Around the World in 18 Sleuths
Traveling in my armchair through detective fiction, songs, movies, food, and crafts
Egypt Armchair Travel Diary
Do you include cemeteries into your sightseeing schedules when you’re traveling or am I weird? (well, … 😂) I paid tribute to one of my favorite singers at Montmartre Cemetery when I was in Paris in the before times. I had no trouble locating Dalida’s graveside. Impressive, isn’t it? I’ve always wanted to cover one…
Cats were important to ancient Egyptian culture. There’s a huge number of cat-shaped decorations and even cat mummies that were found during expeditions and excavations. Many deities were depicted as cats, cats were thought to protect the Pharaohs, not least because they killed venomous snakes. I wish I had a cat (and I can’t even…
Sweet Country of Mine, “Helwa Ya Baladi”, is Dalida’s 1979 homage to her birthplace, Egypt, sung in arabic. This is the original 7 inch single, which I was extremely lucky to get my hands on at a fleamarket some years ago. Yes, you guessed it, I’m a huge Dalida fan, and I’ve stalked her stomping…
The origins of falafel are controversially debated. Some believe they were invented in Pharaonic Egypt. Well, I don’t know! I’d rather eat than debate falafel to be honest 😎 I tried a recipe for Egyptian falafel that uses fava beans instead of chickpeas. And I also made my first pitas from scratch. A successful experiment…
If you’ve ever been to a larger museum, chances are you’ve seen some kind of Egyptian artifact in there. Notably, the British Museum in London has 100.000 items from Egypt in its collection, the Ägyptisches Museum in Berlin 80.000, the Louvre in Paris has 77.000, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts 45.000, and the Museo…