Cairo
Tackle the main Pharaonic sites at Memphis,
including the Great Pyramids, the Sphinx, Saqqara
and Dahshur…walk through Khan
el Khalili, the great bazaar contained within
the old city walls…purchase hand-woven pillows,
tablecloths and wall hangings in Islamic design at
El-Khayamaya in Islamic
Cairo…visit the Islamic Museum,
built in classic Islamic architecture and housing
a wonderful collection of texts, mashrabayas and reliefs…lounge
on one of the many falukkas
zigzagging the Nile for hours at a time.
Environs
In Alexandria, visit the
Montazah Palace, the old residence of King Farouk,
the Biblioteca Alexandrina, and enjoy a seafood lunch
or dinner along the coast and desert at the famed
Brazilian Coffee House…at
Luxor, see the Luxor Temple,
The Temple of Hatchepsut, and the legendary Valley
of the Kings; in the evening, have a drink
at the splendid Old Winter Palace
Hotel and shop at the Night Bazaar…in
Aswan, stay at the Old
Cataract Hotel for the best views of the Nile and
visit the new Nubian Museum, St. Simeon's Monastery,
and the famous Aswan bazaar or souk…sample the
beaches at the Sinai Peninsula
and the resort city of Sharm el
Sheikh…take a day trip to Ras
Mohammed National Reserve to snorkel and admire
the coral and sealife…visit St.
Catherine's Monastery, a Greek Orthodox Monastery
that has existed for centuries…on the eastern
coast of mainland Egypt, the resort town of Hurghada
offers diving and water sports and an assortment of
deluxe resorts…in the western desert, spend time
at Siwa, a legendary town
Alexander the Great passed through…see the peculiar
chalk formations and shifting colors of the White
Desert.
