Cairo, Egypt

Pizza Hut has 85 stores in Egypt. To insinuate itself into local markets, the chain has transliterated its name into Arabic. Remember: Both Hebrew and Arabic are linguistic cousins that are read right to left. P.S.: Thanks again, Pizza Hut, for pulling out of Russia! [2000]

Cairo, Egypt

KFC stands for Kentucky Fried Chicken. In Arabic, the "Fried" is dropped. Read from right to left, the sign reads Chicken (translated) Kentucky (transliterated). Colonel Sanders, himself, really doesn't translate very well, but chicken has always been popular throughout the Arab realm, and almost everywhere in the world. [2000]

Suez Canal, Egypt

Here is a ferry connection that is intercontinental, but not international. That must make Egypt a bicontinental nation. Sometimes people forget that Egypt's Sinai Peninsula (see it?) is in Asia while the bulk of Egypt is in Africa. What other countries in the world are bicontinental? What country used to be tricontinental? [2001]

Cairo, Egypt

Middle Eastern suqs regale aliens with an array of unrecognizable curiosities for sale. In the 1990s, before the Internet, it took many conversations with locals to unravel the story behind these 'twigs' (really roots). Now, just pop miswak into a search bar and you will get a surfeit of information on what is usually called a traditional Islamic toothbrush. [2001]

Cairo, Egypt

McDonald's came to Egypt in 1994 and today has over 100 outlets. To blend in, not only does McDonald's depend on local supply chains, it also adapts to the native tongue. Here the name is easily transliterated into Arabic letters, but remember: Arabic is read from right to left. [2000]

Luxor, Egypt

Ramses, the greatest of ancient Egyptian pharaohs, still reigns from Karnak Temple in Upper Egypt. Here he is with his daughter, Meritamun. Ramses, himself, was the son of Ra, the sun god, ruler of the world. [2001]

Cairo, Egypt

The great cities of the Fertile Crescent had citadels from the most ancient of days, but Cairo had so citadel until the 12th century when Saladin arrived. Saladin, who was born in Mesopotamia and buried in Damascus, solidified the Islamic culture of Western Asia in Egypt. From the citadel of Saladin, Egypt was governed for 800 years. [2000]

Alexandria, Egypt

What would you expect? A sphinx, for sure. It's Egypt! But did you notice how Hellenized this one is? What about the pillar? That is for Greece and Rome. What would you expect in Egypt? An obelisk, of course. Here in Alexandria, though, the cultural landscape is definitely Greco-Roman. After all, the city was founded by Alexander the Great! [2000]

Cairo, Egypt

There's no trace of Mamluk Egypt here. The Citadel of Cairo was rebuilt by Muhammad Ali to be all Ottoman. Were it  not for the portal guardian, you might even think you were in Istanbul. Within these walls lodged the government of Egypt until the mid-nineteenth century. [1997]

Luxor, Egypt

Kemet was the ancient name of Egypt. It meant Black Earth and referred to the productive soils along the Nile, soils so rich they begged to be farmed. Beyond Kemet was Deshret. It meant Red Earth and referred to the desert. Do you see the natural boundary between the two zones here in Upper Egypt? [2000]

Luxor, Egypt

Water is drawn off the Nile and into the fields of cane and cucumbers (sweeter than any I have ever eaten!). Workers in those fields have traditionally been called fellaheen, though many have now been drawn off to grow the tourist economy in nearby Thebes. [1997]

Luxor, Egypt

These two granite Goliaths are called the Colossi of Memnon, but they are really statues of the pharaoh Amenhotep III. They are all that remains of his mortuary temple. Their location on the Nile's flood plain is a mystery since most ancient tombs and temples were situated in the desert where they remained untouched by the universal solvent, water. [2000]

Saqqara, Egypt

Located just west of Memphis, Djoser's Step Pyramid moved the Egyptians a step closer to engineering the Great Pyramid of Giza. By extension, it was also the first step in developing the skills that made Dubai's Burg Khalifa possible. All of today's superlatives have roots somewhere in the ancient world. [2000]

Luxor, Egypt

Around the turn of the century, the Internet cafe hit Egypt, then came 3G cellular phone service, then came social networking. In little more than a decade thereafter, the regime fell. Did signs like this point the way to Egypt's future? Did this placard turn out to be more of a 'blessing' (baraka in Arabic) than folks at the time could possibly imagine? [2001]

Luxor, Egypt

The Nile provided a perfect highway for the unification of ancient Egypt: ride the current north, and let the Trade Winds carry you south. The felucca captains of today, the masters of the Nile, use the same forces of nature thanks to the ingenuity of their ancestors who began thinking about human-environment relationships more than 5,000 years ago. [2000]

Giza, Egypt

What has the body of a lion and the head of a pharaoh? The 4500-year-old Great Sphinx on Egypt's Giza Plateau. The Sphinx was probably built as chief guardian of Khafre's tomb, the pyramid in the background. The problem? He doesn't look very ferocious. The body language and facial expressions suggest a creature at peace with world. [2001]

Cairo, Egypt

In Coptic Cairo, the Christian quarter of the old city, a boy stops for a drink. Three colorful cups, each tethered to its own urn, are the hand-to-mouth conveyances that everybody uses. Politicians watch from the wall behind, probably promising to improve public services like 'city water.' [1997]