Best places to visit in Cairo

Cairo best places to be visited
Cairo is one of the biggest cities in the world and has many interesting places diffrent from pharaonic to medieval
to Islamic or even amazing modern spots we are going to mention them as following

# Giza pyramids
the only survived thing from the ancient seven wanders of the world and the main symbol of Egypt as the area has 3 pyramids for the same royal family and 6 other small pyramids for the royal lades and the sphinx , your visit to egypt will not be completed without visiting this amazing spot

# the Egyptian Museum
the museum was opened more than 120 years ago and has more than 100 thousand items makes it one of the world’s great museums. You would need a lifetime to properly see everything on show. includes the magnificent collection of tut anch amon that the government willing to move it to the grand museum , The Egyptian Museum sits right beside Midan Tahrir, the central square of Downtown Cairo.

# Al-Azhar Mosque
Al-Azhar Mosque is the best building from Cairo’s Fatimid era and one of the city’s earliest surviving mosques, was
built in 972 ac ,also it is considered the world’s oldest universities , Al-Azhar Mosque is right in the heart of the Islamic Cairo district

# Old Cairo (Coptic Cairo)
the area of Coptic cairo has some of the oldest churches on earth , includes ( the hanged church ) which was built in the 4th century and abu surga church where the holy family stayed in the same location of it for 3 month during their journey in egypt , Just outside the quarter, you can also visit the Mosque of Amr Ibn al-As; the first mosque built in Egypt.

# Saqqara & Dahshur
saqqara was the main cemetery for the pharos for more than 1000 years and it is like an open air museum , and has the oldest pyramid ever that was built on earth which is the step pyramid also it has the stunning Serapeum, where the mummies of the sacred Apis , next to sqqara you can find Dahshur’s Red Pyramid and Bent Pyramid which shouldn’t be missed

# the civilization museum
it was opened officially in April 2021 and it contains the royal mummies in the first floor plus alot of amazing antiquities that shows the development of the life in egypt from the predynastic period until the modern life

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Siwa oasis

Siwa oasis is the most quite and pure spots on earth as it is located almost 800 km away from Cairo on the western desert close from Libya borders
the local people of Siwa called Amazikh and speak their own language as the rest of Egyptians can not understand them when they speak together , the area is famous by it is natural and pure spots and it is amazing place for relaxing and tranquility away from the crowd and the noise of the city , there you can see many special sites like

# The salt lakes
There are hundreds of salt lakes spread throughout the Siwa Oasis region of Egypt. The pools are actually part of a salt mine right outside of the town each of these pools has their own health benefits the salt pools are particularly good for skin and eye infections. You can float in them such as the dead sea

# Cleopatra spring
The oasis has many cold and hot springs that is full of sulfuric water which is very useful for skin among this springs Cleopatra spring which is almost the most famous one there , its name refers to Queen Cleopatra VII, there is no evidence that Cleopatra ever bathed there

# Amon temple
this temple known also by name of the oracle temple as it was built almost 2500 years ago and there are many records confirmed that Alexander the great came to this temple to predict his future military campains and to show his respect to god Amon the main god of Egypt back at this time to get the loyalty of the local people

# The Ancient Shali Fortress
The ancient Shali Fortress, located in the downtown, and it was built from kershif (chunks of salt mixed with rock, brick and clay),during 13th-century the fortress was a spectacular sight to wander around. Shali Fortress is an important historical and religious symbol of Siwa. and it was built on a high point to make the local people safe from any attacks

# Sand dunes
The Sand Dunes of Siwa are a great place to explore in jeeps, on sand boards or by foot. sandboarding is One of the most popular activities for a fun day out

# The mountain of the dead
The Mountain of the Dead is a wonderful place to shoot photos as it is on the highest point of the oasis so you can have a panoramic view for the whole area from it . This mountain is home to thousands of graves which are cut into the bedrock giving it the name ‘Mountain of the Dead’.it was built during the 26th dynasty of the pharos and the burials continued here until the late Roman era.

# Fitnas island
Fitnas island is a stunning spot where you can enjoy unforgettable sunset view from it , some where looks like a paradise with oriental places for siting and relaxing

Going to Siwa oasis could be by west delta buses or you can book an organized tour

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Valley of the whales ( Egypt )

The valley of the whales in Egypt is one of the most special places on earth as it has many skeletons for whales dates back to 40 millions years ago , the importance of the area because it shows the transition of the whales from land based animals to ocean going mammals and it was declared by UNISCO as a world heritage area

The valley of the whales reveals a whole unknown side the Egypt. A cost to the history center

This site contains a fabulous, modern museum was built in 2016, reflects some of the best practices related to displays and explanations. Explanations are written in Arabic and English. The bathroom area is modern, with all necessary amenities.

Valley of the whales in Egypt’s Western Desert is the only place in the world where the skeletons of families of archaic whales can be seen in their original geological sites

The fossils of Wadi El-Hitan were discovered for the first time in 1902 by H. J. L. Beadnell of the Geological Survey of Egypt and it was by accident . Between 1983 and 2007, nine expeditions were led by Egyptian and American paleontologists. The expedition teams found and mapped about 400 whale and sea cow skeletons in the valley. During the 1989 expedition, the first fully aquatic whale specimens with legs and feet were discovered.

The ancient whales of Wadi El-Hitan are an important link in the evolution of whales. Fully aquatic Basilosaurus and Dorudon with their small legs and feet show that the change from life on land to the seas was successful

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Best times to visit Egypt

WHEN TO VISIT EGYPT & WHEN NOT TO

*March until November are the best months for seeing dolphins off the Dahab coral reef.
The diving in Egypt is good all year round.
Peak season for giant cruise ships is October to May, when it is cooler. Visiting the main tourist sites early in the morning or late in the day during these months is better, as the coach groups head back to port.

*May until August are steaming, but not humid, so it is still manageable, if you drink lots of water and plaster on the eco friendly sun screen. August is the peak month being, in the words of Stevie Wonder, hotter than July.
30th June is now a public holiday in Egypt, celebrating the Uprising of 2011.
In September, temperatures start to dip a little and tourist numbers go down at the major sites as school holidays end.

*15th August is Flooding of the Nile Day, or Leylet en Nuktah, based on the ancient traditions of the Nile waters coming back, and young girls were sacrificed. The only things sacrificed nowadays are diets, as people feast in picnics along the banks.

*Winter in Egypt is October to February, which means a jacket or long sleeved top. It is warmer in the south, however, but evenings can be cool.
There is a lot of hot air around towards the end March and into April, when the ‘Khamsin’ wind blows from the desert in the south.

Christmas isn’t celebrated on 25th December by Coptic Christians, who make up 15 percent of people in Egypt, but sometime around 7th January. The festivities are a wonderful sight to behold.
Ramadan is a 30 day religious observance period, and the start date varies each year. A period of fasting, many sites and shops close early. However, when the fast breaks at sunset, and the special feast of ‘Eftar’ begins, things liven up somewhat.

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White Desert Egypt

Location:

The White Desert begins about 28 miles north of Farafra and abou 350 km from cairo . It is truly white, in clear contrast with the yellow desert elsewhere.

Explanation:

The rock formations of the desert are often quite dramatic, you should not miss out on the weird rock balancing, on top of a white pillar. Many of the organized trips here include overnight stay out in the desert. At night, it gets a character reminding of an Arctic landscape.

The White Desert is justifiably the most well-known desert destination in Egypt – and for a good reason. The quantity of unearthly and beautiful wind-carved rock formations shaped in the form of giant mushrooms or pebbles is unequalled in any desert in the world. Farafra is nearer than Bahariya to this 300 kilometres protectorate, yet it offers a more limited choice of tours and safaris. However, it is still the perfect starting point for an overnight journey into the infinite whiteness.
there are special organized tours to the area

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The black desert Egypt

The Black Desert is a region of volcano-shaped and widely spaced mounds, distributed along about 30 km in western Egypt between the White Desert in the south and the Bahariya Oasis in the north. Most of its mounds are capped by basalt sills, giving them the characteristic black color
The mounds of the Black Desert, up to 100 m high, vary in size, composition, height, and shape as some are dark consisting of iron quartzite while others are more reddish as its surface rocks consist of iron sandstone. On the outskirts of the Black Desert are volcanic hills proving the eruption of dark volcanic dolerite, dating back to the Jurassic period 180 million years ago

After discovering a large dinosaur skeleton on its borders, the Black Desert has been declared a natural reserve as of 2010
the whole area was full of volcanic activities before ,
there are special organized tours to the area

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Abu Simbel

Abu Simbel, site of two temples built by the Egyptian king Ramses II (reigned 1279–13 BCE), now located in Aswān muḥāfaẓah (governorate), southern Egypt. In ancient times the area was at the southern frontier of pharaonic Egypt, facing Nubia. The four colossal statues of Ramses in front of the main temple are spectacular examples of ancient Egyptian art. By means of a complex engineering feat in the 1960s, the temples were salvaged from the rising waters of the Nile River caused by erection of the Aswan High Dam

Carved out of a sandstone cliff on the west bank of the Nile, south of Korosko (modern Kuruskū), the temples were unknown to the outside world until their rediscovery in 1813 by the Swiss researcher Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. They were first explored in 1817 by the early Egyptologist Giovanni Battista Belzoni.

The 66-foot (20-metre) seated figures of Ramses are set against the recessed face of the cliff, two on either side of the entrance to the main temple. Carved around their feet are small figures representing Ramses’ children, his queen, Nefertari, and his mother, Muttuy (Mut-tuy, or Queen Ti). Graffiti inscribed on the southern pair by Greek mercenaries serving Egypt in the 6th century BCE have provided important evidence of the early history of the Greek alphabet. The temple itself, dedicated to the sun gods Amon-Re and Re-Horakhte, consists of three consecutive halls extending 185 feet (56 metres) into the cliff, decorated with more Osiride statues of the king and with painted scenes of his purported victory at the Battle of Kadesh. On two days of the year (about February 22 and October 22), the first rays of the morning sun penetrate the whole length of the temple and illuminate the shrine in its innermost sanctuary.

Just to the north of the main temple is a smaller one, dedicated to Nefertari for the worship of the goddess Hathor and adorned with 35-foot (10.5-metre) statues of the king and queen.

In the mid-20th century, when the reservoir that was created by the construction of the nearby Aswan High Dam threatened to submerge Abu Simbel, UNESCO and the Egyptian government sponsored a project to save the site. An informational and fund-raising campaign was initiated by UNESCO in 1959. Between 1963 and 1968 a workforce and an international team of engineers and scientists, supported by funds from more than 50 countries, dug away the top of the cliff and completely disassembled both temples, reconstructing them on high ground more than 200 feet (60 metres) above their previous site. In all, some 16,000 blocks were moved. In 1979 Abu Simbel, Philae, and other nearby monuments were collectively designated a UNESCO World Heritage site

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The Red Sea (The underwater paradise )

The Red Sea, Arabic Al-Baḥr Al-Aḥmar, narrow strip of water extending southeastward from Suez, Egypt, for about 1,200 miles (1,930 km) to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects with the Gulf of Aden and thence with the Arabian Sea. Geologically, the Gulfs of Suez and Aqaba (Elat) must be considered as the northern extension of the same structure. The sea separates the coasts of Egypt, Sudan, and Eritrea to the west from those of Saudi Arabia and Yemen to the east. Its maximum width is 190 miles, its greatest depth 9,974 feet (3,040 meters), and its area approximately 174,000 square miles (450,000 square km).

The Red Sea contains some of the world’s hottest and saltiest seawater. With its connection to the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal, it is one of the most heavily traveled waterways in the world, carrying maritime traffic between Europe and Asia. Its name is derived from the color changes observed in its waters. Normally, the Red Sea is an intense blue-green; occasionally, however, it is populated by extensive blooms of the algae Trichodesmium erythraeum, which, upon dying off, turn the sea a reddish-brown color.

Climate
The Red Sea region receives very little precipitation in any form, although prehistoric artifacts indicate that there were periods with greater amounts of rainfall. In general, the climate is conducive to outdoor activity in fall, winter, and spring—except during windstorms—with temperatures varying between 46 and 82 °F (8 and 28 °C). Summer temperatures, however, are much higher, up to 104 °F (40 °C), and relative humidity is high, rendering vigorous activity unpleasant. In the northern part of the Red Sea area, extending down to 19° N, the prevailing winds are north to northwest. Best known are the occasional westerly, or “Egyptian,” winds, which blow with some violence during the winter months and generally are accompanied by fog and blowing sand. From latitude 14° to 16° N the winds are variable, but from June through August strong northwest winds move down from the north, sometimes extending as far south as the Bab el-Mandeb Strait; by September, however, this wind pattern retreats to a position north of 16° N. South of 14° N the prevailing winds are south to southeast.

Physical Features
Physiography and submarine morphology
The Red Sea lies in a fault depression that separates two great blocks of Earth’s crust—Arabia and North Africa. The land on either side, inland from the coastal plains, reaches heights of more than 6,560 feet above sea level, with the highest land in the south.

At its northern end, the Red Sea splits into two parts, the Gulf of Suez to the northwest and the Gulf of Aqaba to the northeast. The Gulf of Suez is shallow—approximately 180 to 210 feet deep—and it is bordered by a broad coastal plain. The Gulf of Aqaba, on the other hand, is bordered by a narrow plain, and it reaches a depth of 5,500 feet. From approximately 28° N, where the Gulfs of Suez and Aqaba converge, south to a latitude near 25° N, the Red Sea’s coasts parallel each other at a distance of roughly 100 miles apart. There the seafloor consists of the main trough, with a maximum depth of some 4,000 feet, running parallel to the shorelines.

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Nile River

The Nile is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa and is the longest river in Africa and the disputed longest river in the world,[6][7] as a group of Brazilian scientists claims that the Amazon River is longer than the Nile.[8][9] The Nile is about 6,650 km (4,130 mi)[n 1] long and its drainage basin covers eleven countries: Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Republic of Sudan, and Egypt.[11] In particular, the Nile is the primary water source of Egypt and Sudan.[12]

The Nile has two major tributaries – the White Nile and the Blue Nile. The White Nile is considered to be the headwaters and primary stream of the Nile itself. The Blue Nile, however, is the source of most of the water, containing 80% of the water and silt. The White Nile is longer and rises in the Great Lakes region of central Africa, with the most distant source still undetermined but located in either Rwanda or Burundi. It flows north through Tanzania, Lake Victoria, Uganda, and South Sudan. The Blue Nile begins at Lake Tana in Ethiopia[13] and flows into Sudan from the southeast. The two rivers meet just north of the Sudanese capital of Khartoum.[14]

The northern section of the river flows north almost entirely through the Sudanese desert to Egypt, then ends in a large delta and flows into the Mediterranean Sea. Egyptian civilization and Sudanese kingdoms have depended on the river since ancient times. Most of the population and cities of Egypt lie along with those parts of the Nile valley north of Aswan, and nearly all the cultural and historical sites of Ancient Egypt are found along river banks.

Etymology and names
The standard English names “White Nile” and “Blue Nile”, to refer to the river’s source, derive from Arabic names formerly applied only to the Sudanese stretches which meet at Khartoum.[15]

In the ancient Egyptian language, the Nile is called Ḥ’pī (Hapy) or Iteru, meaning “river”. In Coptic, the word ⲫⲓⲁⲣⲟ, pronounced piaro (Sahidic) or phiaro (Bohairic), means “the river” (lit. p(h).iar-o “the.canal-great”), and comes from the same ancient name.[16]

In Nobiin the river is called Áman Dawū, meaning “the great water”.[5]

In Egyptian Arabic, the Nile is called en-Nīl while in Standard Arabic it is called an-Nīl. In Biblical Hebrew:

Sources
The source of the Nile is sometimes considered to be Lake Victoria, but the lake has feeder rivers of considerable size. The Kagera River, which flows into Lake Victoria near the Tanzanian town of Bukoba, is the longest feeder, although sources do not agree on which is the longest tributary of the Kagera and hence the most distant source of the Nile itself.[28] It is either the Ruvyironza, which emerges in Bururi Province, Burundi,[29] or the Nyabarongo, which flows from Nyungwe Forest in Rwanda.[30] The two feeder rivers meet near Rusumo Falls on the Rwanda-Tanzania border.

The source of the Nile from an underwater spring at the neck of Lake Victoria, Jinja
In 2010, an exploration party[31] went to a place described as the source of the Rukarara tributary,[32] and by hacking a path up steep jungle-choked mountain slopes in the Nyungwe forest found (in the dry season) an appreciable incoming surface flow for many kilometers upstream, and found a new source, giving the Nile a length of 6,758 km (4,199 mi).

Gish Abay is reportedly the place where the “holy water” of the first drops of the Blue Nile develop

Water sharing dispute

The Nile’s water has affected the politics of East Africa and the Horn of Africa for many decades. The dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia over the $4.5 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam has become a national preoccupation in both countries, stoking patriotism, deep-seated fears, and even murmurs of war.[78] Countries including Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya have complained about Egyptian domination of its water resources. The Nile Basin Initiative promotes peaceful cooperation among those states.[79][80]

Several attempts have been made to establish agreements between the countries sharing the Nile waters. On 14 May 2010 at Entebbe, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda signed a new agreement on sharing the Nile water even though this agreement raised strong opposition from Egypt and Sudan. Ideally, such international agreements should promote equitable and efficient usage of the Nile basin’s water resources. Without a better understanding of the availability of the future water resources of the Nile, it is possible that conflicts could arise between these countries relying on the Nile for their water supply, economic and social developments

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Karnak temple (the most huge on earth )

The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak from Arabic Khurnak meaning “fortified village”), comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, chapels, pylons, and other buildings near Luxor, in Egypt. Construction at the complex began during the reign of Senusret I in the Middle Kingdom (around 2000–1700 BC) and continued into the Ptolemaic period (305–30 BC), although most of the extant buildings date from the New Kingdom. The area around Karnak was the ancient Egyptian Ipet-isut (“The Most Selected of Places”) and the main place of worship of the Eighteenth Dynasty Theban Triad with the god Amun as its head. It is part of the monumental city of Thebes. The Karnak complex gives its name to the nearby, and partly surrounded, modern village of El-Karnak, 2.5 kilometers (1.6 miles) north of Luxor.
Overview
The complex is a vast open site and includes the Karnak Open Air Museum. It is believed to be the second[citation needed] most visited historical site in Egypt; only the Giza Pyramids near Cairo receive more visits. It consists of four main parts, of which only the largest is currently open to the general public. The term Karnak often is understood as being the Precinct of Amun-Re only, because this is the only part most visitors see. The three other parts, the Precinct of Mut, the Precinct of Montu, and the dismantled Temple of Amenhotep IV, are closed to the public. There also are a few smaller temples and sanctuaries connecting the Precinct of Mut, the Precinct of Amun-Re, and the Luxor Temple. The Precinct of Mut is very ancient, being dedicated to an Earth and creation deity, but not yet restored. The original temple was destroyed and partially restored by Hatshepsut, although another pharaoh built around it in order to change the focus or orientation of the sacred area. Many portions of it may have been carried away for use in other buildings.

The key difference between Karnak and most of the other temples and sites in Egypt is the length of time over which it was developed and used. Construction of temples started in the Middle Kingdom and continued into Ptolemaic times. Approximately thirty pharaohs contributed to the buildings, enabling them to reach a size, complexity, and diversity not seen elsewhere. Few of the individual features of Karnak are unique, but the size and number of features are overwhelming. The deities represented range from some of the earliest worshiped to those worshiped much later in the history of the Ancient Egyptian culture. Although destroyed, it also contained an early temple built by Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten), the pharaoh who later would celebrate a near monotheistic religion he established that prompted him to move his court and religious center away from Thebes. It also contains evidence of adaptations, where the buildings of the ancient Egyptians were used by later cultures for their own religious purposes.
One famous aspect of Karnak is the Great Hypostyle Hall in the Precinct of Amun-Re, a hall area of 50,000 sq ft (5,000 m2) with 134 massive columns arranged in 16 rows. One hundred and twenty-two of these columns are 10 meters tall, and the other 12 are 21 meters tall with a diameter of over three meters. The architraves on top of these columns are estimated to weigh 70 tons. These architraves may have been lifted to these heights using levers. This would be an extremely time-consuming process and also would require great balance to get to such great heights. A common alternative theory regarding how they were moved is that large ramps were constructed of sand, mud, brick, or stone and that the stones were then towed up the ramps. If the stone had been used for the ramps, they would have been able to use much less material. The top of the ramps presumably would have employed either wooden tracks or cobblestones for towing the megaliths. There is an unfinished pillar in an out-of-the-way location that indicates how it would have been finished. The final carving was executed after the drums were put in place so that it was not damaged while being placed. Several experiments moving megaliths with ancient technology were made at other locations – some of them are listed here.

In 2009 UCLA launched a website dedicated to virtual reality digital reconstructions of the Karnak complex and other resources.

The sun god’s shrine has light focused upon it during the winter solstice.

History

Gate at Karnak. Brooklyn Museum Archives, Goodyear Archival Collection
The history of the Karnak complex is largely the history of Thebes and its changing role in the culture. Religious centers varied by region, and when a new capital of the unified culture was established, the religious centers in that area gained prominence. The city of Thebes does not appear to have been of great significance before the Eleventh Dynasty and the previous temple building there would have been relatively small, with shrines being dedicated to the early deities of Thebes, the Earth goddess Mut and Montu. The early building was destroyed by invaders. The earliest known artifact found in the area of the temple is a small, eight-sided column from the Eleventh Dynasty, which mentions Amun-Re. Amun (sometimes called Amen) was long the local tutelary deity of Thebes. He was identified with the ram and the goose. The Egyptian meaning of Amun is “hidden” or the “hidden god”

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