Culture
Egypt is the cradle of major civilisations: Pharaonic, Greek, Roman, Christian and Islamic, with a very long history. Traditionally tourists visiting Egypt have limited their excursions to the Pharaonic sites of the Nile Valley and Cairo. Today, Egypt caters for all types of visitors with all types of expectations.
Worth seeing in Cairo
City of contrasts, constructed in 969 A.D. by Gohar El-Siqqili ; a Middle-Age citadel (1171 A.D.) on one side and very modern buildings on the other (convention centre, big hotels, etc.). In the middle is the Isle of Roda opposite the Coptic churches of Old Cairo across the river. The great Khan el-Khalili bazaar with its narrow streets, the grand mosques and the Egyptian museum created in 1857. More than 100,000 objects are on display, including busts of Nefertiti and Merytamon, the Golden Mask of King Tutankhamun, statues of Ramses II as a child, of King Djoser and of the goddess Taoueret (with the body of a hippopotamus and the snout of a crocodile), reliefs from the Mererouka mastaba (tombs) decorated with hieroglyphs…
Worth seeing in Alexandria
Founded by Alexander the Great, Alexandria is a varied and cosmopolitan city with a pleasant sea front. Also worth visiting are the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (Alexandria Library), many Greco-Roman museums and interesting bazaars.
Also worth seeing
Rosetta, where the famous stone was found. It was later deciphered by Champollion. Damietta, the ‘furniture capital’ of Egypt, Ismailia on the bank of lake Timsah, the Suez canal, 162 km from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea.