PLACES
TO VISIT IN EGYPT: 
Cairo,
the Jewel of the Orient, the City of the Thousand Minarets, and the
Melting Pot of Ancient and Modern Egyptian Civilizations
Cairo -
the Triumphant City - is the glorious capital of Egypt, the cradle of
civilization and the beacon of religion. It is the largest city in the
Middle East and Africa and lies at the centre of all routes leading to,
and from the three continents: Asia, Africa and Europe.
Greater
Cairo extends on the banks of the River Nile to the south of its delta.
Here the Nile divides into its two distributaries: Rosetta and Damietta.
It is the city where past and present meet. On its east side stands the
evidence of 2000 years of Islamic, Christian Coptic, and Jewish culture
still flourishing to this day. On its west side lies the Ancient Egyptian
city of Memphis (Giza), the renowned capital of the Old Kingdom and the
site of the Pyramids, the only wonder surviving of the Seven Wonders of
the World. Indeed, a journey through Cairo is a journey through time... A
journey through the history of an immortal civilization.
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The second largest city and the main port of Egypt, Alexandria was built
by the Greek architect Dinocrates (332-331 BC) on the site of an old village,
Rhakotis, at the orders of Alexander the Great. The city, immortalizing
Alexander's name, quickly flourished into a prominent cutural, intellectual,
political, and economic metropolis, the remains of which are still evident
to this day.
It was the renowned capital of the Ptolemies, with numerous monuments. It
was the site of the Lighthouse, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient
World, as well as the Great Library. It was along these shores that history
took a tragic turn at the time of Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, Mark Antony,
and Octavian.
Alexandria lies north-west of the Nile delta and stretches along a narrow
land strip between the Mediterranean Sea and Lake Mariut (Mareotis). It
is linked to Cairo by two major highways and a railroad line. It is one
of the most notable summer resorts in the Middle East, for, in addition
to its temperate winters, its beaches, with white sands and magnificent
scenery, stretch for 140 km along the Mediterranean Sea, from Abu Qir, in
the east to Al-Alamein and Sidi Abdul Rahman, in the west.
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Concord World Travel.
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