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Al-Ahram Weekly 18 - 24 March 1999 Issue No. 421 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 18 - 24 March 1999 Issue No. 421
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Travel Web: Bold, but basic
A brand-new section reviewing tourism sites on the Internet. www.tourism-egypt.com.egThis site has been prepared by the Comm Net group and provides a quick and concise overview of Egypt's historical and tourist attractions. It is geared to travellers who do not have a penchant for surfing the net but would, rather, prefer information at their fingertips to help them make up their minds on travel plans.
On opening the site, you will see the vulture-like goddess Nekhbet, protectress of Upper Egypt, on both sides of the page embracing the words "Tourism in Egypt". Below is the golden mask of Tutankhamun inviting the world to visit Egypt and share its ancient history and future. The site is illustrated with simple but attractive drawings of Pharaonic temples and reliefs.
One of the site's advantages is that there are few links (or sections), so users won't get lost. As a matter of fact, it has only three: One deals with Egyptian tourism companies, a second looks at the best places to visit and a third is dedicated to those who would like to see their names written in hieroglyphics.
Tourism companies are alphabetically listed. Some are mentioned by name only while others provide more details such as the phone and fax numbers, e-mail address and contact names.
You can tour most of the interesting sites through the photo gallery. A simple but accurate coloured map details the most historically important, starting from Tanis in the north-eastern delta, and on to Giza, Memphis, Saqqara, Meidum, Tel Al-Amarna, Dendera, Abydos, Esna, Edfu, Luxor, Elephantine, Philae and Abu Simbel.
All you have to do is move your mouse and click on one of the sites and up comes a photograph. A click on Giza, for example, will give you the three 'great' pyramids, the Sphinx, and the funerary barge of Khufu accompanied by a text explaining the history of the area.
If you click on Luxor and you'll be able to have a tour of the ancient city in just 10 minutes. You'll see Luxor Temple, Karnak, Hatshepsut's mortuary temple and others. It also gives a brief outline on how Luxor grew from just a little village at the dawn of history, to a place where the god of war Montu was worshipped, and, subsequently, how its importance grew during the "empire" period and became the capital of the pharaohs of the New Kingdom.
Or you might just want to see Egypt's beautiful natural environment, in which case you will be enchanted by Nilotic scenes where elegant feluccas ply the river. Or perhaps, again, a bit of modern technology, in which case there is the High Dam. Just click on the photo of Aswan. Its as simple as that
One point of criticism about the photo gallery is that there are no captions. The text which runs beside the photos relates historical facts but no detail of what is portrayed. A pity, because this makes it difficult for first-timers to identify the monuments scattered all over Egypt.
Reviewed by Rehab Saad
