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A lion with the face of a pharaoh, the 4,500-year-old Sphinx stands guard at Giza.
Photograph by Kenneth Garrett/National Geographic Stock
The world's original tourist destination, the seat of thought and influence in the Arab world. • The first Arab country to make peace with Israel. • Paper, the 365-day calendar, and novelist Naguib Mahfouz's unforgettable Cairo Trilogy are among its many gifts to the world. • Images of pharaonic culture—mummies, hieroglyphs, the Pyramids—suffuse our contemplation of this storied land. • The Nile bisects its vast expanse. • Crumbling Cairo contrasts with graceful fishermen's feluccas drifting on a river breeze. • A country of endless contrast, grindingly poor yet rich beyond words in history.
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