Egypt
The National (Ursula Lindsey)
- A New Beginning For Egyptian Tourism
Al Masry Al Youm (Mohamed Elshahed) In the recent flurry of reports about Egypt’s impending economic challenges, many have highlighted the damage done to the tourism sector in the wake of the 25 January revolution. The number of tourists who’ve come...
- Developing Downtown Cairo For Tourism
BBC News Video The Downtown area of Cairo is an odd mixture of Colonial era architecture and modern bustle, buildings and rather a lot of architectural decay. This video looks at some of the problems and the proposed solutions. A bit off topic, but it's...
- Restoring The Heart Of Cairo
Al Ahram Weekly (Amira El-Noshokaty) You know you are in Downtown Cairo when your eyes fall upon grand boulevards and even grander buildings with late 19th century and 20th century European-style doorways and sculptures, designed in a combination of art...
- Travel: Dine Like An Egyptian
Bloomberg (Daniel Williams) Ask Egyptians about their country’s national dish and more often than not, they’ll say its koshary, a hodgepodge of macaroni, vermicelli and rice mixed with lentils, garbanzos and fried onions. It’s topped with tomato...
- Travel: Downtown Cairo Hotels
Al Ahram Weekly (Nagal Nkrumah) A downtown Cairo hotel might not be the place to put down new roots, but there are notable exceptions. Most of the hotels in this part of Cairo have seen better days and are run-down, dilapidated lodges that house rucksack...
Egypt
Changes to the Downtown area of Cairo
The National (Ursula Lindsey)
Downtown – Wust al Balad in Arabic – is Cairo’s 150-year-old central district. With its mix of Belle Époque, neo-Islamic and Art Deco apartment buildings, its roundabouts ornamented with statues, its glittering cafes and elegant shops, the area was once known as “Paris on the Nile”. But in recent decades the neighbourhood has lost its upper-class cachet, and its architecture has been damaged by misuse and neglect.
It has become common to lament Downtown’s decline – in the press and in Egyptian literature, whose development is deeply linked to the area. Now private investors and government authorities are putting in motion plans to protect and renovate the neighbourhood.
Karim Shafei fell in love with the area when he attended an art festival there in 2001. “I thought: Downtown is going to happen again, the same way it happened in Paris, New York, Istanbul,” he says. Shafei is the chief executive of Al Ismaelia Company for Real Estate Investments, a new venture that is dedicated to buying and renovating Downtown properties – and possibly returning the area to its glory days.
- A New Beginning For Egyptian Tourism
Al Masry Al Youm (Mohamed Elshahed) In the recent flurry of reports about Egypt’s impending economic challenges, many have highlighted the damage done to the tourism sector in the wake of the 25 January revolution. The number of tourists who’ve come...
- Developing Downtown Cairo For Tourism
BBC News Video The Downtown area of Cairo is an odd mixture of Colonial era architecture and modern bustle, buildings and rather a lot of architectural decay. This video looks at some of the problems and the proposed solutions. A bit off topic, but it's...
- Restoring The Heart Of Cairo
Al Ahram Weekly (Amira El-Noshokaty) You know you are in Downtown Cairo when your eyes fall upon grand boulevards and even grander buildings with late 19th century and 20th century European-style doorways and sculptures, designed in a combination of art...
- Travel: Dine Like An Egyptian
Bloomberg (Daniel Williams) Ask Egyptians about their country’s national dish and more often than not, they’ll say its koshary, a hodgepodge of macaroni, vermicelli and rice mixed with lentils, garbanzos and fried onions. It’s topped with tomato...
- Travel: Downtown Cairo Hotels
Al Ahram Weekly (Nagal Nkrumah) A downtown Cairo hotel might not be the place to put down new roots, but there are notable exceptions. Most of the hotels in this part of Cairo have seen better days and are run-down, dilapidated lodges that house rucksack...