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By
Jimmy Dunn
This month, I will use this column to explain the
structure of the Tour Egypt web site. Whether one
considers it a compliment to our monthly magazine, or the
magazine a compliment to it, they certainly work together
and in concert with each other.
The magazine is more to deal with changing events, new
stuff such as monument openings and elaboration on subjects
that are already covered in the general web site. As
such, so far we have given little mention of most historic
matters in the magazine.
Antiquities Resources
The home page of the Tour Egypt web site seems to cover
mostly tourism, but at the top of the page is our Egyptian
Antiquities link. Under this link, there is
actually more information then we provide on tourism. Here,
one finds a number of topics. The History
of Egypt has hundreds of pages which explore the region
from about 100,000 BC (Lower Paleolithic Period) through the
British Occupation which ended in 1952 AD.
Monuments in
Egypt really is misnamed, as it covers both ancient
monuments and more modern attractions in Egypt. Again,
hundreds of monuments are explored, including Islamic,
Christian, Pharaonic, Greek and Roman, Jewish, English and
French as well as modern. It also contains a section
on Every Museum we know of.
Rulers of
Ancient Egypt is a chronological list and explanation of
most Egyptian rulers beginning with the first Dynasty and
ending with the Roman Emperors, while the Who's
Who of Ancient Egypt is an alphabetized index of other
important people in Egyptian History.
Next comes two completely separate guides to Egyptian
Mythology, our original
section and one which we have recently
completed. Together, they provide considerable
information on Egyptian religion.
Our Virtual Museum
is not a simple reference on the Egyptian Museum, but rather
a guide to some of the artifacts spread throughout the
world. For the Egyptian Museum, see our heading under
museums in the Monuments section.
We also have a section that provides a Glossary
of Terms, and links
to other history related web site.
But that's not all. We write Historical Special
Editions to provide additional information on some monuments
and other historical information not covered
elsewhere. These include:
Most of these are listed in our Antiquities section.
But one need not traverse the Antiquities Section to find
monuments and sightseeing. Most of these are indexed in our
destination guides to various tourist locations.
Travel Guide
The Travel Guide section is actually made up of two
sections which consist of major sections and to the right in
smaller print, travel resources. Of the major sections
on the left, perhaps the three most important are the Destinations
in Egypt section, the Things
to Know about Traveling in Egypt section, and the Red
Sea Virtual Diving Center.
Earlier this year (2,000) we did a complete makeover of
the Destinations guide, adding many new cities and greatly
expanding information in the ones we already
documented. For major tourist destinations such as
Alexandria, Cairo, Luxor and Aswan, there are guided tours
through the city, along with links to many of our travel
resources for these areas.
The Things to Know about Traveling in Egypt section,
otherwise known as our travel tips, has considerable
information which people often email us about. Some of
the more popular topics include
There are many other topics explored here, so take a look
at this section and there is a good chance any of your
questions may already be answered.
The Red Sea Virtual Diving Center is, of course, all
about the Red Sea and Sinai. We provide considerable
information on diving in the Red Sea, diving centers and
tours, liveaboard boats and other water sport activities.
The Travel Resources (Data Resources) to the right of the
major sections are also very relevant, and have literally
thousands of pages of information. For example, our
hotel sections (split between hotels
we have good information on and those we have little
information about) lists almost every hotel in
Egypt. Even the list which contains hotels we have
little information about at least includes contact data. But
the Hotel list with better information is extensive, and as
far as we know, the best on the Internet. One may even
search this database using key words. Most hotels can be
booked from this database.
Other sections under Data Resources are equally
extensive. In the Restaurant
section, we cover some 1,000 restaurants throughout
Egypt, as an example. We also provide train
schedules, bus
schedules and even every currently opened golf
course in the country.
Other Resources
The Tour Egypt web site does not stop with just these
resources. For example, our Egypt
BBS is an on-line community made up of people who love
Egypt. Many of these people often travel to Egypt, and
others are Egyptian. First time visitors often ask
specific questions in the BBS with the result of numerous
information and tips.
One may also subscribe
to our newsletter, where we provide additional
information about everything from monuments to recent news
about Egypt, as well as explaining recent changes and
additions to the Tour Egypt web site.
Under Bulletins
form the Ministry (actually the ETA), we also provide
official news, including major monument opening and
closings, concerts, fairs and other touristic developments.
For our younger set, the Color
Me Egypt section includes a brief history of Egypt, a
coloring book and stories for both very young children and
young adults.
Our last estimate is that there are approximately 7,000
pages on the Tour Egypt web site, so we cannot possibly list
all the resources within this column. Please explore
the Tour Egypt site and enjoy. |
