Quote: The Egyptian Museum in Cairo is like a huge unorganized warehouse of ancient history. Most of the pieces are badly labeled and quite a few things aren't at all. The one thing worth seeing however is the… Read More

Quote: For about $25 for a car and guide and entrance fee, we set out early in the morning to visit the Saqqara step pyramid – the first pyramid and the first stone structure ever built. It’s located about a 25-minute… Read More

Quote: Our first stop of the day was Museum Imhotep, the architect of the earliest Step Pyramid. He was also a writer and scientist, a true Rennaisance Man, but well before the Rennaisance! Then it was on to the First… Read More

Quote: Predating Thebes / Luxor, Memphis was capital of Lower Egypt, and once was situated at the very apex of the Nile delta. Yet Memphis is no Luxor. Nothing remains of this, the world’s first imperial city. Its… Read More

Quote: The Citadel really is the crown of Old Cairo. Fortified in the twelfth-century by Salah al-Din (known in the west as Saladin, of Crusades fame), the walled compound perches atop a rocky outcrop just off the… Read More

Quote: Heading north up the Sharia al-Muizz from Bab Zwayla, you eventually emerge by the Ghuriya complex (where there are often free exhibitions of Sufi dancing on a Saturday evening). Ahead the Sharia al-Azhar surges… Read More

Quote: The Mosque of Ibn Tulun is an appropriate place to start any exploration of Islamic Cairo, as it is the earliest surviving mosque in Egypt. Ahmed Ibn Tulun was appointed governor of the settlement of Fustat in… Read More

Quote: The walk from the Mosque of Sultan Hassan at the base of the Citadel to the bazaar of Khan el-Khalili is one of the best in Cairo. It is the best way to witness the daily life of Islamic Cairo as pictured in the… Read More

Quote: We started our visit by getting a lecture on how Papyrus paper is made. We were showed the Papyrus plant and how the stem of the plant is cut into slices for use in making papyrus paper. The slices are laid out… Read More

Quote: One interesting half-day in Cairo can be taken up by a visit south of the modern core of the city to ‘Coptic Cairo’. Here, sequestered inside the walls of the old Roman fort is a remarkable huddle of religious… Read More