Fayyoum

  Fayyoum is a large area of cultivation irrigated by a canal from the Nile and surrounded by the Western Desert, less than two hours drive from Cairo. The land in the Fayyoum area is flat, with lush fields tilled by bullock-drawn plough or men wielding primitive mattocks. Horsecarts piled high with cane, grass mats, fodder or passengers rumble over the roads, passing women swathed in flowing black robes with heavily laden baskets balanced expertly on their heads. Here and there a plam grove provides welcome shade, or a picturesque waterwheel of darkened wood creaks slowly around.

  Madient El-Fayyoum, capital city of the province, is a considerable town of some 400,000 people. Crocodiloplis was its name in former times as it was sacred to the crocodile-god Sobek.

  Qaroun a large lake in the north of Fayyoum is well stocked with fish and is famous for hunting and duck shooting. The lake King Farouk's old hunting lodge on the southern shore has been converted into a hotel. Of the Pharaonic sites in Fayyoum, Medinet Madi is the best preserved but is difficult to get to; The pyramids at Medium, Lauhoum and Hawara are more accessible, but the most convenient site to visit is Kom Oushim, on the escarpment overlooking the Fayyoum just off the Cairo-Fayyoum desert road, where there are the remains of the ptolomatic/Roman town of Karanis. There is an interesting museum here.