A Tour of Egypt 19The Red Sea area has beautiful blue-green waters with some
of the best scuba diving in the world. Government efforts for
national parklands are being implemented to protect some
of the more environmentally sensitive areas.
Major Cities
Cairo ( al-Qahirah)
Cairo, known as al-Qahirah in Arabic, throbs and pulsates
with life 24 hours a day! Even those of us who like small-
town living cannot fail to be captivated by her. Teeming with
approximately 7.8 million people in the metropolitan area,
plus 10 million people just outside Cairo. Cairo writhes as
she strains to burst at the seams. The metropolitan area’s
population ranks 16th in the world. For comparison, Cairo
proper has approximately the same population as New
York City or London or Beijing. The population density is
approximately 25,000 persons per square kilometre in
Cairo (more than twice as dense as greater London and two
and-one-half times as dense as New York City, for example).
East and West butt each other face-to-face in modern Cairo.
Few places in the modern world exhibit the inherent clash
between the ancient and modern worlds seen in Cairo.
The Red Sea coast is rugged and scenic. It also has a very good highway.