 Situated
in the Middle East, North of Africa, Egypt is the land
of iconic pyramids and archaeological treasures. Its
borders touch those of Israel, Libya and Sudan and its
capital, Cairo is an open museum of pyramids, monuments
as well as the famous Egyptian Museum, which exhibits
over 130,000 examples of sculptures and art pieces from
the Pharaonic and Byzantine periods as well as the Mummy
Room and famous Tutankhamun exhibition.
Most of Egypt’s land is covered by flat desert offering
scarce vegetation, with a few towns developing around
oases scattered in the desert. The Sinai Peninsula lies
to the east while to the south the Aswan Dam and the
cataracts of the River Nile offer some spectacular
landscape and views.
One of Egypt’s most visited sites is Luxor with its
ancient city of Thebes and spectacular Temple of Karnak
full of treasures, statues and obelisks. The Valley of
the Kings is the site of painted tombs of kings and
queens while Aswan offers beautiful landscapes of
botanical gardens along the Nile.
Abu Simbel is another magnificent archaeological site,
with the glorious Sun Temple of Ramses II discovered in
the early 19th century. Other Nile archaeological sites
are the Kom ombo (city of gold) and Edfu with their
pharaonic temples.
Egypt also offers some magnificent coastal areas on the
Red Sea, notably the Ras Mohamed National Park teeming
with hundreds of different species of fish, multicolored
coral and crystal clear waters, an ideal site for
snorkeling and scuba diving. All along the coast Egypt
boast magnificent beaches and underwater spectacles as
well other water activities including windsurfing.
The best time to visit Egypt is from February to April
and October to November in order to avoid the extremely
hot temperatures, especially in the desert areas and the
archaeological sites.
The people from Egypt are called Egyptians. |
