Tourists visiting Egypt do not need to look for the most unique artifacts of ancient times for a long time. They are almost at every turn. You can order an excursion to the pyramids, take a boat ride on the Nile, or go on a two-humped "ship of the desert" - a camel to excavate ancient settlements. On both banks of the high-water river you will see the works of stone craftsmanship of the most ancient relatives of the Egyptians.
We live in the 21st century, and what we see in Egypt, for example, its pyramids, is 5000 years old.
Giza
Despite the definition of the beginning of construction by all modern dating methods, we still get significant discrepancies. But this is more important for scientists. And the multimillion-dollar crowds of tourists who have visited here, even mentally difficult to imagine how the Egyptians piled them up layer by layer with geometric precision. Also completing the construction with a gilded quadrangular stone-dome.
The Pyramid of Cheops
This is just a look at the Cheops pyramid from the outside. Usually, the most asked questions by tourists to guides are: who was buried there, what treasures were found? And even this: is it true that the daughter of Cheops was a walking girl? As for the girl, the tourists will be shown the middle pyramid on the Giza plateau, which she built. In it, wrote Herodotus, as many stones were laid as to how many men were given the Cheops' daughter.
This pharaoh was buried not in the giant pyramid of his name, but near it. After all, this tower crowned the territory of a huge necropolis around. Next to it there are two smaller pyramids with the names of the pharaohs of other times. These three are listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
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Pyramid of Cheops inside
Tourists are brought to the pyramid at certain times of the day, when only the sun can reveal another unsolved secret of the architect of the pyramid: the concavity of the front side plane of the quadrangle.
An older pyramid than Cheops is near Cairo. It is not smooth, but erected by steps. And it is also on any tourist list to visit. As well as the huge Sphinx, amazing in its uniqueness.
Luxor (ancient Thebes)
Various pharaohs and queens are buried here, as well as those who stood in the hierarchy at levels below - nobles, priests. Not to pass by two huge statues of one and the same person: the seated Pharaoh Amenhotep with a height (with "chairs") up to two tens of meters and weighing almost a thousand tons each. For three millennia they stood on the neighboring bank of the Nile, near Thebes. To prevent the waters of the stormy river from destroying the colossal statues completely, they were moved across the river.
The figures of his wife and mother are carved at his feet. "Carved out" - to put it mildly, considering that it was necessary to process quartzite, which is stronger than granite. What tools did they work with at that time? The Egyptians say: the gods helped, the same god of the Nile. The giant figures are looking at the river.
Pharaoh Amenhotep statues
As in Giza, tourists are advised to approach one of the giants, but in the morning, when the statue "sings". After one earthquake, the stone couple stood still. But a crack appeared in one figure, and from there a lingering and melodic sound appears only in the early wind. Some modern grand piano tuners use this sound in their work.
A landmark of ancient Egypt is the tomb of the young pharaoh-king Tutankhamun, in which they found untold riches from his short life. The preserved artifacts can be viewed in more detail in the Cairo Treasure Collection.
Tutankhamun's tomb. Golden sarcophagi
Nubia
It's just territory. She belonged to another state. From it, in ancient times, dark-skinned slaves were led to the north for sale.
In her town of Abu Simbel, the majestic temple of Ramses was built a thousand years ago - a symbol of the defeat of wild tribes. As elsewhere, there are also giant statues lined up here. But only members of the family of the most ancient "Casanova", because Pharaoh had a hundred sons. There is another temple nearby; it was carved into the mountain in honor of the sacred goddess and in the guise of the Egyptian queen Nefertari.
Temple of Ramses
Some Russian tourists mistakenly call Alexandria the capital of Egypt, not Cairo. Both cities are worthy of this role. Yes, and almost nearby in the fork of the Nile. As in Turkey, Ankara and Istanbul.
Alexandria
The city is named after a military leader from Balkan Macedonia. It was not in the rules of the pharaohs to admit foreigners to local thrones. But try not to let this happen! And Alexander the Great ruled in Egypt for a decade. He also reigned in two countries and on the Asian continent.
So the choice of the Egyptians for the name of the cultural capital was correct. The city's appearance combines Arab and antique eras. There are monuments from Roman and Greek times at every turn.
Alexandria
At one time, Alexandria, as a city, had no equal in the territory around the Mediterranean. She was famous for scientists and thinkers. But that bloody time did not spare the hitherto unsurpassed local library. And the famous navigator's signaling beacon died down after the earthquake. Later, the area was restored here and a fortress was built.
Cairo
In contrast to the Alexandrian atmosphere of ancient Hellas reposed in the Bose, Cairo is an Arab city. Here, tourists scatter to numerous bazaars and shops for souvenirs. Here the ancient gods are forgotten, and Islam has become a religion. The city is decorated with mosques with their high-rise minaret towers. And the oldest university in the Muslim world operates.
If you are going on a tour of Egypt, then do not worry about the language problem. There are no less Russian-speaking guides here than English-speaking ones.
Cairo
Hurghada
El Dahar is the center of a tourist town on the Red Sea. Believing Christian tourists often book a visit to the church of Coptic Christians in this Muslim country. It is interesting to inspect it both outside and inside. The exterior architecture is a mix of Christian and Muslim. The interior is the same as in Orthodox churches, with minimal, barely noticeable exceptions. Ancient frescoes depicting archangels are kept here from the 11th - 13th centuries.
Among the attractions is the El-Mina mosque (before that - Abdulhasan Elshazi). It can be seen from afar both day and night. During the day, the mosque is raised for viewing by forty-meter group minarets. At night, the mosque is illuminated with multi-colored illumination. Tourists should consult a guide when to enter the mosque. But remember: Muslim mosques are very modest inside. But outside it is a miracle of painting and architecture.
El Mina Mosque
Despite the 200-kilometer distance from Hurghada, people even go to the monasteries of St. Anthony by taxi or hotel limousine. They also belong to the Coptic Christian community.
Arriving here, immediately notice the narrow entrance to the rock. The ascetic Christian Anthony lived in the grotto. Here he died. The established monasticism settled down in the monastery complex built in the third century AD. Monks from another monastery soon moved here, suffering from the robbers of one warlike tribe of Egypt. In the 11th century, the monastery was plundered and destroyed by the Arabs. Obviously, on religious grounds. This also happens in our time. Copts restored the monastery.