Rick Steves's Blog, page 20

For ancient Egyptians, the Nile — which flows from south to north — divided their world into two logical halves. They lived on the east bank where the sun rose each morning and they buried their dead on the west bank, where the sun also died each evening. And, as nearly all the ancient art tourists travel to see is funerary, nearly all the sights (for example, the 60 or so pyramids) are, logically, on the West Bank.

For five centuries in the second millennium BC, Luxor was the capital of...

When we film a dinner in a restaurant, I like to eat there the night before to make friends with the wait staff, learn the rhythm and quirks of the place, reserve the best table for the cameraman’s needs, and learn which dishes we’d like to feature in the show — while actually enjoying a meal there. Then, the next night, we return with our gear, create the lighting we need, be sure those dining around us are ok with us filming them, and make it happen. There are so many complicated little...

As we set out to produce our hour-long public television special on Egypt, I was determined to balance the ancient treasures of the pharaohs with vivid slices of modern Egyptian life. While our security escort didn’t allow us to film a poor village outside of Luxor, we did capture the festival of daily life in the colorful market streets of old Cairo and the characteristic west end of Alexandria. This action in the streets of Alexandria exceeded my wildest dreams for our show. Here’s a quick...

Our final stop on our Egypt TV shoot was the dramatic Temple of Abu Simbel: the southern-most point of our travels, a half-hour flight south of Aswan. Being here, you marvel at how the temple was relocated to save it from being submerged and lost forever with the damming of the Nile at Aswan in 1968. You also are reminded how the United Nations (through UNESCO in this case) takes on projects — even expensive ones like this — that matter to all of humanity when no other organization can or...

Paging through the “Best of Egypt” photo books in a tourist gift shop, I noticed we have visited and filmed about 80% of the featured attractions here — and incorporated them into our upcoming hour-long Egypt TV special. It’s pretty predictable: Cairo with its great museum and pyramids, Alexandria with its sweeping Art Deco harbor-front, Luxor with its tombs and temples, Aswan with Abu Simbel, and cruises along the Nile. For safety reasons, there’s almost no tourism on the Nile north of...

We did it! Rick Steves’ Europe travelers have met our goal of raising one million dollars to help empower Bread for the World to combat structural poverty and hunger.

2,536 of you gave $100 or more each, totaling $362,050. As promised, I matched your donations 2-to-1 with $700,000 — and together, we raised $1,062,050. All this money (100% of it) was given to Bread for the World to advocate in our halls of government for policies that help the hungry both at home and abroad.

Good Americans,...

The big news for tourism in Egypt is the massive new “Grand Egyptian Museum” being built in Giza at the great pyramids. The GEM, as it’s already called, will open in the next year. It’s far bigger than any museum I’ve ever seen and my Egyptian friends assure me there’s more than enough ancient artifacts to fill it. Any tourist coming to Egypt in 2021 will likely go here, see all the statues, and then hop a shuttle train to the great pyramids at Giza. Judging by the immensity of this...

To spice up my holiday season, I’ve been in Egypt with my crew making a TV special. I scouted this shoot a few years ago but things got too tense politically to recommend travel there, so I put the shoot on hold. Things feel more stable now and tourism seems to be kicking back into gear, so we’re filming!

Egypt lends itself more to organized tourism rather than independent travel; it can be pretty intense and challenging. While it may not be for everybody, I love traveling here and am...

Over the last 15 days, 1,319 of you have responded to my annual Christmas challenge: Help Bread for the World with $100 or more, and I’ll send you a free gift — and I’ll match your donation 2-to-1 (contributing $200 for each $100 given, up to $700K).

Together, we’ve already raised over $177,318 to empower Bread to speak up for hungry people in Congress — and if I can inspire just 1,727 more of you to join in, we’ll hit our million-dollar goal.

There are plenty of great opportunities to be...

Venice has battled rising water levels since the fifth century. But now, the water seems to be winning. The Italian government declared a state of emergency today after Tuesday’s historically high tide — an event that the mayor is calling the “apocalyptic” result of climate change.

I’ve been thinking about a conversation I had a couple of years ago with the Italian archaeologist Dr. Salvatore Settis. We talked about what it’s like to live in Venice, the challenges of rampant tourism, and the efforts to add...