Country name : The Arab Republic of Egypt (Jumhuriyat Misr al-Arabiya)

 

Phone code: 20 . tape 0020, the town code, the number of your correspondent

 

The principal cities :

Cairo – the capital, Alexandria, Aswan.

The languages:

Arab (official), English and French are spoken by the well-educated people and in the shere of tourism.

The principal religions:

Islam (the majority belongs to Sunnite) 94%, the copts and other 6% (official estimation)

Ethnic groups:

Egyptians, bedouins, and Berbers: 99%, Greeks, Nubians, Armenians, europeans 1%

 

Formalites :

- English citizens can obtain the visa on production of the Identity card + 1 identity photo+25 euros.

- Valid passport, the date of expire should exceed 6 months beginning from date of return (recommended).

Currency:

Egyptian pound, 1 euro – 7 Egyptian pounds. Be careful, you will not be able to reconvert egyptian pounds in euros. The credit cards are accepted by the hotels, shops, and by a few ships (if you go in a cruise). Provide yourself with cash or traveller’s cheques.

 

Local time: GMT + 2.

Current: 220 volts

 

  

Police and security

One should diffirentiate various types of police in case of emergency. The tourists’ police can easily be recognized by the green armbands, they keep watch over main touristic places and the hotels. The traffic police wears black armbands in winter and white in summer, their posts are at the crossroads. The central office security police officers wear one black arband and mount guard  in the Enbassies, hotels, public places.

 

Health and medical assistance.

No vaccine is obligatory in general, but be careful, for you risk to fall ill with hepatitis A easily. All the hotels have special referencies to medical assistance stations and physitians on the call. The Egyptian physitians speak English. You can also consult your Embassy. Red Crescent is the symbol of medical assistance in Egypt, it is equivalent to the Red Cross. They will recommend you a hostpital, an ambulance and other medical assistance stations.

 

Hospitals

There are good hospitals in Cairo and Alexandria. In these pay-hospitals foreign health insurances are not accepted.

 

Clothing:

Light, made of cotton. Take something warm for the evening, do not forget to take your sunhat, sunglasses, and sun-protecting cream.

 

Shopping :

Rich and various craft industry: brass, alabaster, leather, jewels of gold and silver, pottery, papyrus, cotton cloth, essential oils.

 

The post: The system of postal service is effective only within Egypt. It takes about 5 days to deliver a letter to Easten Europe by airpost. There are Post Restante departments in the General Post office, offering its services at a moderate rate. The post-offices are open from 9-00a.m. till 2-00p.m. every week-day except for Friday ; the General Post office in Cairo is open day-and-night.  Periodicals: the daily and most serious newspaper is Al-Ahram; other newspapers are Al-Akhbar and a lot of weekly editions.

 

 Transport:

The flight from London to Cairo lasts about 4 hours 30 minutes.

The International Airport of Cairo (CAI) is situated at 22 km to the North of the city of Heliopolis (an hour journey). You are welcome to take the bus circulating every 30 minutes or taxi as well as the cars of the hotels and the private vehicles. 

Borg El Arab Airport (HBE) substitutes El Nouzha Airport as the principal international airport of Alexandria. It is situated 60 km to the South-East from Alexandria. The airport disposes of all the modern conveniences.

The Airport of Luxor (LXR) is situated 5,5 km from Luxor. There is a regular bus line to the city (15 minutes journey). There are also the taxies and limousines.