Cruising The Holy Land: Cairo, Egypt

From our series, Cruising The Holy Land: The Top 10 destinations for historical interest, lovely landscapes, super shopping, spectacular cities and village life experiences.

Accessed from either Port Said or Alexandria, Cairo heads any must-see list simply because of the Sphinx and the Great Pyramids of Giza, one of the world’s Seven Wonders. But the largest city in the Arab World has more to recommend it. With its many minarets, Cairo is a showcase for Islamic architecture, and the Egyptian capital, which dates to the 10^th century, has long been a center of the region’s political and cultural life.

The pyramids and the sphinx can be toured on foot, horseback or camel. Other must-see attractions include the Ibn Tulun Mosque, which dates to the ninth century, and the Citadel, a massive stone fortress built by Salah ad-Din in the 12th century and subsequently crowned with the Mosque of Mohammed Ali. It now offers amazing views of the city, and, if the smog isn’t too thick, even the pyramids.  Also, the Egyptian Museum has the world’s most extensive collection of artifacts from ancient Egypt, including King Tut and quite a few of his treasures.

For shopping, Khan Ali-Kalili is Cairo’s major open air market, operating pretty much as it always has since the 14^th century, with many vendors whose families have done business there for generations. Shoppers work through rows and rows of exotic jewelry, spices, perfumes, Bedouin rugs and souvenirs, and as is the case throughout the Middle East, haggling is the rule rather than the exception.

Who cruises there? Just about everybody, but we’ll start the list with Azamara, Costa, Crystal, Cunard, Holland America, Norwegian, Oceania, Princess, Seabourn and SeaDream.