If Cairo’s museum is old-school, the Luxor Museum is new age, with multi- media presentations and well-documented exhibits. There are mummies (including one thought to be the mummy of Rameses I) and statues aplenty, but we delighted in the everyday objects including sandals, a quiver of arrows and even a slingshot from Tutankhamun’s tomb.

7 Luxor

Allow at least a couple of days to explore the temples and tombs of Luxor, about (where?, coming on proof ). Anything less and you’ll end up with pharaonic fatigue not able to tell a sphinx from a scarab. Karnak and Luxor temples are the highlights of the East Bank in the actual city of Luxor, while on the West Bank you can visit the underground tombs of The Valley of the Kings (including Rameses II and Tutankhamun), the temple of Hatshepsut, the queen who ruled ?rst as regent and then as pharaoh, even to the extent of dressing as a man, the twin pillars of the Colossi of Memnon and the tombs of the Valley of the Queens. It gets very hot in these parts, so start early, wear sunscreen and take plenty of water.

8 Alexandria’s waterfront walk

 

A stroll along the Corniche in Alexandria, two hours drive north of Cairo, provides a pleasant respite from antiquity overload. The fishing boats place you firmly on the Mediterranean and the Alexandrian Bibliotheca (library) is a modern architectural wonder worth visiting. Stroll down the seafront to see the Hotel Cecil where Lawrence Durrell stayed when he came to Alexandria in 1942 and later immortalised in the Alexandria Quartet. Somewhat incongruously, it’s now a Sofitel.


9 Oriental eating

From dips such as baba ganouj and homous to salads including tabbouleh and fattoush and chickpea-based felafel, it’s almost impossible to eat badly in Egypt. We fell in love with fattah, a slow-roasted lamb dish with a rich tomato sauce, and hamam, pigeon stu?ed with spiced rice. Sweet-tooths are well catered for, with honey-sodden pastries ?avoured with rosewater and pistachios, pinenuts, almonds and cashews. Though most Egyptians don’t drink alcohol, beer is easy to come by (a bit harder during Ramadan). Egypt also has an emerging wine industry producing creditable wines under licence to French winemakers. Wine and spirits are mainly available in the tourist hotels. There’s also an astonishing array of juices, from limoon (lemon) and rumman (pomegranate) to karkadai (hibiscus flower).


10 A dip in the Red Sea
The Red Sea is justi?ably famous for the spectacular coral reefs and more than 1000 species of ?sh, making it a diving and snorkelling paradise. Many Egyptians and tourists base themselves in the resort town of Sharm el Sheikh on the point of the Sinai Peninsula and explore Ras Mohammed National Park, 20km to the west.

 

 

 

 

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