Cairo & the Nile.

146 Pages·2011·21.796 MB·English

by  Andrew Humphreys

EYEWITNESS TRAVEL
10
TOP
CAIRO & THE NILE
10
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10 Most fun places for children
10 Films set in Egypt
10 Best hotels for every budget
10 Restaurants, cafés & coffee shops
10 Insider tips for every visitor
YOUR GUIDE TO THE 10 BEST OF EVERYTHING

TOP10
CAIRO &
THE NILE
ANDREW HUMPHREYS
EYEWITNESS TRAVEL
s Left Smoking sheesha Centre Ibn Tulun Mosque, Cairo Right Tomb of Nakht, Tombs of the Nobles
t
n
Contents
e
t
n
o
C Cairo & the Nile’s Top 10
Cairo & the Nile’s Highlights 6
Reproduced by Colourscan, Singapore
Printed and bound in China by The Egyptian Museum 8
Leo Paper Products Ltd.
First published in Great Britain in 2009 The Pyramids of Giza 12
by Dorling Kindersley Limited
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL Mosque of Al-Azhar 14
A Penguin Company
11 12 13 14 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Karnak 16
Reprinted with revisions 2011
Copyright 2009, 2011 © Dorling Luxor Temple 20
Kindersley Limited, London
All rights reserved. No part of this Temple of Hatshepsut 22
publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form Valley of the Kings 24
or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise,
Cruising the Nile 26
without the prior written permission of the
copyright owner.
Temple of Philae 28
A CIP catalogue record is available from the
British Library.
Abu Simbel 30
ISBN 978 1 40536 100 2
Within each Top 10 list in this book, no Periods of Ancient
hierarchy of quality or popularity is implied.
All 10 are, in the editor’s opinion, Egyptian History 34
of roughly equal merit.
Ancient Egyptian Culture
and Myths 36
Temples 38
Milestones in Egyptology 40
The information in this DK Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guide is checked regularly.
At the time of going to press there was major political upheaval in Cairo. Every effort has been
made to ensure that this book is as up-to-date as possible, but due to the rapidly changing
situation, some political information may have since altered. In addition, details such as telephone
numbers, opening hours, prices, gallery hanging arrangements and travel information are liable to
change. The publishers cannot accept responsibility for any consequences arising from the use of
this book, nor for any material on third party websites, and cannot guarantee that any website
address in this book will be a suitable source of travel information. We value the views and
suggestions of our readers very highly. Please write to: Publisher, DK Eyewitness Travel Guides,
Dorling Kindersley, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, Great Britain, or email: [email protected].
Cover: Front – Photolibrary: age fotostock/Sylvain Grandadam main; DK Images: Rough Guides/Eddie Gerald
bl. Spine – DK Images: Eddie Gerald b. Back – DK Images: Eddie Gerald tc, tr; Jon Spaull tl.
2
Left Temple of Philae Centre View of Islamic Cairo Right Luxor Temple C
o
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Moments in Post- Beyond Cairo 90
t
e
Pharaonic History 42 Luxor 98 n
t
Islamic Architecture 44 Aswan and Lake Nasser 108 s
Museums 46
Streetsmart
Films Set in Egypt 48
Planning Your Trip 116
Historic Hotels 52
Getting There and Around 117
Souvenirs 54
Practical Information 118
Children’s Attractions 56
Etiquette 119
Egyptian Dishes 58
Things to Avoid 120
Restaurants 60
Security and Health 121
Festivals and Events 62
Shopping and Eating Tips 122
Icons of Popular Culture 64
Cruise Tips 123
Entertainment 66
Places to Stay 124
Around Cairo & the Nile Cruise Ships 133
Central Cairo 70 General Index 134
The Old City 82 Phrase Book 142
Left The Sphinx, Giza Right Felucca sailing on the Nile
Key to abbreviations 3
Adm admission charge

CAIRO &
THE NILE’S
TOP 10
Cairo & the Nile’s C
Highlights A
6–7
I
R
The Egyptian Museum
O
8–11
The Pyramids of Giza
&
12–13

Mosque of Al-Azhar T
14–15 H
Karnak E
16–19
N
Luxor Temple
20–21 I
L
Temple of Hatshepsut E
22–23 ’
S
Valley of the Kings
T
24–25
O
Cruising the Nile
26–27 P

Temple of Philae 1
28–29
0
Abu Simbel
30–31
Top 10 of Everything
34–67
Cairo & the Nile’s Highlights
The Nile is synonymous with Egypt. Almost the entire population of the
country is crammed onto the narrow fertile plain fringing the river. It was so
during the ancient Egyptian era, when the temples and cities of the pharaohs
0
1 rarely strayed far from the life-sustaining area of the Nile’s banks. Today, the
best way to experience Egypt is to explore the Nile, from the awe-inspiring
p
o Pyramids on the outskirts of the capital of Cairo in the north, to the
T great temples in the far south of the country.

s
’
e
l Egyptian !
i
N Museum
This is one of the
e world’s greatest
h
museums, not least
t
for the treasures in
& the Tutankhamun
galleries, but for the
o
exhibits from every
r
i period of ancient
a
Egyptian history. It has
C @ The Pyramids of Giza been calculated that if a
The only survivor of the Seven visitor were to spend just
Wonders of the Ancient World, one minute at each item, it
the Great Pyramid and its two would take more than nine
companions are no less wondrous months to see everything
now than they were when they (see pp8–11).
were built four and a half
millennia ago (see pp12–13).
Mosque of Al-Azhar£
In addition to the
monuments of the pharaohs,
Egypt has an unrivalled wealth of
historic Islamic architecture
stretching back to the 7th century.
The Mosque of Al-Azhar in Cairo
is one of the jewels of this
heritage (see pp14–15).
$ Karnak
The mother of all ancient Egyptian temple
complexes, Karnak was the powerbase of
successive dynasties of pharaohs and the
priesthood at the zenith of ancient Egypt’s
military and artistic might (see pp16–19).
Luxor Temple%
Once connected to
Karnak by an avenue
of sphinxes, Luxor is
more modest in size
than Karnak, but was
built by two of the
greatest pharaohs,
Amenhotep III
and Ramses II
(see pp20–21).
6 Preceding pages Colossus of Ramses II, Abu Simbel
(cid:46)(cid:70)(cid:69)(cid:74)(cid:85)(cid:70)(cid:83)(cid:83)(cid:66)(cid:79)(cid:70)(cid:66)(cid:79)
(cid:47)(cid:74)(cid:77)(cid:70) (cid:52)(cid:70)(cid:66)
(cid:37)(cid:70)(cid:77)(cid:85)(cid:66)
(cid:39)(cid:88)(cid:80)(cid:92)(cid:68)(cid:87)
(cid:36)(cid:79)(cid:72)(cid:91)(cid:68)(cid:81)(cid:71)(cid:85)(cid:76)(cid:68) (cid:46)(cid:68)(cid:73)(cid:85)(cid:3)(cid:68)(cid:79)(cid:16) (cid:27) (cid:51)(cid:82)(cid:85)(cid:87)(cid:3)(cid:54)(cid:68)(cid:76)(cid:71)
(cid:54)(cid:75)(cid:72)(cid:76)(cid:78)(cid:75) (cid:36)(cid:79)(cid:16)(cid:48)(cid:68)(cid:87)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:76)(cid:92)(cid:68) C
(cid:39)(cid:68)(cid:80)(cid:68)(cid:81)(cid:75)(cid:88)(cid:85) (cid:36)(cid:79)(cid:16)(cid:48)(cid:68)(cid:81)(cid:86)(cid:88)(cid:85)(cid:68) a
(cid:20)(cid:20) (cid:55)(cid:20)(cid:68)(cid:81)(cid:87)(cid:68) (cid:61)(cid:68)(cid:74)(cid:68)(cid:93)(cid:76)(cid:74) (cid:44)(cid:86)(cid:80)(cid:68)(cid:76)(cid:79)(cid:76)(cid:68) ^ Temple of Hatshepsut iro
(cid:37)(cid:72)(cid:81)(cid:75)(cid:68) (cid:23)(cid:23) Among the many monuments at &
(cid:38)(cid:36)(cid:44)(cid:53)(cid:50) (cid:22)(cid:22) Lfeumxoarl,e t phhea treamohp,l eH oatfs Ehgeyppstu’st, osntalyn ds t
(cid:20)(cid:19)(cid:45)(cid:66)(cid:76)(cid:70) (cid:54)(cid:68)(cid:43)(cid:84)(cid:84)(cid:72)(cid:68)(cid:79)(cid:90)(cid:85)(cid:68)(cid:68)(cid:81) (cid:54)(cid:88)(cid:72)(cid:93) aosuct efonrd iitnsg a tlmerorasct emso (dseeren ipstpic2 2d–e3s)i.gn of he
(cid:50)(cid:66)(cid:83)(cid:86)(cid:79) & Valley of the N
i
(cid:21) Kings le
(cid:37)(cid:72)(cid:81)(cid:76)(cid:3)(cid:54)(cid:88)(cid:72)(cid:73) (cid:21)(cid:25) Tghoen et rferaosmu rtehse atroem lobnsg o f ’s

(cid:21)(cid:21) the pharaohs, but it is T
possible to descend the o
(cid:21) dimly-lit passageways to p
(cid:21)(cid:26) underground chambers 1
decorated with vivid
(cid:48)(cid:76)(cid:81)(cid:92)(cid:68) scenes from the afterlife 0
(see pp24–5).
(cid:38)(cid:66)(cid:84)(cid:85)(cid:70)(cid:83)(cid:79)(cid:1)(cid:37)(cid:70)(cid:84)(cid:70)(cid:83)(cid:85)
(cid:36)(cid:79)(cid:16)
(cid:52)(cid:88)(cid:86)(cid:76)(cid:92)(cid:68) (cid:36)(cid:86)(cid:92)(cid:88)(cid:87)
(cid:21)(cid:24)
(cid:54)(cid:82)(cid:75)(cid:68)(cid:74)
(cid:47)(cid:21)(cid:74)(cid:77)(cid:70)(cid:1) (cid:52)(cid:72)(cid:81)(cid:68) Cruising the Nile*
When Cleopatra romanced
(cid:52)(cid:88)(cid:86) Caesar she did so on a cruise
down the Nile. It remains the
(cid:47)(cid:88)(cid:91)(cid:82)(cid:85) most romantic and enjoyable way
to view Egypt (see pp26–7).
(cid:40)(cid:86)(cid:81)(cid:68)
(cid:40)(cid:71)(cid:73)(cid:88)
(cid:21)
(cid:46)(cid:82)(cid:80)(cid:3)(cid:50)(cid:80)(cid:69)(cid:82)
) Abu Simbel (cid:56)(cid:70)(cid:84)(cid:85)(cid:70)(cid:83)(cid:79)(cid:1) (cid:36)(cid:86)(cid:90)(cid:68)(cid:81)
This is perhaps (cid:37)(cid:70)(cid:84)(cid:70)(cid:83)(cid:85)
the temple that best
symbolizes the grandeur (cid:46)(cid:68)(cid:79)(cid:195)(cid:69)(cid:86)(cid:75)(cid:68)
of ancient Egypt. The
Sun Temple is carved (cid:21)
out of a mountainside (cid:45)(cid:66)(cid:76)(cid:70) Temple of Philae(
and fronted by four (cid:47)(cid:66)(cid:84)(cid:84)(cid:70)(cid:83) A mix of Egyptian and
towering colossi Roman elements characterize
of its builder, this temple complex sited on a
Ramses II picturesque island in the middle
(see pp30–31). of the Nile (see pp28–9).
7
Egyptian Museum
All of ancient Egyptian history is here, from the earliest Pharaonic artefact
ever discovered to treasures from the era of Cleopatra, the last in a dynastic
sequence of divine kings and queens stretching over three millennia. It is said
0
1 that the museum displays more than 120,000 items, with at least that many
again stored away out of sight in the basement. The real crowd pleasers are
p
o the treasures from Tutankhamun’s tomb, but there are many hundreds of
T other precious antiquities here of at least equal significance and beauty.

s
e’ Top 10 Features £ Central Hall
il 1 The Museum Building The museum is on two
N 2 Auguste Mariette floors. On the lower floor
galleries are arranged in
e 3 Central Hall chronological order
h 4 Old Kingdom Galleries clockwise around a
t 5 New Kingdom Galleries central hall dedicated
o & Central hall 67 ATumtaanrknhaa Rmouonm Galleries tiso alalsrgoe w sthaeturea ryyo; uth is
ir The museum fills up 8 The Royal Mummies wNailrlm fienrd P tahleet te
a fast and it is best to 9 Animal Mummies (see p10).
C arrive early to beat
0 Ancient Egyptian
tchroew wdosr. sTth oefr et hise an Jewellery Rooms 4 3
extra charge to take
your camera inside. ! The Museum
Building
There is a café on Egypt’s first national
the ground floor museum of antiquities
overlooking the opened in 1863. It was
museum’s garden. rehoused in the current
pink, purpose-built premises
• Map F3 in 1902, which were
• Midan Tahrir, designed in Neo-Classical
Downtown, Cairo style by French architect
• 02 2578 2448 Marcel Dourgnon.
• Open 9am–6pm
• Adm £E60; Royal @ Auguste Mariette
Mummy Room adm The Egyptologist
£E100 Mariette, who discovered
the Serapeum at Saqqara
(see p40), was the founder
of the first national
museum of antiquities
in Egypt. His sarcophagus
rests in the garden in $ Old Kingdom
front of the Egyptian Galleries
Museum (below). Immediately to the left
of the entrance hall, these
galleries contain artefacts
from the era of the
Pyramid builders. Particularly
beautiful are three slate
triads each depicting
Menkaure, builder of the
smallest of the Giza
pyramids, flanked by two
goddesses (above).
8 For highlights of ancient Egyptian history see pp34–5