LIBERTÉ, EGALITÉ, FRATERNITÉ

By | May 21, 2010 | Politics | 2 Comments

The Loss of Freedom. Courtesy of Aidan McManus, Flickr.

by Islam El Shazly

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT.

France, Star Vega, May 21, 2010

Arab countries’ leaders from the Atlantic to the Gulf call the French president Nicolas Sarkozy and demand he shuts down the Cannes Film Festival, the French Riviera, and the collective district of Paris for being anti-Islamic and anti Semitic. The French President jumps at the command and orders the military to descend on the aforementioned areas and arrest everyone in them in preparation to banishing them to the mines for being un-French and rude. The Arab world also puts a ban on anything hyphenated with French-.

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WADI RISCH-RASCH

By | May 1, 2010 | Egypt, Off the Beaten Path, Travel + Leisure | 1 Comment

Dovecote.

A little desert trip labelled: “Following the footsteps of the last king of Egypt; King Farouk.”

by Naeem Mayet and Saaleha Bamjee
Photographs by Naeem Mayet

Sometimes, Cairo, with all of its rich fullness and grainy texture, displaces the mind’s quiet.

As both vanquisher and subduer, Al-Qahira fills the spaces between thoughts with its Life and Living.

You would imagine that in order to reclaim some of yourself, it would take a great many hours to escape the city’s penetrating charm.

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GOING FOR A WALK: AL-KORBA

By | April 11, 2010 | Egypt, History, Travel + Leisure, Walking Tours | 3 Comments

by M. Butcher

When looking for things to do with or without kids it’s always nice to take a walk. We like to take the kids out in Korba because they have wide sidewalks and there are lots of stores and coffee shops to pass by. The streets are wide and easy enough to cross with kids and it is stroller friendly.

A mansion in Al-Korba.

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TOP 10 BEVERAGES IN EGYPT

By | April 2, 2010 | Egypt, Food + Beverages, Travel + Leisure | 50 Comments
Strawberries and Melons.

Strawberries and Melons.

by Islam El Shazly

Because of its location on the Mediterranean and the crossroads between Africa and Asia, Egypt has access to a lot of fruits that might not be available in other places in the world, particularly North America. Some of these fruits are exotic by European and North American standards; while others are common everywhere. I tried to have fresh juice in Canada, and frankly it didn’t come close to what we have over here.

Below is a list of just a few of the most brilliant drinks you can find in Egypt, and believe me there is an insane amount of cocktails available to satisfy even the most demanding taste buds.

Warning! Drooling might occur.

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WHAT’S IN YOUR BLOOD?

By | March 2, 2010 | History, Pax Islamica, Politics | 6 Comments

The true melting pot of nations.

by Islam El Shazly

Over the last few months a feud was ignited between two Arab and Muslim countries, Egypt and Algeria; with each calling the other everything in the book of hatred that had previously been saved for the worst of enemies. The flames fanned by shady tabloids on both sides to a point that is very close to calling for outright war. All over a silly little sport called football (soccer), and later on for a handball match.

Finally people like Jamal Abdul Nasser and Ataturk have something to be proud of, their dreams of disunity and nationalism has finally come to fruition. Their poison finally achieving what the decades of French and British colonialism could not accomplish.

Both are Muslim countries, and somehow each wanted Allah on their side for each match, which is as stupid as anything I ever heard. Utter disrespect for Allah subhanahu wa ta3ala.

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AL MOWLED: THE BEGINING

By | February 21, 2010 | Egypt, History, Travel + Leisure | 2 Comments

by Islam El Shazly

Since we are in the early days of the month of Rabie’ Al Awwal, the third month of the Islamic Hijri Calendar, I thought it might be appropriate to write about the celebration of the Prophet’s (صلى الله عليه و سلم) birthday or Al Mowled Al Nabawi.

In every travel book that I read there’s a mention of Al Mowled, not just the Prophet’s (صلى الله عليه و سلم) but also for every so called “Saint” in Egypt. We have no sainthood in Islam, but that is a topic for another time insha’Allah.

Whirling Dirwish.

A very intoxicated-looking whirling dirwish.

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CITY OF A THOUSAND MINARETS

By | February 11, 2010 | Egypt, History, Travel + Leisure | 5 Comments

by Islam El Shazly

It has been a while since the last post; I’m still getting used to blogging, that, and been working on several articles and the guides pages at the same time.

Cairo; the city of a thousand minarets, that is what Cairo has been referred to in the past, and from time to time, it gets called by that name again, even though Cairo has way more than a 1000 minarets now.

In the older parts of Cairo there a lot of mosques that were build during the time of the Mamluks, they were not one dynasty, rather a sultan after the next. Mamluk literally means ‘owned’, i.e., slave.  The Mamluks were an amalgam of Turks, Uzbeks, Caucuses, Circassians, and Chechnians, among others. The trend of purchasing them as young boys and train them in the arts of war started during the Abassid’s dynasty, and reached a peak at the time of Salah El-Deen, the Mamluks that ruled the Muslim world after the death of the last Ayubid Sultan are the ones who eventually built most of the Islamic monuments that one would see in old Cairo.

Colonnades inside ibn Tulun mosque.

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BUMPER CARS, OR GOING WITH THE FLOW.

By | January 20, 2010 | Egypt, Travel + Leisure | 2 Comments

by Islam El Shazly

Driving in Egypt, it’s certainly an experience. It goes hand in hand with ‘crossing the streets in Egypt’ experience. You cannot have one without the other.

It’s the most advanced game of cat and mouse; Need for Speed and all those racing games combined don’t even come close to this. Here’s how it works, you get in the car, start it, if it’s an older car you need to warm it up for a while, then go. The rules are simple, if you are the driver you have to think on your toes, literally, you have to keep an eye on the road while manoeuvring pedestrians, other cars, trucks, motorcycles, mopeds, the odd dog or cat that bolts across the street all of a sudden, children not higher than a car’s bumper also need to be avoided, and every driver that chooses the perfect blind spot in your mirrors to come at you from behind. Phew.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sklender/114692158/

Normal everyday Cairo traffic. By sklender, Flickr.

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WHEN IN ROME…

By | January 7, 2010 | Egypt, Travel + Leisure | 2 Comments

by Islam El Shazly

When in Rome do as the Romans do. I was told by a group of drunk foreigners, when I was travelling once, that since I’m in the west at the moment then I should behave like them, and since they were drunk, they wanted me to drink as well. They claimed that when they go to a Muslim country like Egypt or Morocco, they follow the rules of the country.

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I RESIST.

By | December 31, 2009 | Pax Islamica, Politics | 2 Comments

Hello world… This was intended to be a completely different “first” post, but due to the timing of the launch of the website that coincided with the anniversary of operation Cast Lead and the dire situation in Gaza, we had a change of plans.

I Resist
by Islam El Shazly

In December 2008, without warning and without any provocation, operation Cast Lead began. A calamitous devastating bombing campaign of the Gaza Strip, it left everyone in shock, reeling from its level of brutality.  By January 18 2009 the massacre had left over 1400 Palestinians killed, and most of Gaza razed to the ground.

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