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Top Destinations. Egypt’s most fascinating places. Alexandria.
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Top Destinations Egypt’s most fascinating places.
Alexandria ALEXANDRIA turns its back on the rest of Egypt and faces the Mediterranean, as if contemplating its glorious past; a hybrid city characterized by Durrell as the "Capital of Memory". One of the great cities of antiquity, Alex slumbered for 1300 years until it was revived by Mohammed Ali and transformed by Europeans, who gave the city its present shape and made it synonymous with cosmopolitanism and decadence. This era came to an end in the 1950s with the mass flight of non-Egyptians and a dose of revolutionary puritanism, but Alexandria's beaches, restaurants and breezy climate still attract hordes of Cairenes during the summer, while its jaded historical and literary mystique remains appealing to foreigners. And when El-Iskandariya (the city's Arabic name) palls, you can easily enough take a bus to Mersa Matrouh and continue on to Siwa Oasis.
Aswan Egypt's southernmost city (population 150,000) and ancient frontier town has the loveliest setting on the Nile. At ASWANthe deserts close in on the river, confining its sparkling blue between smooth amber sand and rugged extrusions of granite bedrock. Lateen-sailed feluccas glide past the ancient ruins and gargantuan rocks of Elephantine Island, palms and tropical shrubs softening the islands and embankments till intense blue skies fade into soft-focus dusks. The city's ambience is palpably African; its Nubian inhabitants are lither and darker than the Saiyidis, with different tastes and customs. Although its own monuments are insignificant compared to Luxor's, Aswan is the base for excursions to the temples of Philae and Kabasha , near the great dams beyond the First Cataract, and the Sun Temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel , far to the south. It can also serve for day-trips to Darow Camel Market, Kom Ombo, Edfu and Esna - the main temples between here and Luxor. But the classic approach is to travel upriver by felucca, experiencing the Nile's moods and scenery as travellers have for millennia. However, Aswan itself is so laid-back that one could easily spend a week here simply hanging out, never mind going anywhere. The tourism scene is much the same as in Luxor.
Cairo CAIRO has been the largest city in Africa and the Middle East ever since the Mongols wasted Imperial Baghdad in 1258. Acknowledged as Umm Dunya or " Mother of the World " by medieval Arabs, and as Great Cairo by nineteenth-century Europeans, it remains, in Jan Morris's words, "one of the half-dozen supercapitals - capitals that are bigger than themselves or their countries the focus of a whole culture, an ideology or a historical moment". As Egypt has been a prize for conquerors from Alexander the Great to Rommel, so Cairo has been a fulcrum of power in the Arab world from the Crusades unto the present day. The ulema of its thousand-year-old Al-Azhar Mosque (for centuries the foremost centre of Islamic intellectual life) remains the ultimate religious authority for millions of Sunni Muslims, from Jakarta to Birmingham. Wherever Arabic is spoken, Cairo's cultural magnetism is felt. Every strand of Egyptian society knits and unravels in this febrile megalopolis.
Hurghada In the course of two decades, HURGHADA has been transformed from a humble fishing village of a few hundred souls into a booming town of 50,000 people, drawn here from all over Egypt by the lure of making money. This phenomenal growth is almost entirely due to tourism , which accounts for 95 percent of the local economy. Yet it's worth taking Hurghada's claims to be a seaside resort with a handful of salt. Unlike Sinai, where soft sand and gorgeous reefs are within easy reach and women can bathe unhassled, Hurghada's public beaches are distant or uninviting, while the best marine life is far offshore. If you're not into diving or discos, it's hard to find much to like about Hurghada - though you have to admire its commercial gusto; many of the townsfolk come from Luxor's west bank, where tourism has been a way of life for generations.
Ismailiya ISMAILIYA 's schizoid character is defined by the rail line that cuts across the city. South of the tracks lies the European-style garden city built for foreign employees of the Suez Canal Company, extending to the verdant banks of the Sweetwater Canal. Following careful restoration, its leafy boulevards and placid streets of colonial villas look almost as they must have done in the 1930s, with bilingual street signs nourishing the illusion that the British empire has just popped indoors for cocktails.
Luxor LUXOR has been a tourist mecca ever since Nile steamers began calling in the nineteenth century to view the remains of Thebes, ancient Egypt's New Kingdom capital, and its associated sites - the concentration of relics in this area is overwhelming. The town itself boasts Luxor Temple , a graceful ornament to its waterfront and "downtown" quarter, while just to the north is Karnak Temple , a stupendous complex built over 1300 years. Across the river are the amazing tombs and mortuary temples of the Theban Necropolis , and as if this wasn't enough, Luxor also serves as a base for trips to Esna, Edfu, Dendara and Abydos temples, up and down the Nile Valley.
Mersa Matrouh Although MERSA MATROUH has grown phenomenally and sees itself as a sophisticated resort, it remains a hick town with donkey carts outnumbering cars on the main street, which in summer is clogged with groups of well-to-do Egyptian and Libyan holidaymakers. All the local beaches have been ruined, leaving only the magnificent cove at Agiiba and neighbouring Ubbayad beach, both far from town. Whatever Egyptians might say, by no stretch of the imagination does Matrouh fit the tourist board's promise of a hedonist's playground. The only people likely to think so are the Libyans who've started coming here since the border was reopened; Egyptians go the other way, seeking work in Libya, while Western visitors are generally more interested in reaching Siwa Oasis.
