Nightlife

Sound-and-light Shows
  The grandeur of the pyramids is magnified at night when powerful floodlights bathe the ancient stones which rich colour. A stirring commentary enhanced with symphonic music comes from hidden loudspeakers. Sound-and-light shows at the pyramids are given in English on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights. Check performance times, as these vary with the time of the year. You can take a taxi to the pyramids and pay the entry fee yourself, or you can join an all-inclusive bus tour.

  A show is held at the Great Temple of Amon at Karnak. After strolling through the temple, spectators sit in banks of seats behind the sacred Lake. One important thing to keep in mind for a sound-and-light show: no one ever seems to dress warmly enough, despite warnings of the evening's chill.

Cinemas  
  Look in the local English language newspaper for current film showings. Something is always playing in English or at least with English subtitles. In Egypt's cinemas everyone has a reserved seat. Buy your tickets an hour or more in advance (a particularly good idea on Thursday, Friday or Saturday night).

Clubs
  Clubs in the large hotels offer nightly variety shows, with Western song-and-dance reviews followed by fiery Egyptian music. When your blood is racing, on comes the belly-dancer, and the music builds to fever-pitch as she performs her sinuous gyrations and muscular impossibilities. Music for dancing FOLLOWS. Though exciting and entertaining, hotel shows are not risqué, and can be enjoyed even by those who might take offence at the Folies Bergere.

  Many hotel clubs and discotheques require membership or expensive door charges to enter. Men without escorts might not be allowed in at some of them. Dance music is from the latest records, but a belly-dancer and oriental band often help to improve the entertainment. The pyramids Road is lined with flashy nightspots, mostly for lone men with money to burn. It's generally better for couples to find the current "in" spot in the city centre.

Opera House
  The Opera House is an official gift from the Japanese government in 1988. The complex, which also houses several art gallerias, is a must when visiting Cairo. Operas, with foreign and Egyptian performances, are staged from October to May. Check, in case semi-formal or formal dress is required.

Casinos
  Foreigners are the only ones allowed into Egypt's gambling houses, so bring along your passport. Only foreign currency may be used at the tables. Most luxury hotels have casinos. If you see "Casino" on a sign by a Nile-side restaurant, don't be flooded. In the middle East, a casino is a waterside establishment which can be anything from a snack bar to a restaurant with floor show but there will definitely not be any gambling.

National Circus
  Egypt's National Circus with started with the help of soviet circus masters some time ago. The clowns, acrobats and animals perform in Cairo's Agouza quarter during most of the year, moving to Alexandria for the hot months of July and August.

Dinning
  In a country with such a long history, it's intriguing to think that as a modern-day visitor to Egypt you might be eating the same as the pharaohs did. Certainly many things are unchanged. Mediterranean and Red Sea fish are served, and the Nile Valley and the delta yield sheep, cattle, game, pigeons and ducks, grain and vegetables just as they appear in the old wall paintings. But more recent history has also had a culinary impact on Egyptian food. Italian, Turkish, French and English influences are all to be found in Egyptian cookery. Present-day internationalism providers an additional touch as well: from chow mein to internationalism to wienerschnitzel, from Wimpy bars to colonel Sanders it's all yours in Cairo. Egyptians dine lightly at breakfast. In your hotel, the normal continental breakfast of coffee or tea, toast and rolls butter and jam may be supplemented with salty white or pale yellow cheese, and fresh fruit juice.

  Lunch is the main meal of the day, though many hotels cater to foreign habits and serve the big dinner in the evening. One o'clock until three or four in the afternoon is the usual lunch-break.

  Dinner in Egyptian homes is traditionally served quite late, perhaps not until 10 p.m. or even later. During Ramadan all these hours, and many of the foods served, change completely.

Egyptian Cuisine
  Your hotel is liable to serve more European dishes than Egyptian ones, but you should not miss any chance to savour the local fare. For an interesting sampling, many restaurants offer mezzeh-a selections of local salads, cheese, vine leaves and, sometimes, meat. A fun first course for a group of friends, mezzeh can even be a light meal in itself. Or start off with molokhia, a soup of a green leafy vegetable cooked in broth with garlic, pepper and coriander, usually eaten with rice. Most Egyptians get along well on fool, a thick and savoury stew of beans flavoured with tomatoes and spices. It's delicious and is commonly seved with oil and the juice of a lime or with taamia, a paste made of the same beans plus other vegetables, mixed with parsley and spices and deep-fried. Makhallal (turshi) spicy pickled vegetables, show up frequently on Egyptian tables.

  Bread is the flat Middle Eastern type, especially well-suited for scooping up mouthfuls of leban zabadi(yogurt), or tahina (sesame seed puree), or its variation baba ganoug (tahina with puree of baked aubergine/eggplant, lemon and garlic). Some restaurants specialize in kebab, succulent chunks of lamb or mutton marinated in spices and drilled over charcoal, then served on a bed of fresh parsley or coriander leaf. Fish from the Mediterranean of Lake Nasser is pan-or deep-fried, sometimes with an unexpected pinch of cumin adding during cooking. Large Alexandrian shrimp are a delicacy, and are grilled on a skewer over a fragrant charcoal brazier.

  Egyptians love to dine on pigeons, the birds being spilt and grilled or stuffed, served on a bed of rice. Salads are served before and during the main course. Boiled cold beetroot is popular in season, and you will find it difficult to stop eating the excellent ripe sliced tomatoes and cucumbers with a dash of lemon juice or vinegar. Green salads may contain a tart, almost peppery green leaf called gargir mixed with the lettuce. Once cheese is a disappointment, as even the best comes heavily salted. This may be good for water retention in a desert climate, but it's no treat for an unaccustomed palate. Processed  cheese wrapped in foil is widely available.

  For desert, you can never go wrong with fresh fruit from the Delta such as bananas, oranges, figs or guavas. A basket of fruit will contain fresh dates, which are different from the dried, sweet dates you may have had elsewhere. Whenever you see it on the menu, order ommu-'ali, a baked desert of rice, milk, raisins and coconut. It tastes delicious when made badly, and is heavenly when made well. Cakes and pastries are also easy to find, but must take second place to fresh fruit or ommu-'ali.

  Tourist hotels often neglect to serve many Egyptian deserts, but should you see them offered, you must try baklawa, a many layered pastry stuffed with nuts and honey; an alternative is atayeef, a deepfried pastry with either sweet or cheese filling, served principally during Ramadan. Mahallabiyah is a fairly bland pudding of rice and milk garnished with nuts.