Cairo International Book Fair 2009 - UK guest of honour

It's such a good feeling to be swamped with tons of books from all around the world in the Cairo International Book Fair, being surrounded by all these great publishers, book writers, and famous people is a dream come true for anybody who values a good book.

Certainly with the United Kingdom as the guest of honour this year as The British Council in Cairo has accepted an invitation from the General Egyptian Book Organisation (GEBO) for the UK to be guest of honour at the 2009 Cairo International Book Fair. They are working with the London Book Fair, The Publishers Association, Independent Publishers Guild and other organisations on a wide range of activities to take place during the two-week event. These will fall into three categories: Reader Development, Professional Development for Publishers and Writers and their work. The British Council has also invited 10 authors from the UK to deliver a program of lectures, book signings and so forth at the fair and other venues around Egypt.

Cairo's Book Fair is like an annual meeting point for cultures from all around the world, from the oriental far east, passing by the African Jungle, the European Glamour, the North American style finally reaching the imaginative Latin literature. Which makes the Cairo International Book Fair a great chance to get acquainted with the cultures from around the globe.

Holidays To Cairo

Cairo is a city of Imagination, when you visit the Citadel you could imagine yourself riding a horse in Salah El Din's army, or you could imagine that you are a messenger to the Pharaoh if you are visiting the great pyramids. Just by living in Cairo I'm experiencing a never ending fantastic holiday. Each weekend I choose a place in the historic city, grab my sketchbook and camera and I spend all day there sketching and taking photos, I have visited many places and touristic sites in Cairo which I find inspiring.

When visiting a place in Cairo for the first time you always get this rich historic feeling, and smell that magical ancient scent that lingers in the air, one thing that distinguishes Cairo from any other city in the world is that it holds in its folds monuments from lots of differant eras, and that's what made me call my graduation project "Differant Eras, But One Cairo", I was advertising Cairo as a City that is not just the pyramids and sphinx.

I consider my life in Cairo now as a holiday that regenerates as soon as I pick a new destination each weekend, some of these places are relaxing and calm like the Azhar Gardens and el Fayoom Gardens, other places are lively like the Cairo Tower, the Citadel, and the Egyptian Museum, but I really spend the most time near the religious areas like the famous Coptic area "Mar Girgis" which is full of beautiful Churches or the Islamic Mosques near old Cairo, like El Sultan Hassan Mosque, or Amr Bin El As Mosque.

If you have some great sites near your city, please share them with us here in a comment.

Cairo Nile Cruise

Cairo Nile Cruise, It could be the most relaxing and dazzling experience you'll get in Cairo, it doesn't matter if you board a five stars ship or just rent a Felucca from the Nile's shore, and if you are lucky enough to be there just before sunset I'm sure you would be more then happy to watch the sun set over the waters of the great and ancient river that was once holly for the Egyptians.

Don't forget to take your camera with you, because the first time I took a Cairo Nile Cruise I didn't have my camera on me, so I missed a lot of photos I should have taken, If you're into photography follow my advice and take your camera with you. The image above is one of the hundreds that I took to make a gallery of the Nile River, I later edited it using photoshop so that it matched the theme of my graduation project which was about Cairo. Although it is not from a boat but it still is one of my favourites because I took it from the same spot where I first met my girl friend, and it gives you an idea of what you will be seeing, and I hope you enjoy your Cairo Nile Cruise.

Egypt Climate

The Climate Of Egypt
Egypt has a great climate through the whole year, in the winter Luxor & Aswan are the best place to go to enjoy the sunny atmosphere and warm climate, also Cairo in the winter is a cosy city to be in with the temperature rarely going below 16 degrees Celsius which is almost 61 Fahrenheit.

In the summer I always visit the Egyptian North Coast which is full of fabulous resorts and also a great summer climate, or I just go to the Princess of the Mediterranean "Alexandria".

But for a enjoyable climate all year round you should choose Hurgada & Sharm El-Sheikh those two cities facing the red sea have a climate too hard to resist, They also have a high profile in means of tourism and diving and beautiful sites and landscapes.

My Extraordinary Cairo Trip

Two years ago I was finishing my graduation project in the Academy of art in Cairo, the Graphics & Advertising department, my Idea was a campaign called "Different Eras & One Cairo" meaning that Cairo has lived through a lot of historic periods, holding in its folds monuments and treasures other then the Pyramids and Sphinx, such as the Coptic, Islamic, Roman, Greek, Mamluk, Arab, and modern eras and much more.

So one day I decided to take a walk along with my camera in Cairo, I was intending for three hours of photography, but it turned out a much longer adventure, for nine hours I kept walking and photographing until I just couldn't stand on my feet any more, sad that I had to go home but happy with my photos, my journey for that day was over.

The path I took was a long one, I'll explain it here if you would like to try it yourself.

I started out taking the subway to "Mar Girgis" station, where my first scene was "The Virgin's Church" then I passed by "The Roman Tower of Babylon" then the famous "Mar Girgis Church" known as St. George Church, I then entered the "Coptic museum" where I had a free pass.

I then walked down Mar Girgis st. down to the famous "Seven Churches Alley" which is a splendid site, it is a narrow alley with seven churches and a Jewish temple, all with extraordinary architecture, after a few arguments with the guards there and showing them my collage ID which gives me access to many historic places they allowed me to photograph there as they say only foreigners are allowed to photograph there.

After that I moved on a little bit more down Mar Girgis st. to "Amr Ibn El-As Mosque" which is the first mosque to be built in Cairo 14 hundred years ago.

Then I took a long walk towards "Magra Al-Eyoon Wall" Which was built hundreds of years ago for many reasons one is to protect cairo and the other was to supply the Citadel with water from the Nile River.

After walking the whole length of the amazing wall I reached The "Citadel" which was built by Salah El Din in order to protect Cairo from Invaders and it still stands as one of the most treasure holding buildings in Cairo.

Then I moved on to the famous mosques of "El sultan Hassan and El Refaie Mosques" with the very tall minarets (a splendid site to see), Then it was time for me to go visit The Azhar Gardens where you can see the entire view of Cairo from.

Then I went down to The famous "Azhar Mosque" and "AL Hussain Mosque" then I walked through "Khan El Khalily Alley" which is full of great architecture arts, then I took a look at the "Complex of Qalaun" which was still being renovated at the time, I really did sneak in because it was not allowed to enter it yet.

Later I saw the extraordinary street called "El Darb El Asfar" or the Yellow Alley, which is full of Houses of famous Arab merchants that lived there hundreds of years ago, full of art and ornaments, what really dazzled me was the art of Arabesque which is a wooden plate on the windows that is cut through in very small and delicate holes for the light.

Then I moved on to another famous wall that was built to protect Cairo with the enormous gates of "El Nasr and El Futooh" after that with almost 200 images on my memory card I was ready to call it a day.

If you are willing to take that trip someday contact me, and I would be willing to give you all the info you might happen to need and a map also :)

Cairo International Film Festival Opening Yesterday

Finally Cairo is ready to start the most prestigious Film Festival in the Middle East and Africa, Honoured by Spain as the honour guest, we are really happy to have them here.
“Once again Cairo is ready to celebrate the fine art of Cinema during its annual Cairo International Film Festival."
these were the words Dr. Farouk Hosny (minster of culture) said as he started the fun

Top 10 Places To Visit In Egypt

Egypt is the most mysterious place on earth, The taste of Ancient Egyptian Mysticism still lingers in the air, This ancient atmosphere really does give you the feeling that secrets are yet to be revealed. Maybe you could be lucky to reveal some secrets yourself, here's where to find them:

1- Pyramids of Giza & Sphinx
These pyramids of kings Khufu, Kafhre, and Menkaura, are the greatest tombs on earth in means of size and structure, these perfectly shaped structures leave anybody seeing them with the mysterious questions of how they were built.
As for the Sphinx, the saying "The riddle of the Sphinx" is full of meaning because archaeologies until this day still argue about its purpose and orgin

2- Abu Simbil
Ramsis II had these two temples built in order to give himself and his wife Nevertari mortality, It is said that these two temples are of the most beautiful in Egypt and the world, What is also extraordinary is that these temples were relocated in order to avoid the floods in the late years of the 20th century.

3- Cairo, The capital of culture
Cairo isn't the place you would want to miss, if you really want to dive in Egyptian culture Cairo is the place to go, full of luxurious bazaars and great restaurants makes it your chance to grab a bite from Egypt.

4- Al Azhar Gardens
As one of the most beautiful parks in the world. Al Azhar Gardens remains a landmark in Cairo, where you can catch a panoramic view of the old city, and it's spectacular minarets.

5- Temples of Karnak
This is where the ancient Egyptians worshipped their gods, This temple holds a monument of almost every single god in the Theban religion.

6- The Nile River
Who would be willing to miss the famous Nile Cruise? Yes that's right, Nobody.
It is the reason why all the other wonders are present, the legendary river has been the vein of life in Egypt for thousands of years, and it is said that the Nile river will be the last water source to dry out on earth, what else could be magic?

7- Valley of the Kings
The most sacred place of the Pharaohs, this is where the most esteemed kings were buried , present there are many mummies and lots of un-revealed treasures, in fact the most famous mummy was found there "Tutankhamun".

8- The Egyptian Museum
After visiting where the treasures were found, you sure would want to see what was found, if that's the case then the Egyptian Museum is the place to go.

9- Siwa Oasis
If Alexander the great liked this place, Why wouldn't you? Egypt is not all about monuments and Pharaohs, this place is one where you could loosen up a bit and take a swim in the cool waters in the middle of the desert.

10- Hurgada & Sharm El-Sheikh
Two world ranked resorts also well known for the great coral reefs and scuba diving sports, Here you can swim in the spectacular waters of the red sea, or dance your hips of at the famous bars and discos.

English Speakers in Egypt

I was blogging on a really nice blog about Egypt called whazzupegypt and its author posted a thread about English speakers in Egypt, and she posted that it would be really hard to do your daily tasks in Cairo only speaking in English, to a cab driver, to a customer, anything you normally do.

Well as a foreign visitor to Cairo I think that would be easy to try out!! but being an Egyptian and trying that!!?......... Well that's something else, anyway I liked the idea and decided to give it a shot.

The results were great almost everybody I spoke to responded really well, the taxi driver, the cashier and even a police man they all could communicate to an acceptable standard.

By the way I'm an Egyptian, but I speak English as good as a New Yorker, Maybe try it out yourself waiting for your story

Al Azhar Gardens

As one of the most beautiful parks in the world. Al Azhar Gardens remains a landmark in Cairo, where you can catch a panoramic view of the old city, and it's spectacular minarets.

From Al Azhar Gardens you can easily spot the "Mohamed Ali" famous citadel or look the other side at the Cairo Tower or you could lay back and enjoy the greenery and the beautiful lake in the park.

Behind you is the great Mokattam plateau with its spectacular colours in the sunset, and if you like photography, and landscaping then Al Azhar Gardens is the place to go, I myself photographed the image in the blog banner there .

see you there soon.

Overview about Egypt

From the great Pyramids of Giza to the spectacular Valley of the Kings, Egypt is full of history.
If you are planning a trip to Egypt, you should know the following about the
country.

Egypt has plenty of land, but much of it is sparsely inhabited. This leads to a situation where nearly all of the people live along the Nile River, particularly in Cairo, Alexandria, and the Nile Delta. Cairo in particular is one of the world’s most densely populated cities with a whopping 3,800 people per square mile and roughly 18 million in the extended city.

Egypt covers an area of roughly 1,000,000 square kilometres. The capital is Cairo with a population of 18 million people. The climate is universally dry and hot. In the Summer but in the Winter the weather is always good.

The people of Egypt are known as “Egyptians.” The total population is over 77 million and growing at a rate of 1.78 percent per year. 94 percent claim to be Muslim. Arabic is the official language although English and French are also widely spoken.

When you drink from the Nile

It is said that once you drink water from the Nile river you have a passion to drink once again, It's a passion that lasts for ever. If you don't think it's true, then try it!
I personally think it is true, but it's not actually the water that makes you want to come back it's the calm feeling you get when you visit Egypt, and the warm welcome you receive from the people here, and the great places and sites that are found in many cities like Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, Alexandria, and Hurghada.
I think it is the enjoyment and pleasure that make visitors want to come back, It's a passion for Egypt.

Cairo the capital of culture

Cairo is not only the capital of Egypt but also the capital of Islamic art, Coptic art, and pharaonic art Cairo is an extraordinary city holding in it's folds all eras of arts and culture.
You can always visit places like the pyramids, Egyptian museum, Islamic museum, Coptic museum, the Cairo opera house, and the museum of modern arts, and a lot more.

Starting the guide

Soon I will start to add more data about egypt and places to visit in Cairo, Luxor, Alexandria, Hurghada and Sinai.

Egypt the land of wondors

Egypt "land of the nile" is well known for it's beauty and elegance, as the country known to hold two of the seven old wondors of the world "the pyramids & the alexandria light house" Egypt has alot to talk about in terms of history, culture and myths.
Egypt geographically is the connection between europe, africa and asia, historically Egypt is a connection between the far eastern culture and the modern west.