Egypt : handbook for travellers / edited by K. Baedeker.

Date:
1885-1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Egypt : handbook for travellers / edited by K. Baedeker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Weapons for self-defence are an unnecessary encumbrance. Guns for purposes of sport, see p. 79. Dogs, being regarded by the Muslims as unclean (p. 79), are never touched by them. Their barking is sometimes a source of alarm, especially in country places, but they fortunately never bite. As they are never domesticated in Oriental countries, it is quite useless to attempt to establish friendly relations with them. (11). Hotels. Hospitality. Hotels. The traveller will find good, first-class hotels at Alexandria, Cairo, IsmaTliya, Port Safid, and Suez, kept by Germans, Frenchmen, or Greeks, with European waiters. The charges are generally high, 15-25 fr. per day being charged during the season for board, lodging, and attendance, whether all the meals are partaken of or not. For a prolonged stay a lower rate should be stipulated for in advance. Wine is generally extra. The waiter expects a fee of 2-3 fr. per week, his native assistant 1 y2 fr., and tlie porter about 2 fr. ; for errands in the neighbourhood there is generally a separate tariff. Orientals attract the attention of waiters by clapping their hands, and sometimes with the exclamation*—• lyd webecT (ho, boy !). — Tolerable inns have also sprung up of late years at Tanta, Mansura, Zakazik, Damietta, and at Minyeh and Siut in Upper Egypt. Hospitality. In all other parts of Egypt the traveller who is not provided with tents must apply to the principal natives or officials, or to European merchants for accommodation. The latter are to be met with in every part of the Delta, and will be found most courteous and hospitable. Letters of introduction may be ob- tained without difficulty at Alexandria and Cairo. (12). Cafes. Story-tellers, Musicians, Singers, etc. Euiiopean Cafes are to be found at the towns above mentioned, beer being one of the refreshments they afford (y2 fr. per glass). The beer either comes from Vienna or Gratz, or is made in Cairo by the Societe Genevoise. Arabian Cafes (hahwa) abound everywhere, even in the smallest and dirtiest villages. In the country they usually consist of wooden booths, with a few seats made of plaited palm-twigs (gend), and even in the large towns, like Cairo, they are very small and uninviting. The kahwas arc frequented by the lower classes exclusively. The front generally consists of woodwork with a few open arches. Outside the door runs a mas tab a, or raised seat of stone or brick, two or three feet in height and of about the same width, covered with mats, and there are similar seats on two or three sides of the interior. Coffee is served by the kahwegi at 10 paras per enp (fingdn), and several nargtlehs and shtshehs or gdzehs Baedeker’s Egypt I. 2nd Ed. 2
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