環球之旅:十大懷古聖地之埃及開羅

Few other countries are so dominated by their capital:For Egyptians to speak of one is to speak of the other. The'Mother of the World'nurtures more than 16 million Egyptians, Arabs, Africans and sundry international hangers-on in a collision of East and West, old and new, African and Arabic. She's overburdened with one of the world's highest population densities, which makes for a seething mass of people, buildings and cacophonous traffic.

很少有其他國家的首都是像開羅這樣佔據着國家大部分的資本：開羅就是埃及的代名詞。對於埃及人來說，兩者的意義是等同的。有“世界母親”之稱的埃及培育了超過1600萬人口，包括埃及人，阿拉伯人，非洲人和其他人種。各種各樣的碰撞在這裏發生，東與西，新與舊，非洲和阿拉伯。最爲世界上人口密度最高的國家，埃及不堪重負，這些造就了這裏複雜的人口、建築以及嘈雜的交通環境。

Cairo has been the heart of Egypt for more than 1000 years. Here the medieval world and the contemporary Western world clash in a confusion of mud-brick houses and towering modern office buildings, of flashy cars and donkey-drawn carts. Cairenes see nothing strange in this. They aren't driven by the Western obsession to update and upgrade. The resulting pervasive sense of timelessness is one of the city's great charms. At the end of the day, it's a city travelers either loveor hate; few come away indifferent.

開羅成爲埃及的心臟已經超過1000年。這裏是的中世紀世界和當代西方世界衝突的集中體現。泥磚屋的混亂和高聳的現代化辦公大樓、遲鈍的驢車和浮華小車都形成鮮明的對比。但在開羅人眼裏，這些都不足爲奇。他們不是癡迷於西方世界的更新和升級。由此普遍產生的永恆感是這個城市的巨大魅力之一。一天下來，要麼喜歡這裏要麼討厭這裏，很少有旅客對這裏的一切無動於衷。

Finding your way about Cairo's vast sprawl is not as difficult as it may seem. Midan Tahrir is at the center. Northeast of Tahrir and centered on Sharia Talaat Harb is Downtown, a bustling commercial district. The city's main train station at Midan Ramses marks Downtown's northernmost extent. Heading east, Downtown ends at Midan Ataba and the old medieval heart of the city known as Islamic Cairo takes over.

尋找你對開羅的巨大張力的方式是並是像看起來那麼困難。塔利爾是在中心。東北塔利爾和伊斯蘭教Talaat哈布爲中心城區，是一個繁華的商業區。全市在Midan拉姆西斯火車站標誌着市區最北端的程度。向東，市區結束於Midan Ataba，這裏是中世界的中心，之後被伊斯蘭開羅接管。

Bordering Downtown to the west is the Nile River, which is obstructed by two sizeable islands. The more central of these, connected directly to Downtown by three bridges, is Gezira, home to the Cairo Tower and the Opera House complex. The west bank of the Nile is less historical and much more residential. The primary districts are Mohandiseen, Agouza, Doqqi and Giza, all of which are light on charm and heavy on concrete. Giza covers by far the largest area of the four, stretching some 20km (12.4mi) west on either side of the long, straight road that ends at the foot of the Pyramids.

與市區接壤的西面是尼羅河，這是兩個相當大的阻礙島。這裏是更加中央的位置，其中三座橋直接連接到市中心，是吉齊拉，也是開羅塔河複雜的開羅歌劇院的地址所在。尼羅河西岸有着更短的歷史和少得多的住宅。主要地區是Mohandiseen，Agouza，Doqqi和吉薩，所有這些都帶着明亮、深層的魅力。吉薩到目前爲止，包括四大領域，在長直路的兩側向西延伸20千米，一直伸展到金字塔的腳下。