In the last few years, Abu Dhabi has apparently decided that they need to show that uppity young upstart Dubai that they, too, can play a giant game of Sim City, using a few billions of oil money here and there to see what crazy kinds of tourist attractions and luxury entertainment they can come…

Wow, what a difference! Coming from Cairo, everything in Abu Dhabi still feels arabic, but so much newer, cleaner and shinier. I guess billions and billions of oil money do make a difference… I don’t even want to think about how much water and manpower it takes to keep grass green in the middle of…

Coptic, what’s that, you say? Well, I had to look it up, too – turns out Egypt has not only at least 10% Christians, but it’s a special branch of Christianity that’s unique to northern Africa, with their own language and their own pope – pardon, “Patriarch of Alexandria on the Holy See of Saint…

This will be a pretty straight-up touristic post, so why not start with the obligatory me-in-front-of-famous-stuff photo? The pyramids of Gizah – the big league, the grand slam and the olympics all rolled into one – not just of antiques, but also of tourist touts, “guides”, trinket sellers, hawkers of camel rides, and everybody else…

Benefits of a downtown hotel: Can walk to the first few attractions to visit without having to figure out public transport, or haggle with taxi drivers. First up: Museum of Islamic art. A beautiful, recently renovated museum showcasing art in the islamic style (think lots of calligraphy, floral and geometric designs rather than pictures) from…

Starting a world tour in Cairo definitely means starting by jumping into the very deep end of the pool. Wednesday morning was spent having coffee on my quiet, peaceful balcony in Munich. Wednesday night saw me desperately scanning the taxi line at cairo airport, trying to figure out what had went wrong with the airport…