Africa and Middle East

EGYPT

To say the least, Egypt is rich with temples: soaring lotus-bud columns, enormous stone portals laced with delicate carvings, elaborate underground tombs, windswept desert monasteries, and richly decorated mosques. But…

Giza

It used to be that you approached Giza through green fields. Cairo's expansion means that now you have to run a gauntlet of raucously noisy city streets clogged with buses,…

Downtown and Bulaq

In the middle of the 19th century, the slavishly Francophile khedive Isma'il laid out this district on a Parisian plan across the old canal from Islamic Cairo, which until then…

Coptic Cairo

The area known as Mari Girgis (Saint George) is centuries older than the Islamic city of Cairo. But even calling it Coptic Cairo isn't entirely accurate, because it includes an…

Cairo

On first impression, there is hardly a superlative too extreme to capture the epic scale of this city of some 15 million—or 14, or 16; no one really knows for…

Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv, Israel's ever-growing metropolis, would be unrecognizable to its founders, a small group of Jewish immigrant families in what was then Ottoman-ruled Palestine. A skyline of shimmering skyscrapers has…

Jerusalem

is a city suspended between heaven and earth, East and West, past and present—parallel universes of flowing caftans and trendy coffee shops. For some people, Jerusalem is a condition, like…

ISRAEL

Within its small perimeter, Israel packs in abundant riches, from cherished religious sites and well-preserved archaeological treasures to spectacular natural wonders. Holy land to Jews, Christians, and Muslims, this is…

Gueliz And Hivernage

In addition to office buildings, contemporary shops, and malls—none of which may exceed the nearest mosque's height—Guéliz has plenty of sidewalk cafés, international restaurants, art galleries, upscale boutiques, and antique…

Medina

If you can see the ramparts, you're either just inside or just outside the medina. In some respects, not much has changed here since the Middle Ages. The medina is…