The big news for tourism in Egypt is the massive new “Grand Egyptian Museum” being built in Giza at the great pyramids. The GEM, as it’s already called, will open in the next year. It’s far bigger than any museum I’ve ever seen and my Egyptian friends assure me there’s more than enough ancient artifacts to fill it. Any tourist coming to Egypt in 2021 will likely go here, see all the statues, and then hop a shuttle train to the great pyramids at Giza. Judging by the immensity of this construction site, I’d say the pharaohs would approve.
Filming on the Nile: Join Me in Egypt!
To spice up my holiday season, I’ve been in Egypt with my crew making a TV special. I scouted this shoot a few years ago but things got too tense politically to recommend travel there, so I put the shoot on hold. Things feel more stable now and tourism seems to be kicking back into gear, so we’re filming!
Egypt lends itself more to organized tourism rather than independent travel; it can be pretty intense and challenging. While it may not be for everybody, I love traveling here and am excited to share our adventures as we make a great TV special. If you’ve been to Egypt recently, how was your experience? What were the challenges? The rewards? Did you travel on your own or with a group?
Traveled to Egypt Recently? Please Share Your Thoughts
A few years ago, I enjoyed a wonderful trip to Egypt. But since then, Egypt has suffered from a political, economic, and tourism point of view — so I’m not sure that now is the right time to promote the Nile and the pyramids. If you traveled in Egypt in the last year, I’d love your advice on how you (as an affluent traveler from a wealthy, predominantly Christian country) felt in the streets, markets, and ancient sites. For my benefit — and for anyone else who might be dreaming of traveling to Egypt soon — please describe your experience.
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Sunsets on the Road: My Top Ten
I love sunsets. They can be a vivid and romantic capper for a beautiful day on the road. Here are a few dramatic and memorable sunsets that come to mind:
1. On the Greek isle of Santorini, nursing a drink with a single flower in a vase on my table, as I sit on the lip of the crater high above the glittering Aegean Sea.
2. On the Nile, just across from Luxor, as the sun sets, the temperature drops, and villages come alive. As I’m poled along the shore in a classic felucca boat, children frolic, long-legged birds strike a pose, and I glide like a silent voyeur through the reeds.
3. On Denmark’s Aerø Island, warming myself by a beach fire while children splash in the shallow waters of the bay, and parents sit peacefully on the porches of tiny beach cabins.
The sun sets on Denmark’s Aerø Island. (Photo: Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli)
4. In Granada, Spain, joining the “Gypsies and hippies” at the St. Nicholas viewpoint as the setting sun makes the Alhambra glow red, evoking the tumult of its violent history.
5. On a ferry charging across the Greek sea, with dolphins — who seem to come out for the sunset — playfully loping ahead of the ship’s bow.
6. In England’s Cumbrian Lake District, sitting pensively on a stone at the Castlerigg Stone Circle just outside of Keswick, savoring a moment which inspires anyone to poetry…especially as sheep stir up the fragrance of the wild grass and the scent comes with a whiff of mystical druids, who once used these stones for their worship, dancing in the long shadows.
7. In Paris, sitting on the steps of the Sacré-Cœur atop Montmartre, surrounded by backpackers, buskers, and local lovers as Paris spreads out before me and slowly the sky grows dark and the City of Light is turned on.
8. On a Norwegian fjord, taking my dessert of ice cream and fresh berries out of my hotel’s dining room and sitting along at the end of the pier. The water is glassy and frightfully deep, black rock cliffs rocket into the sky above me, and the sun dips too early behind the peaks.
9. In Assisi, on the rampart of a ruined castle, with olive groves at my feet leading to a vast and lush Umbrian vista; imagining the age when each town was its own little state, and enjoying the same birdsong that inspired St. Francis.
10. And my favorite sunset: from my deck back home, on the Puget Sound just north of Seattle, as a golden path of sparkles leads across the bay to snowcapped Olympics. The sun settles behind the latest in a series of chosen peaks, and the ferries ply silently across as the water begins to glow like floating lanterns.
What is your favorite sunset far from home?
My Friend Tarek Reports from Cairo
Those of you who read this page regularly will recall my friend Tarek, who guided me and Trish throughout Egypt this spring. He is my main contact for the TV shows we plan to shoot in Egypt next season. Tarek is a thoughtful and caring Egyptian. He has the means to leave the chaos his country is going through right now, but he chooses to ride it out and contribute to the birth of democracy in his homeland. He and his wife Heba just gave birth to their second child, and he’s with the millions out in the streets right now. He has a business and much is at stake, as the government may want to hurt him since he was quite candid in his email to me. Knowing how sensitive this could be, I asked him if I could share this email with my traveling readers. His boldness is an example of the resolve of those Egyptians who are not fundamentalists to earn a pluralistic and secular democracy. Below you’ll find his response to my request, followed by his first letter.
My friend and fellow travel guide Tarek stands before a wall of handprints in Egypt.
Hi Rick,
Feel free to print the letter. I feel the good times are about to come. Looking at Tahrir Square and other big squares in Egypt and seeing millions of Egyptians are protesting so peacefully, makes me proud that I am a descendant of a great civilization! I am going to Tahrir Square in a couple of hours to feel the buzz and call for a government that represents our people!
Best Regards,
Tarek
Dear Trish & Rick,
So nice to hear from you and thanks a lot for your kind thoughts. First Heba and I had our new baby girl, Farida. She is three weeks old now and she is so beautiful! I don’t think I will have children anymore: After Alia was born, three weeks later came the 25th January Revolution. Now, two weeks after Farida was born, we are having 30th June Revolution!
Remember when you were in Egypt and I stated a few times that Egypt will come through a very dark tunnel before we see the light at the end? I think Egypt is about to enter this dark tunnel now!
On June 30th the Egyptian people went on the streets. Some media says 17 million, others say 33 million. But definitely it was more people than the 25th January Revolution two years ago!
Most people are sick and tired of the Muslim Brotherhood regime, and I am sure you have noticed this when you were here in Egypt. After one year of President Morsi ruling the country, the country is in more debt, we have long queues for petrol, our currency value has dropped by 25 percent; this means more expensive imports for us as we import 80 percent of our needs in Egypt! President Morsi has no idea about how to rule a big and respected country like Egypt and for sure Egypt deserves better!
Our army gave warning yesterday they will interfere if the President doesn’t accept the people’s demands of early elections and a technocrat government. It is so simple! But he is so stupid and stubborn and saying no to everything!
Egypt has never been as divided as it is now as a result of his regime! What the army is going to do is certainly not a coup. They will be responding to the call of the Egyptian people for the army to save us from Morsi.
The statement made by our army yesterday made most Egyptians at ease as we feel so protected by our army from the fascist extremists! This is the difference between Egypt and Syria. In Syria, the army was with the regime, not the Syrian people. In Egypt the army is with the Egyptian people! This is why we will never have a civil war. Thanks God for that. You may see some street fighting and some people killed over the next few days in the news. Sadly, this is the price to get a fresh start and get back our freedom.
I want my beautiful Egypt back, I miss it so much!!!
Best Regards,
Tarek