Too Square to be Hip
A narcissist's guide to travel and culture
The ancient city of Thebes, where the Nile river gently flows by the ruined Great Hypostyle Hall of yonder, is a marvelous place. After the fall of the Pharaohs, the land of Upper Egypt, the power center of the New Kingdom, lied forgotten, ravaged by time and unfortunate neglect. Once this city would have been …
What better way to see Egypt, but from the river that birthed its civilization – the Nile! In this post we head down the Nile from Luxor (and the famous Valley of Kings) to the southern city of Aswan on the border of the land of Nubia, a typical itinerary for riverboats. In this post …
With all the hustle and bustle along the Nile corridor, it is hard to believe that a lush paradise such as Aswan could exist at all. Located at the first and most important cataract in the Nile river, the body of water is filled with Fellucia’s, the traditional river boats of the Egypt, while imposing …
Located at the second cataract of the Nile river, in the southernmost tier of Egypt where the land of the northerners gives way to that of the dark skinned Nubians. It is here that the Pharaoh Ramsses II, known as “The Great”, undertook the construction of one of the most monumental works of temple building …
When the Arab armies invaded Egypt, they founded a new capital on the Nile upstream from the ruins of Memphis, one the capital of Lower Egypt. The name of this city was Fustat, now a suburb of modern Cairo. The city may have had a late start in comparison to its contemporaries but the chaotic …
Located on the west bank of the Nile River, the city of Giza is best known for its world famous necropolis complex, considered to be one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and one of the most monumental structures ever put into being. It is also in some ways the first tourist site …
Once one of the most resplendishing cities in the Mediterranean, home to two of the seven wonders and a a jewel of Hellenic culture, Alexandria, city of the Conqueror, is but a beaten down shadow of its former self. It is clear from the decaying concrete buildings and the crumbling Napoleonic era architecture that the …
