“According to legend, King Menes, the first ruler of the first dynasty, united Upper and Lower Egypt in 3100 BC and chose Memphis, two hours south of present-day Cairo, as his capital.” So said guide Nael Girguis, microphone in hand at the front of the bus, shortly after leaving Cairo. In front of him, about fifteen French people, who had signed up for a visit to Egypt’s new administrative capital (NAC for short), looked at each other, surprised, as if to say “are we on the right bus or not”. Nael continued his momentum, resurrecting Luxor, then Alexandria, then Cairo. We’re starting to see where we’re going with this. “In total, Egypt has known no less than 42 capital cities, which are chronicled in the new NAC Capitals Museum,” completing the walkthrough as a prologue.
Meanwhile, as the bus drives east, the view traverses the long history of efforts to build Cairo outside Cairo. After ten kilometers, here comes Heliopolis (Masr El-Gedida in Arabic, or “new Egypt”) and its Haussmannian highways, designed by Baron Empain in the 19th century. At a distance of 20 kilometers, we can see Nasr C
