Hidden between the rocky escarpments of Luxor’s west bank, the Valley of the Kings was the final resting place for the kings of the 18th, 19th, and 20th dynasties. Covered in intricately detailed, vibrant wall-paintings, the tombs are normally every visitor’s number-one stop on a West Bank visit. Since it was believed that the dead,
Of Luxor’s many monuments, the Temple Complex of Karnak has to be its most astonishing and beautiful feat. Within its precincts are the Great Temple of Amun, the Temple of Khons, and the Festival Temple of Tuthmosis III, as well as surrounding minor temples and sanctuaries. The complex is not built to a single unified plan. Instead, it represents
Al-Azhar Mosque is the finest building of Cairo’s Fatimid era and one of the city’s earliest surviving mosques, completed in AD 972. It’s also one of the world’s oldest universities – Caliph El-Aziz bestowed it with the status of university in AD 988 (the other university vying for “oldest” status is in Fes) and today,
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Cairo Attractions, Things to do
The absolutely staggering collection of antiquities displayed in Cairo’s Egyptian Museum makes it one of the world’s great museums. You would need a lifetime to properly see everything on show. The museum was founded in 1857 by French Egyptologist August Mariette and moved to its current home – in the distinctive powder-pink mansion in Downtown Cairo
The Pyramids of Giza are Cairo’s number one half-day trip and a must-do attraction on everyone’s itinerary. Right on the edge of the city, on the Giza Plateau, these fourth dynasty funerary temples have been wowing travelers for centuries and continue to be one of the country’s major highlights. Despite the heat, the dust, and the
If you have time for only one day trip from Aswan, pick a visit to Abu Simbel. Built by Ramses II, and saved from destruction by a remarkable UNESCO rescue project in the 1970s, Abu Simbel is not only a triumph of ancient architecture, but also of modern engineering. The mammoth scale of the Great Temple
