|
|
|
Map |
|
|
|
|
|
In the fifth century BC Herodotus wrote
of Egypt that 'nowhere are there so many marvelous
things...nor in the world besides are to be seen so many
things of unspeakable greatness' - and not too much has
changed. The Sphinx, the Nile, ancient Luxor, the
pyramids - Egypt's scope is glorious.
It's not just the Pharaonic monuments that have
drawn travelers to this country since long before the
birth of Christ - it's the legacy of the Greeks,
Romans and early Christians, and the
profusion of art and architecture accumulated from
centuries of successive Islamic dynasties.
Modern Egypt is an amalgam of these legacies and
more, juxtaposed with modern influences. Mud-brick
villages stand beside millennia-old ruins surrounded by
buildings of steel and glass. Some townsfolk dress in
long flowing robes, others in Levis and Reeboks, and
city traffic competes with donkey-drawn carts and
wandering goats. Nowhere are these contrasts played out
so colorfully as in Cairo, a massive city thronged with
people and ringing to the sound of car horns,
ghetto-blasters and muezzins summoning the faithful to
prayer. Egypt isn't all chaos and clatter, however. It's
also a diver's dream dip, a trek across the sands on a
camel or a long lazy punt down the Nile. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|