This often-overlooked gem is as much a piece of art as it is a museum. Located in downtown Cairo on Manial island, the palace was the estate of Prince Mohammed Ali Tawfik who designed and oversaw the construction of this palace turned monument between 1899 and 1929. The prince envisioned the palace to be […]
Culture
Royal Carriages Museum
After a long restoration process, one of the oldest carriage museums in the world finally reopened its doors in late-2020. The museum was originally established during the reign of Khedive Ismail in the late-1800s before falling into decline. Restoration of the museum began in 2001, but with many delays it took until late-2020 to finally finish the […]
Pet Mummies
We all know that the ancient Egyptians mummified the dead bodies of their loved ones with elaborate rituals and scientific rigor, whether they were a revered pharaoh or, if non-royal Egyptians could afford it, a beloved family member. But even in modern times, we can understand that human love and affection extend beyond just our […]
All About the Egyptian Museum
NOTE: This article is all about the Egyptian Museum located in Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo. For information about the new Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), you can find a summary in Fun Facts about the new Grand Egyptian Museum here on Egypt Travel Blog. For more extensive information on the GEM, check out www.GrandEgyptianMuseum.org. There […]
Christmas in Egypt
Visitors to Egypt in the winter months might be surprised to find festive lights and Christmas trees scattered across central Cairo and certain other parts of Egypt. If you thought that by coming to an Islamic Middle Eastern country you’d be leaving the trappings of Christmas behind in the West, you were wrong. Significant parts […]
The Khan el Khalili
Experiencing the Khan el Khalili always tops the list of things to do when visiting Cairo. While in any other Arab country you might just refer to the old city’s souk or bazaar, Cairo’s souq has its own special name because it is the undisputed souq of souqs. It is unique not only in size […]
What NOT to Wear in Egypt
Even the most liberal of Arab countries is pretty socially conservative by the standards of every other region of the world. Whether it be the “West,” east Asia, the former Soviet republics, eastern Europe, or Latin America, nearly every other part of the planet would consider shorts, especially in hot weather, to be perfectly appropriate […]
The American University in Cairo
Many visitors to Egypt might be surprised to learn that one of Egypt’s leading educational institutions – and the top-ranked institution of higher learning in the country – is actually an American university, or rather The American University in Cairo. AUC, as it is known, was founded in 1919 by the Presbyterian Church’s mission to […]
Flashback: The Other Old Cairo
I tend to think of there really being two Old Cairos. The first is, of course, what most people who live in and visit Cairo refer to when they talk about Old Cairo. This would be the area of modern Cairo in which ruins and remnants from many of the city’s magnificent prior eras are […]