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Sights I've Seen in Egypt

I lived in Alexandria, Egypt from October, 1990 till April, 1991. I arrived by plane from Athens, Greece, where I had spent the summer. The people of Alexandria are the friendliest people in the world, far beyond anything you encounter in Europe or the Americas, but many are dreadfully poor.

Qaitbay Fortress, in Alexandria, Egypt

This fortress was built in 1477 by Sultan Qaitbay as a defensive work against Ottoman Turkish incursions. Ultimately, however, after Qaitbay's death, Egypt would fall to the Turks. Egypt was an Ottoman province from 1517 till 1918. The fortress stands on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, just west of downtown Alexandria.

Another favorite spot in Alexandria is al-Montazah. This was King Farouk's palace in the days before the British and their puppet kings were expelled. The palace is surrounded by a high wall with turrets, and features a date palm grove, little stone bridges, a windmill and kiosks made of palm trunks. There is also a hotel inside. Today the grounds are a public park, and there on Friday, thousands of people gather for merrymaking. I've never had so much fun in my life as I had at al-Montazah. There are singing and dancing, games, picnics, and conversations all day long, and you will meet everyone.

Al-Montazah, in Alexandria, Egypt

Date Palms in Al-Montazah

A famous mosque in Alexandria is Abu Abbas al-Mursi on the Corniche, opposite the Mediterranean Sea. This was on the same street that I lived on, but about three or four miles west.

Abu Abbas al-Mursi Mosque, Alexandria

Incidentally, in Arabic, Alexandria is Al-Iskandariyya. The letters in ks for x in Alexandria have been transposed to sk, and the letters Al are taken as the Arabic article. So you may hear the town called Iskandariyya.

Alexandria was founded in 334 BC by Alexander the Great, who deposed the last of the Pharaohs. So nothing in Alexandria harks back to Pharaohnic days. For that, one must go to Cairo and Upper Egypt (Southern Egypt). I did make a short visit to Cairo, where I saw the Citadel, the Egyptian Museum, some of the Pyramids and the Sphinx. The regalia of King Tut (Tutankhamon), including his famous mask, are kept in the Egyptian Museum, right in downtown Cairo.

Pharaoh Tutankhamon

Another famous Pharaoh imaged by many statues in the Egyptian Museum is Amenhotep IV, also known as Ikhnaton or Akhenaten. He was probably the first person on the historical scene to embrace monotheism, believing that Aton, the sun god, was the sole supreme being. Later, under Pharaoh Horemheb, the older Egyptian polytheistic cults would be restored, and Ikhnaton would be known as a criminal.

Pharaoh Ikhnaton

Pharaoh Khafra (Chefren), of the Fourth Dynasty, is familiar to anyone was has read about the early history of Egypt. He was one of the pyramid-builders. His pyramid stands behind the Sphinx, which can be seen further below. He may have built the Sphinx as well. This imposing statue of Khafra stands in the Egyptian Musuem.

Pharaoh Khafra

The Pyramids and the Sphinx are in the city of al-Gizah (also: al-Jizah, al-Gizeh, etc.), which today might easily be thought of as a suburb of Cairo. But al-Gizah was founded by the Pharaohs about 2500 BC, whereas Cairo was founded by the Muslims only about 800 AD. I cycled to the Pyramids and the Sphinx from downtown Cairo, about 15 miles.

Sphinx and Pyramid in al-Gizah, Egypt

The Cairo Citadel, which contains a beautiful mosque, is known as Qal'at Salah ad-Din, as Salah ad-Din (Saladdin) built the fortress in the twelfth century as a defensive work to fend off the inroads of the Crusaders. It is also known as Qal'at Mohammad 'Ali, after the illustrious Egyptian leader of the nineteenth century, because he was the man who built the mosque inside. Mohammad 'Ali distinguished himself by taking charge of all the Arabic-speaking countries of the Levant, and probably would have overthrown the Ottoman yoke, had it not been for the intervention of the British on the side of the Turks.

The Citadel, in Cairo, Egypt

The Nile River, which of course flows through Cairo, is one of the two longest rivers in the world. It has been only a couple of months, as of now, August, 2007, that Amazon-boosters claim to have demonstrated that, with tributaries considered, the Amazon is actually longer than the Nile, which has been traditionally regarded as the longest. Amazon/Nile Moreover, the Nile discharges less than 1% as much water as the Amazon. World Rivers So, as rivers go, the Nile is definitely secondary. But historically, there has never been such a famous river, from the days of Pharaoh Menes, Chephren and Cheops, right up to the time of Napoleon and into the twentieth century.

The Nile River, at Cairo, Egypt

Arabic is the national language of Egypt, and the Qur'an is the oldest and most famous Arabic book. It is the holy book of Islam, the religion of the majority of Egyptians. Arabic is written right to left, and printing and longhand are not distinguished. In the opening paragraph of Sura 39, shown below, some of the marks are vowels, which are usually omitted from Arabic writings other than the Qur'an. The small groups of one, two or three dots, however, belong to the letters that they accompany, which are consonants, and may not be omitted.