October 2011 Egypt Destination Guide

a canadian’s guide to

Royal Relics Seaside Resorts

Nile Cruises

Temples, Pyramids, Museums

A SPECIAL Supplement To The OCTOBER 2011 Issue Of

living Now Is The Time For Egypt While things Egyptian fascinated us long before that famous Egyptologist Howard Carter made his dramatic discovery of Tutankhamen’s intact tomb in 1922 his findings inspired designers of fashion and furniture, Hollywood movie makers, and authors. And the fascination continues.

Thousands of visitors arrive each year on pilgrimages to see the great pyramids, temples and other monuments. The country is a living museum, and it’s also so much more.

The mere mention of Egypt and the Nile evokes images of pyramids, great temples, and fantastic tales of mummies and treasure.

Many iconic sights are found along the river, the world’s longest at 6,400 kilometres. It’s as much the lifeblood of today’s Egypt as it was centuries past. But the deserts and oases also have their attractions.

And along the shores of the Red Sea and the Sinai Peninsula, you’ll find some pretty sophisticated resorts with nightclubs, spas, all the water sports you could wish for and beautiful sandy beaches.

Cairo’s historic quarters have for centuries have been home to Christian,

Jewish, and Islamic populations. In fact some of Christianity’s earliest communities stem from Egypt and on Sinai at St. Catherine’s Monastery you’ll find the origins of monasticism. You can also hike up the mountain where, according to the Bible, Moses received the Ten Commandments.

In Cairo and Alexandria (the latter still bearing a French colonial flavour) you can enjoy the lively coffee shop culture, where the locals gather for animated conversation and to play backgammon or chess.

Just like any major modern city Cairo, Alexandria and Sinai offer a choice of nightlife, and restaurants run the gamut of tastes and tariffs.

A visit to Egypt can be an intense cultural experience. It can also be a fun time of sun-kissed activities embracing golf, fishing, sand surfing, diving and water sports, birding and lots more.

A Nile cruise between Luxor and Aswan or Abu Simbel at the top of Lake Nasser is the perfect addition to any Egyptian vacation. Or perhaps it will be the vacation in itself. If so, be prepared to return – there’s so much to see. c

Inside One Visit To Cairo Is Simply Not Enough

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Alexandria Is The Queen of Egypt’s Mediterranean Coast 6 Luxor & Karnak House Royal Relics In An Open-Air Museum 8

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Few Experiences Rival Egypt’s Deserts & Oases

Egyptian Tourist Authority 2020 University St. #2260 Montreal Quebec H3A 2A5 Tel: (514) 861-4420 Fax: (514) 861-8071 E-mail: info.ca@egypt.travel Website: www.egypt.travel

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Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula IS The Red Sea Riviera 12 Egypt Is Good For The Body & The Soul 13 Slip Back In Time Aboard A Cruise Up Egypt’s Lifeline

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EGYPT – A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT TO THE OCTOBER 2011 ISSUE OF CANADIAN TRAVELLER Published 12 times a year by

Photos: Egypt Tourist Authority

Printed in Canada

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Text by: Christine Potter

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Egypt They call it the City of One Thousand and One Nights for good reason. It is now believed by literary scholars that those ancient tales were told in Cairo over a thousand years ago. Even then Cairo was a major metropolis when other big cities of the world were finding their feet.

so much so much

Today’s Cairo, specifically its central Tahrir Square, would give Queen Scheherazade yet another tale to tell. The square itself is unimposing as major city centres go, but it’s the birthplace of the new Egypt, a place watched by the world in January this year when the 18-day dynasty-changing revolution happened (Arab Spring, as some have called it), and watched again in July when tens of thousands gathered to call for faster reforms.

Egypt’s capital still buzzes from Mubarak’s downfall, but visitors report that, for tourists, things are fast getting back to normal.

Street vendors have been quick to open up trade in revolution memorabilia, from T-shirts to Egyptian flags.

The new Egypt stands side by

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One Visit To Cairo Is Simply Not Enough

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Explore Cairo’s souks lining the maze of lanes in the Islamic old quarter, and discover up all manner of goods and local foods.

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A city of 18 million, Cairo’s cafes reflect its multi-cultural flavours (stuffed pigeon is a local favourite).

The iconic gold and gem-inlaid funeral mask is the centerpiece of Tutankhamen Galleries at the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities.

side with the old, for it’s on Tahrir Square that the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities is located.

The museum is a must-see with remarkable treasures spanning a 5,000-yearold history.

While some visitors report frustration with a lack of efficient labelling, the sights are nonetheless breathtaking. (Reported looting in the January revolution was halted by a furious Egyptian public.) More than 120,000 artefacts date from the earliest dynasties to the Roman era. Tutankhamen Galleries display the iconic gold and geminlaid funeral mask plus 1,700 additional treasures found in the boy king’s tomb. The Royal Mummy Room is home to the remains of 11 pharaohs, including Ramses II. The Giza and Saqqara rooms are filled with impressive statues and death masks. Allow a half-day at least, and then return for more.

The city of 18 million teems with life.

Cairo is home to many cultures, evidenced in the array of stores, restaurants, and cafes.

(Try the stuffed pigeon, a favourite Egyptian dish.) Aromas scent the air from spices in the souks (markets) to delicious emanations from street stalls.

Cairo is the largest city in Africa and claims the title “urban centre of the Arab world.” Here, east unites with west as does the past and present. You’ll find stunning glass towers and ancient medieval tunnels and see luxury limos share the road with donkey carts and the odd camel. Women in the latest western fashions walk with robed and veiled companions.

The Islamic old town is a maze of lanes leading to mighty mosques

and caravanseries (resting places for camel train traders of old). Here you can walk in the footsteps of legendary sultans like Salah el-Din (Saladin to our western memories).

At the gate of Bab Zuwayla – all that’s left of the old city of el-Qahira – those looking to be healed nail a lock of their hair or a piece of clothing to the gate in the hope of a miracle from the local saint Mitwalli, who lived here in the 19th century. Above the gates, the minarets of el-Muahhad mosque offer some of the best views across Cairo.

Here, too, you’ll find a shady courtyard and the mausoleum of Sultan el-Muahhad, who began the building in 1415.

In Cairo’s ancient Christian quarter the Copts keep their precious early Christian inheritance and boast the world’s oldest monastic communities. Visitors can even trace part of the path travelled by the holy family during their travels through Egypt.

Towards the River Nile, the city hums to a modern beat. Here is the business hub, contemporary museums, superb shopping, a vibrant arts scene and sizzling restaurants and night life. Cairo’s world-renowned opera house draws aficionados from across Europe.

Cairo and its surrounding area in the Lower Nile Valley are considered to be the heart of Egypt, and you’ll find almost everything about the country represented in the region, including some of the most famous Pharaonic, ancient Christian, and Islamic monuments.

Of course every visitor must make a pilgrimage to the Great Pyramids of Giza on the western edge of the city and one of the original Seven Wonders of the World. (And the last remaining one.)

The oldest, the Great Pyramid of Cheops, was completed about 2,600 BC and is Egypt’s largest at 136 metres high. Nearby, three smaller pyramids were built for the

queens, and beyond these are pyramids dedicated to Chephren, son of Cheops, and Mycerinus. The Sphinx guards the site, and it’s thought to predate the pyramids by about 2,500 years. An enormously popular sound and light show in front of the Sphinx takes place each evening after sunset.

At the royal Necropolis of Saqqara, works of art tell of the wealth and creative spirit that once existed in neighbouring Memphis, the first capital of the ancient kingdom.

Here, too, is the Step Pyramid of Djoser, the mastabas (flat-roofed, rectangular tombs with sloping walls ) with impressive relief decorations, and the Serapeum, the resting place of the holy Apis bulls. (Apis was Egypt’s bull deity.)

Another short excursion from Cairo is Dahshur, a less visited site but one where a grave in perfect pyramid form was first erected.

So much history, so much life. Be careful: if you open your heart to multi-faceted Cairo, it might be captured and one visit simply won’t be enough.

More information from www.egypt.travel. c

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One of the original Seven Wonders of the World, the Great Pyramids of Giza, along with the Sphinx, are Cairo’s calling card.

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a

old Alexandria Is The Queen Of Egypt’s Mediterranean Coast

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Alex, as Alexandria is affectionately known, offers up a different Egypt.

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The nation’s second largest city (pop. 4.2 million), 225 kilometres from Cairo on the shores of the Mediterranean, offers a distinctive ambience and cultural heritage, with a somewhat cooler climate where summer temperatures are tempered by balmy ocean breezes, and white sand beaches along Alexandria’s outskirts.

The city was one of the ancient world’s great centres of civilization, and since 1994, excavations in the eastern harbour have unearthed thousands of historical objects including sphinxes and parts of what is thought to be the Pharos lighthouse, one of the original seven wonders of the world.

It was here that the stormy relationship between Mark Antony and Cleopatra played out and what’s believed to be her palace remains are among the ongoing undersea excavations. Exciting plans to build an ultrasophisticated underwater museum have been proposed, with fibreglass tunnels making the antiquities visible in their resting places.

The new Library of Alexandria (Bibliotheca Alexandrina, opened in 2002) is a tip-of-the-hat

OctoBer 2011

Marsa Matruh has one of the world’s most beautiful beaches, a stretch of soft white sand is lapped by calm, clear water and temple ruins dating to 1200 BC.

to the city’s ancient role as a centre of learning and culture in 331 BC when Alexander the Great established a library to contain a copy of every book in the known world. The new library will eventually house eight million books, and has chairs for 2,000 readers. Leading to it is The Corniche, dotted with casinos built on stilts, and rows of beach huts.

The centuries took their toll on Alexandria, and Napoleon found little more than a fishing village. However, from the 19th century, the area enjoyed commercial and maritime growth, bringing immigrants from Greece, Italy and the Levant, whose cultures have contributed to the city’s vibrant cosmopolitan flavour.

Must-sees include the Fort of Qaitbey, built on the site of the ancient lighthouse in the 1480s by Sultan Qaitbey; the Abu El-Abbas Mosque built in 1775 over the tomb of a 13thcentury saint, and the Anfushi Tombs, built from limestone and dating to 250 BC. The five tombs are decorated with pictures depicting Egyptian gods and daily life, with graffiti from the same period.

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Meanwhile, along the eastern coast and The Corniche waterfront, Alexandria’s modern hotels and resorts span the beach areas for at least 24 kilometres. Here you’ll find Montazah Palace and Gardens, with its lovely old Salamlek Hotel, and the Haramlek Palace commissioned

by King Fouad.

Further east (65 kilometres from Alexandria) is Rosetta, also known as Rashid, and worth a full day trip to explore.

It was here that the famous Rosetta stone was found in 1799 giving the key to translating hieroglyphs. Dating to 196 BC, the stone records a decree passed in honour of Ptolemy Epiphanes, and records it in three languages including Greek.

The town itself is like an open museum with monumental residences dating to the Ottoman era, mosques, mills, castles and baths.

In the opposite direction, 106 kilometres west of Alex, is El Alamein, best known for being a decisive battleground in the Second World War. It now draws visitors to its war museum, giving a complete history of the War

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina, hosting 2,000 readers at a time, is a tip of the hat to the city’s ancient role as a centre of learning.

If you drive from Alexandria, a pleasant stop on the way would be Ras El-Hikma about an hour’s drive from Marsa Matruh. The beach – a favourite with birdwatchers – is a protected area.

A visit to Alex and its environs yields enough variety to keep you busy for days and is a worthwhile add-on to any Egyptian vacation. This city that inspired so many writers and artists boasts too many sites to list here, but check out www.egypt.travel to get a more complete picture. c

One of the great cities of the ancient world, Alexandria is where Cleopatra lived and loved, and Napoleon landed.

Egypt

in North Africa, and to military cemeteries dedicated to the Allied, German and Italian soldiers.

Further west – another 180 kilometres – is Marsa Matruh, a complete change of pace from El Alamein, with one of the world’s most beautiful beaches. The seven-kilometre-long stretch of soft white sand is lapped by calm, clear waters protected by rocks forming natural wave-breaks. This is a place for family fun with beach resorts and temple ruins dating to 1200 BC.

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Egypt

glory

Luxor & Karnak House Royal Relics In An Open-Air Museum

See the pyramids along the Nile…the words of the old song evoke strong images, images of a place that has captured people’s imaginations since medieval times.

It wasn’t until the early 1800s, though, with the decoding of the Rosetta Stone, that the hieroglyphics adorning Egypt’s pyramids and monuments could be understood, and the resulting Egyptomania caught the western world by storm.

The storm is not over. If Luxor – at the start of any journey to the Upper Nile – represents the crowning glory of Egypt’s treasures, then many jewels of that crown are yet to be discovered. Officials in Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities predict that 70 percent of Luxor’s ancient glory still lies buried beneath the sands.

Across the Nile on the West Bank the dead rule. Or, more particularly, dead royals and highborns in a series of valleys collectively known as the Necropolis of Thebes.

and movable treasures, the wall paintings Rulers such as Ramses II and III, and remain, showing fascinating, minutely Queen Hatshepsut were entombed in the detailed scenes of pharaonic life. elaborate underground structures with chambers and passages decorated with Such paintings – equally interesting – paintings, and filled with everything a are also found in the Valley of the Queens pharaoh could desire in this world or the and the Valley of the Nobles. The most next. Even pets. famous queen’s tomb is that of Queen Nefertari, principal wife of Ramses II. The area illustrates a changing point in Another highlight is the temple of ancient Egypt when pharaohs abandoned Medinet Habu. the pyramid style in favour of tombs dug See theThey pyramids the Nile…theThe words ofand theKarnak old song evoke into limestone. thoughtalong this would Luxor complex onstrong the prevent images, grave robbing and would preserve East Bank, known as the world’s greatest images of a place that has captured people’s imaginations since the mummies for eternity. open-air museum, comprises towering times.

They were wrong on both counts. The temples, numerous ancientmedieval monuments, tombs were stripped of much of their content and 62 treasure-filled tombs. (It’s interesting many centuries ago, except the well to note that the east and west banks of the hidden burial site of Tutankhamen, Nile represented life and death respectively discovered in perfect condition for the ancients. They believed the setting in 1922 by Howard Carter. sun symbolized the journey to the afterlife.

While the other tombs may Thus it was fitting to bury the dead west of be missing their mummies the Nile.)

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Sphinxes line the avenue leading to Karnak, a 40-hectare temple district connected to Luxor.

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Luxor is a shore excursion for cruise ship passengers docking at Safagwa (about 220 kilometres east) on the Red Sea coast. Safagwa has its own attractions including mineral springs and therapeutic sands that are giving it a reputation as a healing centre. It’s also popular with divers and water sport buffs. Safagwa’s clean beaches, attractive islands and small town are additional attractions.

Back in Luxor, there’s no shortage of shopping opportunities in the souks and bazaars, and best buys include locally made alabaster sculptures, copper utensils, decorated papyrus sheets, and jewelry among other items.

After a busy day of sightseeing, you might opt to relax on a sunset felucca cruise. (Feluccas are the traditional Nile boats.) Or perhaps indulge in a hot-air balloon ride over the temples. Either would be a marvellous way to end the day.

A visit to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings is surely on many people’s bucket list. Getting here is easy – by plane, boat, or train. There’s even a bus service from Cairo.

More information: www.egypt.travel. c

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This was the Thebes of ancient Greece, and known simply as Waset – The City – to its ancient inhabitants who numbered a million in its heyday. By the time Luxor’s power ceded to Memphis in the north (about 1085 BC), the city had held sway over ancient Egypt for more than two millennia.

Luxor Temple’s soaring columns, grandiose halls, and colossal statues of a seated Ramses II at the entrance are figures almost as familiar to us as images of the Sphinx or the Pyramids at Giza.

First built as a temple to Amun the fertility god in the reigns of Amenhotep III and Ramses II (1500 to 1200 BC), other rulers from Tutankhamen to Alexander the Great added their contributions over the years. It’s still a place of worship – the Abu el-Haggag mosque was added in the 11th century and remains operational today.

The complex was joined to Karnak, itself a 40-hectare temple district, with an imposing three-kilometre-long avenue lined with sphinxes. Here, Hatshepsut’s obelisk rises 27.5 metres, and other massive structures and columns paid tribute to four different gods in awe-inspiring columned halls.

It might sound superfluous, but a visit to the Luxor Archaeological Museum is highly recommended. Myriad treasures are on display, offering close-up views that would be impossible anywhere else. For example: the sculpture of Amenhotep III, discovered in the 1980s, carved from pink granite. Another favourite is the carved wood cow head of the goddess Hathor as Mehit-Werit, from Tutankhamen’s tomb. The horns are copper and the eyes – emulating the “eye of Horus” – are inlaid with lapis lazuli. Gorgeous.

Today’s Luxor includes a pleasant, modern city of half a million people, most of them employed in tourism. Green spaces and graceful colonial-era buildings set the tone, but the traditional bazaar has been retained. Because there’s little industry, the air is crisp and clear. Sunset views from Luxor and Karnak are, quite simply, amazing.

Accommodations range from the simple – such as the hotels used by archaeologists in the past – to the luxurious, like the El-Moudira Hotel on the Nile’s West Bank, or the history-filled Old Winter Palace on the East Bank, where you’ll also find other luxury properties, exclusive spas, and a golf course.

Rulers like Ramses II believed intricate tombs built in The Necropolis of Thebes, on the West Bank of the Nile, would preserve them for eternity.

Green spaces and graceful colonialera buildings like the history-filled Old Winter Palace on the East Bank, set the tone in Luxor.

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Egypt Wild desert can be found almost up to the outskirts of Cairo, and it continues for hundreds of miles to the east and west, through sands, rock, mountains, and oases. Scenery is surprisingly varied and the people who live in these remote areas distinctive.

The lowest point in Egypt at 134 metres below sea-level is the Qattara Depression in the Western Desert. Qattara’s Moghra Oasis, unlike many other oases in Egypt, is uninhabited, but Bedouin tribes move their livestock through the area to drink and graze.

Saline marshes, unusual rock formations, and black dunes (black due to the high shale content) mark Qattara and it’s the last place in Egypt to find the rare cheetah. Tour operators bring expeditions from Cairo, and an overnight experience in the desert can be powerfully serene.

The rich oasis of El Fayoum, about 150 kilometres from Cairo, covers an

a hotel

area roughly 1,800 square kilometres, and it has been a favourite hunting ground for millennia.

Irrigated some 3,500 years ago with a network of channels and dykes, it still draws diverted water from the Nile, keeping the area lush.

Evidence of the Middle Kingdom’s grandeur can be seen in the temple of Medinet Madi and the pyramids of Sesostris II. Remnants of the area’s Roman past are seen in mummy portraits, discovered in numerous local tombs and in ruined Roman cities. Even today, two ancient (and creaking) waterwheels turn on the main square in Medinet El-Fayoum, itself an ancient city.

Several companies offer full-day trips from Cairo to El Fayoum, most using fourby-four vehicles in a modern-day caravan.

The trip might include a visit to the fishing village of Chak Chouk on the shores of Lake

Few Experiences Rival Egypt’s Deserts & Oases

Egypt

It’s hard to believe that a great inland sea once covered the massive desert west of Cairo, where resident crocodiles were revered in a holy reserve and worshipped in the form of the god Sobek. Even the fossilized remains of whales have been found here, and can be seen in Wadi Al-Hitan, the Valley of the Whales, where the huge creatures once thrived in waters surrounded by sand.

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Egypt’s deserts, like the White Desert, are breathtakingly beautiful with haunting landscapes and surprising oases.

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Qaroun (a huge body saltwater) and driving between the dramatic sand dunes with their theatrical play of sun and shade.

Farther southwest – 360 kilometres from Cairo – lies Bahariyya, the Valley of the Golden Mummies. Eight ancient villages dot the oasis here, and they were hardly known until recently.

People came to see the temple built for Alexander the Great during his lifetime, some 400 hot and cold mineral and sulphur springs, and the pastoral oasis. Then, in 1996, thanks to a donkey falling through the roof of a burial chamber, it was discovered to be part of a Ptolemaic-Roman necropolis with thousands of intricately decorated mummies. The digs are not open to the public, but some of the mummies are on show nearby.

Excursions to Bahariyya include an overnight stay in a Bedouin tent. There are

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few experiences to rival a starry night in the desert, literally the “million-star hotel.”

Oases in the Western Desert offer a different kind of vacation, appealing to adventurous travellers. Being in miles of open space in a raw environment is not for everyone, but for those who enjoy different cultures and traditions, this enormous area offers an unusual and memorable visit.

Relatively close to Bahariyya is Farafra in the White Desert with its surreal, naturesculpted sand formations. And after the long journey, a bathe in the sulphur springs is surprisingly refreshing, readying visitors for a trip to the necropolis of Ain Besai, 15 kilometres from the settlement.

In the far west is Siwa, Egypt’s most remote oasis, appearing like a mirage. It was here that a divine oracle told Alexander the Great of his right to rule over Egypt. And today, it draws those who seek solitude and relaxation in one of several eco-lodges, taking a bath in the pearly mineral water of Cleopatra’s fountain, and resting among the shady palm groves.

Siwa Museum and the annual October date harvest are additional attractions.

Dakhla and Kharga are relatively close to each other with the latter boasting more

Adrenaline junkies head to the desert to go sand boarding in the Great Sand Sea, quad biking and dune camping.

than 500 wells to provide vegetation for animal life. Particularly picturesque here is the village of Qalaman, and the old fortified city of El-Qasi, both with labyrinthine lanes covered in reed mats.

Kharga is Egypt’s southernmost oasis, also the largest with about 60,000 residents.

They’re drawn to the arable land and to the modern town. But Kharga’s Hibis Temple is considered the best preserved Persian place of worship. Bathe in the hot springs of Nasser to wash away the fatigue of sightseeing in this, one of the hottest places on earth.

A desert safari will take you through an amazing range of landscapes, into scenic sunsets, and unbelievably bright starry night skies. You’ll walk among contemporary mud

houses and ancient ruins in desert oases, shop for locally made handicrafts, and mingle with Bedouins as they go about their daily life.

Desert landscapes include the Silica Glass Field at the southern end of the Western Desert with its gem-like yellow-green chunks used by the ancients for jewelry and believed to have been created by a meteor, and prehistoric rock art in the Gilf El-Kebir area where The English Patient was filmed.

You might go sand boarding in the Great Sand Sea, quad biking, or dune camping.

Egypt’s deserts are full of adventurous potential, and if you want a shorter safari, these can be arranged in the Sinai.

Egypt’s deserts are far from barren, and to find out more, go to www.egypt.travel. c

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Ahhthe

Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula IS The Red Sea Riviera

The Sinai Peninsula’s reputation as the Red Sea Riviera rests on beautiful beaches, lively nightlife and top-notch resorts.

Sharm el-Sheikh, Mount Moses, El Arish, Pharaoh’s Island – these are just a few names familiar to vacationers coming to the Sinai Peninsula for a sun-and-sand vacation in a top-notch beach resort. They flock here from northern Europe, the UK and the Middle East.

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OctoBer 2011

But to North Americans, the Sinai Peninsula is more familiar from press reports as a place of turmoil. And yet, visit any of the many resorts in the area and you’ll find a veritable United Nations of staff and guests, the latter often including Israelis and Egyptians as well as Europeans and British. In recent years, this coast has been called the Red Sea Riviera, reports Matthew Teague writing in the National Geographic.

Teague points out that this triangle of desert bears the roots of three great monotheistic religions. In biblical tradition, Moses received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. Jesus and his family fled here to escape a jealous King Herod’s wrath and early Christians hid from Roman persecutors among the mountains. And according to monastic tradition, says Teague, Mohammed took refuge here, staying at St. Catherine’s Monastery, built in the 6th century and the world’s oldest continuously operating Christian monastery. Today Muslim Bedouin live and work alongside the monks. Sinai is a spiritual refuge as well as a popular vacation spot.

Beautiful beaches draw sun lovers, nightclubs like Pacha – where bubbles and foam invite bodies to gyrate to the deep beat of the music – draw fun lovers. You’d be forgiven for mistaking this for the French Riviera – so many bathers go topless.

The range of international hotels, clubs, shops and bars dotted around the southern part of Sinai offers something for most people.

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Yes, many come to party, but they also come for the treasures of the Red Sea and for its splendid diving and snorkeling experiences with hundreds of species of fish, vibrant coral reefs and mangroves. (You don’t even have to be in the water to enjoy the teeming ocean life – sit on a jetty with your feet in the Red Sea, and the fish will come to you.) People come for relaxing sun-and-sand vacations, for adventure trips in the Eastern Desert, for some of Egypt’s best golf, and to climb in the pink granite mountains. (Several tours offer basic training for beginners.)

Sinai, it’s reported, has overtaken Cairo as Egypt’s top tourist destination with more than five million visitors a year to Sharm El-Sheikh alone.

Today, each resort has its distinctive attractions.

Ismailia, for instance, a city of gardens, is not technically part of the peninsula, but sits on the west bank of the Suez Canal. Its colonial 19thcentury ambience echoes the era of the canal’s construction. South along the shores of the Gulf of Suez, El Gouna has been developed around a series of lakes and canals to create a city full of beautiful and different beaches. At El Quseir, more southerly still along the Red Sea shores, and almost parallel with Luxor, vacationers can blend watersports (including terrific diving) with historic sightseeing. This was an important Roman port and many artefacts and ruins remain.

For more information about the Red Sea coast and Sinai, visit www.egypt.travel. c

physical You won’t go far in Egypt without getting into a conversation about soccer, or football as it’s called there. It’s the most popular sport in the nation, and Egypt’s clubs are renowned throughout the Middle East and Africa. They’re longtime champions.

Egypt Is Good For The Body & The Soul

While you might not want to join in a game of footie, there are plenty of other sports to keep today’s visitors happy, with golf one of the most popular. Imagine teeing off in the shadows of the Great Pyramids.

Rain checks are a rarity here.

Courses are many and varied, from the Gary Player course at Soma Bay on the Red Sea, to Dreamland Golf & Tennis Resort on the outskirts of Cairo. Most are attached to, or close by, luxury hotels, such as the magnificent Mena House Oberoi, with one of Egypt’s oldest and most mature courses and as close to the Great Pyramids as you can get. Golf Hotel’s Jolie Ville course in Sharm el Sheikh on the Sinai Peninsula with 18 lakes which attract a wide variety of exotic birdlife and La Residence des Cascades Golf Resort and Thalasso Centre in Soma Bay on the Red Sea Riviera are also worth checking out.

The latter, as its name suggests, is also a spa. Pampering body treatments are not

Cleopatra was one of the earliest spa fans. You can follow in her pampered footsteps at Egypt’s many luxury spa resorts throughout the country.

new in Egypt. Cleopatra was renowned for her beauty regimes and her strong belief in the healing powers of the country’s mineralrich waters. Even Socrates commented on the therapeutic benefits of a stay in Egypt.

A cure that has caught on with many Europeans is “sand-bathing” (being buried in sand up to the neck), said to heal all sorts

of ailments, including rheumatism and arthritis. Aswan is a major centre for the treatment.

Several hotels offer spa packages, including the Four Seasons Resort in Sharm El Sheikh.

Among the many water sports enjoyed along the shores of the Red Sea and on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast are diving and snorkelling. In the Red Sea especially, the variety of marine life draws divers from around the world. And there are wrecks to explore in the Straits of Tiran, between the north Egyptian Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba, where four outstanding reefs make for rewarding dives.

We haven’t even touched on bird watching, a passion that has drawn ornithologists to Egypt for the past 150 years to see the wide variety of bird life in the growing national park system.

And fishing – a favourite pastime on massive Lake Nasser, where 32 species of fish are found. (Some 80,000 tons of fish are caught here each year.) You’ll also find Nile River crocodiles, so be careful what you reel in.

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Egypt Picture this: it’s late afternoon and you’re sitting on the sundeck of a well-appointed river boat sipping hibiscus tea and floating past the villages of rural Egypt’s Upper Nile Valley.

the of the

Slip Back In Time Aboard A Cruise Up Egypt’s Lifeline

Egypt

The Temple of Ramses II is the largest and most iconic of the many, many historic sites along the Nile.

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Water buffalo take their rest in the shallows, and children play along the bank. Women work around their mud-brick homes, and men tend their fields with wooden ploughs.

The scene is now, but it could as easily be a picture from centuries past. Little has changed for these people in a thousand years. And if you watch it all from a luxury river boat with a French balcony, or in some cases, your own sitout balcony, you’ll get an even better view.

You can almost imagine yourself a pharaoh, gliding along in luxury among his subjects.

Between Aswan and Luxor – a distance of 180 kilometres which can be cruised roundtrip or one way – you’ll take in Esna, Edfu, and Komombo, but the highlight, most agree, is Abu Simbel in the country’s far south.

The two temples in Abu Simbel are spectacular enough, and instantly recognizable – the largest and most iconic built for Ramses II to honour himself and the state gods, and the Temple of Hathor to the north built for his first wife Nefertari. But even more incredible is the modern-day feat of moving them, block by block, and reconstructing them to exact specifications 61 metres above their original site.

Why? To avoid the floodwaters of Lake Nasser, created when the Aswan High Dam was built.

An artificial hill was created above the reach of Lake Nasser, and the whole was reassembled exactly as before, with the same angles and relationship to each other and the sun. (The project is illustrated in a permanent display on site.)

Inside the temple of Ramses II, eight enormous statues of the pharaoh support the roof. The sun shines on these only two days of the year: October 22 and February 22, Ramses’ birthday and coronation days. (He would be gratified to know that celebrations are held even now on these two dates.)

Abu Simbel is one of several ancient sites moved to higher ground, but certainly the most important. It’s not included on all Nile cruise itineraries in Upper Egypt (i.e. the south) just those with the three-day Lake Nasser journey where you cross the Tropic of Cancer. In some cases a sail is included on a classic felucca to Kitchener Island in this area. Most cruise lines offer a felucca trip at some point in the voyage.

There are several ways to float along the Nile: by luxury river boat, vintage steam ship or traditional felucca.

massive temples and tombs for the mighty pharaohs actually lived.

This section of the Nile, between Luxor and Abu Simbel, has about a third of the entire world’s antiquities and the highlights described above are a mere handful of what’s in store for cruisers. Most river boats include lectures by an Egyptologist, who also accompanies the excursions.

For the adventurous, a very different style of Nile cruise is aboard a traditional felucca, as far from the “floating hotel” style of vacation as you can get. Most people enjoy such a cruise for a few hours, but multi-day trips can be arranged on the larger vessels between Aswan and Luxor.

Accommodations are primitive, and travellers sleep in the open on deck. The sailors double as

cooks. And if you take a sense of humour and a sense of adventure, it’s fun.

Another kind of waterborne adventure is to join a dive cruise in the Red Sea. These range from budget trips to luxurious, purpose built teak motor yachts like the MY Sea Serpent operated by Nubian Nile Cruises. The ambience is like sailing on a very rich friend’s luxury boat. The luxury stretches to include fully air-conditioned cabins with TV and en-suite bathrooms, and a bar on the sundeck. The boat accommodates a maximum of 20 passengers in 10 cabins, and all meals are included.

Whichever mode of travel you choose to traverse the Nile, there are few better ways to experience Egyptian history and culture.

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Egypt

In Aswan, you can visit the Botanical Gardens, the High Dam, and the Temple of Isis among other attractions. The Unfinished Obelisk, the Nubian Museum, and the Philae Temple are also well worth seeing. Or you might find yourself joining a short camel caravan to visit a Nubian Village for tea with the residents.

Farther north, as you approach Luxor, you’ll stop at Komombo to visit the twin temples of Sobek, the crocodile god (anything from the life-giving Nile was considered sacred) and Hareoris the sun god. Another stop is at Edfu to see the Temple of Horus, said to be the bestpreserved temple in Egypt.

In Luxor (see page 8) try and see Deir El Medinah. It’s the first known “workers’ village” where the workforce who built those

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Nuweiba

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Have a candlelit dinner, enjoy a boat trip, snorkel in the turquoise water.

The story of luxury in Egypt is that of hospitality and one that is at the very heart of Egyptian culture, and this truly reflects in Egypt’s hotel offerings. Great service allows you to get much more for a lot less, thanks to Egypt’s genuine spirit of warm hospitality. Visit Egypt to experience this rare luxury for yourself, leaving with many great stories to tell.

For more info log onto www.egypt.travel