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<br /> The year 2013 is on its way out but are we really planning a blast to ring in the New Year? The good news is – Indians are still undeterred by the falling <keyword id="6355302" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Rupee">rupee</keyword> and looking forward to outbound travel in the coming holidays, just like they did this summer. But the way they travel is definitely changing, according to a senior executive of a Delhi-based <keyword id="6607315" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="OTA">OTA</keyword>. Overseas travel no longer means the ritual rush through <keyword id="6357117" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="bangkok">Bangkok</keyword> or <keyword id="6356662" type="COUNTRY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Singapore">Singapore</keyword> – the global destinations closest to home and perhaps the least expensive. Of course, these places are not yet marked off the list, but the experienced and the well-heeled seem to have caught the travel bug of a different kind.<br />
<br /> <keyword id="1960912" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Offbeat-destinations">Offbeat destinations</keyword> are getting increasingly popular among Indians, says Saurabh Srivastava, vice-president (marketing &amp; product strategy) at ixigo.com, a travel planning site and search engine that aggregates and curates travel information to help consumers.<br />
<br /> “Of the 2.5 million visitors coming to our site month on month, we see some very clear and emerging trends. While the <keyword id="1960914" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Regular-overseas-travellers">regular overseas travellers</keyword> are increasingly looking at offbeat destinations to try out something different, first-timers or those who haven’t ventured outside the country too much, are still looking at <keyword id="1960915" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Popular-destinations">popular destinations</keyword> like Bangkok, Singapore, <keyword id="8695" type="COUNTRY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Malaysia">Malaysia</keyword> and <keyword id="6355478" type="COUNTRY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Australia">Australia</keyword> – the main attractions being <keyword id="6396451" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="beaches">beaches</keyword>, <keyword id="60543" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Water-sports">water sports</keyword> and <keyword id="6368952" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="shopping">shopping</keyword>,” he observes.<br />
<br /> We have talked to a number of <keyword id="722880" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="travel-agencies">travel agencies</keyword> and rounded up 12 out-of-the-ordinary (but up and coming) places that people are closely following (and booking) these holidays. Here is a quick look at each of them with a glimpse of the local flavour and the basic cost per person on a twin-sharing basis. However, costs are only indicative and are bound to change, depending on your <keyword id="472754" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Tour-schedule">tour schedule</keyword>, quality of <keyword id="6358762" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Package">package</keyword>, customisation and service provider. Also, prices may fluctuate as dates get closer.<br />
<br /> Try planning a holiday if you love these destinations too. Just remember, sometimes, the best travel happens farthest from <keyword id="823132" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="80" keywordseo="home-and-away">home and away</keyword> from your everyday ambience. Catch the sun on a <keyword id="1553372" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="foreign-soil">foreign soil</keyword> this New Year and bon voyage!

<b>Want To Vacation Abroad? These 12 Places Are Creating The
Buzz These Holidays</b>

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/napoleon-bonaparte-best-military-commanders-of-all-time-2017-11">Napoleon Bonaparte</a> brought engineers, architects, and scientists when he invaded Egypt.</li><li>In three stages, these "savants" meticulously illustrated the ruins of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/misconceptions-about-ancient-egyptians-mummies-cleopatra-that-are-wrong-experts-12">ancient Egypt</a>.</li></ul><p><a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/napoleon-invasion-russia-moscow-1812-2023-11"><u>General Napoleon Bonaparte</u></a> is remembered as a crusader, tyrant, and initiator of a series of wars.</p><p>But one of his lesser-known offenses — <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/napoleon-egypt-invasion-scientific-breakthroughs-2023-11">abandoning a crew of scholars and scientists in Egypt</a> — led to the unexpected byproduct of formal archaeology as we know it today.</p><p>When the French general invaded Egypt in 1798 — an event depicted somewhat <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/historians-absolutely-hate-ridley-scott-napoleon-movie-2023-11">ahistorically in the Ridley Scott film "Napoleon"</a> — he brought along more than 150 engineers, mathematicians, and naturalists.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/napoleon-invasion-russia-moscow-1812-2023-11">Napoleon</a> wanted these "savants," as scientists were called at the time, to focus on projects that could benefit France, such as purifying water from the Nile River, hops-free beer brewing, and better bread ovens.</p><p>Just a year later, Napoleon secretly returned to France to stage a coup and seize power, leaving his savant squad and 30,000 troops behind. They stayed until defeat forced them to retreat in 1801.</p><p>While the soldiers fought, some of the savants got busy conducting archaeological surveys.</p><h2><strong>The ruins of Upper Egypt wowed one of Napoleon's first savants</strong></h2><div type="image" title="egypt coffin mummy" height="1482" width="2200" msid="107273503" hostid="261" sizebytes="171190"></div><p>"Very few of the scholars were antiquarians, those quintessentially eighteenth-century characters, mostly wealthy, who filled their curiosity cabinets with strange old objects picked up on their travels, barely understanding what they had," Nina Burleigh writes in her book, "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Mirage/n--z6iyUooUC?hl=en&amp;gbpv=1&amp;bsq=original">Mirage</a>," about Napoleon's scientists in Egypt. "Collecting old objects without understanding their use or meaning was a pastime for gentlemen, not a scientific undertaking."</p><p>In short, these men were approaching the exploration of Egypt with a different attitude that was more scientific.</p><p>At the time, many Europeans had heard of the Great Pyramids or the Sphinx, but the <a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-ancient-historical-sites-before-and-after-excavation-2023-8"><u>ancient temples and monuments</u></a> of Upper Egypt were unknown.</p><p>Dominique-Vivant Denon, an artist and writer, accompanied Napoleon's soldiers up the Nile. He wrote about rounding a river bend to suddenly see the ancient temples of Karnak and Luxor rising from the ruins of Thebes.</p><p>"The whole army, suddenly and with one accord, stood in amazement... and clapped their hands with delight," he wrote, according to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/issue/sa/1994/09-01/">Scientific American</a>.</p><div type="image" title="Drawing of the Edfu Temple in Egypt by Vivant Denon showing cracks in the structure and larger towers in the background" height="1601" width="3239" msid="107273505" hostid="261" sizebytes="550012"></div><p>Denon<strong> </strong>returned to France with Napoleon and quickly published a book with his descriptions and drawings, "Travels in Upper and Lower Egypt."</p><p>That was not enough for Denon, though, who pushed for sending more savants to the Nile to document its monuments in greater detail.</p><p>Napoleon approved, and two fresh commissions of savants arrived in Egypt on an archaeological mission in September 1799.</p><h2>Napoleon's savants published a giant encyclopedia of Egypt</h2><p>This crew of young <a target="_blank" rel=" nofollow" href="https://archive.archaeology.org/9905/abstracts/egypt.html"><u>architects and engineers</u></a> made careful drawings and measurements of a large number of ancient structures. Their depictions were so faithful that they preserved inscriptions that have since disappeared, according to Scientific American.</p><p>All these surveys were published in "La Description de l'Egypte," a multi-volume tome that included maps, hundreds of copper engravings, and essays describing what they'd learned about Egypt.</p><p>It divided Egypt into ancient and modern times, and launched the modern vision of ancient Egypt as we know it today.</p><p>"La Description de l'Egypte" was extremely popular. The structures, symbols, and images of ancient Egypt became <a target="_blank" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-5275-9054-0&amp;sa=D&amp;source=docs&amp;ust=1706317695608651&amp;usg=AOvVaw0p4Qi9JWhWWUVqADsqMn0s">fashionable</a> features of European art and architecture.</p><h2>Europe's Egypt obsession led to its first museums of archaeology</h2><div type="image" title="A picture shows the inside of a sarcophagus, in which is placed an ancient Egyptian mummy in good state of conservation , under an ornate cartonnage and a mask representing the deceased's face." height="593" width="1055" msid="107273508" hostid="261" sizebytes="51838"></div><p>Goaded on by Napoleon's savant expeditions, the European fascination with ancient Egypt gave rise to archaeological museums in Europe, beginning with the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.louvre.fr/en/explore/the-palace/the-guardian-of-egyptian-art">Louvre</a> opening the first Egyptian museum in 1827.</p><p>Eventually, this fascination led to the field of Egyptology, which has been a heavy influence in modern archaeology.</p><p>"Napoleon's scholars and engineers are remembered most as men who helped found archaeology as a science," Burleigh writes.</p>

Napoleon stranded a bunch of scientists in Egypt and now we have modern archaeology

<ul class="summary-list"><li>When Napoleon invaded Egypt, he brought dozens of scientists with him.</li><li>Astronomers, mathematicians, and naturalists spent three years studying the country.</li></ul><p>When <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/napoleon-invasion-russia-moscow-1812-2023-11">General Napoleon Bonaparte</a> invaded Egypt in July 1798, he didn't just bring tens of thousands of soldiers, he also recruited over 150 scientists, known as savants, to accompany him.</p><p>They arrived "with the aim of both study and exploitation," according to an <a target="_blank" href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003262312-4/napoleon-savants-description-de-%C3%A9gypte-andrew-shortland"><u>archaeologist</u></a>.</p><p>A little over a month later, on August 23, 1798, the scientific society called the Institut d'Égypte, which still exists today, held its first meeting in a lavish palace in Cairo and appointed Napoleon as its first <a target="_blank" href="https://archive.archaeology.org/9905/abstracts/egypt.html"><u>vice president</u></a>.</p><p>Napoleon wanted to use the country's natural resources, history, and culture for the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-studied-napoleon-tesla-spacex-factory-battlefield-biographer-2023-8">benefit of France</a>. He urged the savants to focus on projects, like improving bread ovens, purifying the Nile's water, and brewing beer without hops.</p><p>The scientists' tasks were made more difficult because the ship carrying much of their surveying and scientific equipment had <a target="_blank" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/986871"><u>sunk</u></a>. Then, after a series of defeats in Egypt, Napoleon returned to France in 1799 and left many of the scientists stranded.</p><p>Despite setbacks, the engineers, mathematicians, naturalists, and others spent nearly three years surveying, documenting, and collecting everything from antiquities to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/curse-tutankhamun-king-tut-pharoah-mummy-tomb-cause-fungi-2023-8">mummified remains</a> to animals largely unknown to the West.</p><p>Their work led to some novel discoveries, helped formalize sciences like archaeology<em>,</em> and spurred an <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/3000-year-old-ancient-city-discovered-egypt-lost-golden-city-2021-4">infatuation with Egypt</a> that's continued ever since.</p><h2>1. The discovery that chemical reactions are reversible</h2><p>Before chemist Claude-Louis Berthollet's realization, the concept that chemical reactions could be reversible wasn't universally accepted.</p><p>However, Berthollet found strong evidence to support the concept while studying the salt deposits in the lakes of the Natron Valley.</p><p>Limestone in the lakes was covered in a naturally occurring salt called natron, which Egyptians used to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/egypt-mummies-did-not-pull-brain-through-nose-2022-12">preserve mummified bodies</a> because it absorbed moisture and dissolved fat.</p><div type="image" title="Crumbling Graeco-Roman remains at Wadi Natron, with only a single wall standing made of tan bricks" height="1682" width="1750" msid="105679568" hostid="261" sizebytes="473714"></div><p>Berthollet observed that the limestone, which contained <a target="_blank" href="https://napoleon.lindahall.org/soda_lakes.shtml"><u>calcium carbonate</u></a>, chemically reacted with salt, aka sodium chloride, to produce natron, made of sodium carbonate.</p><p>In <a target="_blank" href="https://napoleon.lindahall.org/soda_lakes.shtml"><u>laboratory conditions</u></a>, chemists knew that the exact opposite reaction was possible, which led Berthollet to reasonably conclude that chemical reactions were reversible and that heat and different amounts of a substance could determine which way the reaction went.</p><h2>2. A more formal approach to archaeology</h2><p>In Napoleon's time, archaeology wasn't yet a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.thoughtco.com/the-first-archaeologists-167134"><u>formal science</u></a>. Most savants had little experience with artifacts. Sand still buried some temples that had yet to be excavated.</p><p>Dominique-Vivant Denon, an artist and writer, was awed by the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-ancient-historical-sites-before-and-after-excavation-2023-8">ancient monuments</a> he saw. He went back to France with Napoleon and quickly published a book with his descriptions and drawings, "Travels in Upper and Lower Egypt."</p><p>At the time of Napoleon's invasion, travelers had long known of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/archaeologists-mummy-golden-tongue-alexandria-egypt-2021-2">Alexandria</a>, Cairo, and other parts of Lower Egypt. The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/egypt-unveils-restaurant-and-electric-bus-fleet-at-the-great-pyramids-to-lure-tourists-2020-10">Great Pyramids</a> and Sphinx were famous. But Upper Egypt wasn't as well known.</p><p>That changed when the savants arrived. "The whole army, suddenly and with one accord, stood in amazement...and clapped their hands with delight," <a target="_blank" href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-scientific-importance-of-napole/">Denon later wrote</a>.</p><div type="image" title="Drawing of the Edfu Temple in Egypt by Vivant Denon showing cracks in the structure and larger towers in the background" height="1601" width="3239" msid="105679569" hostid="261" sizebytes="550012"></div><p>His drawings and descriptions of the temples and ruins at Thebes, Esna, Edfu, and Karnak proved immensely popular. Many were depicted in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-5275-9054-0"><u>fashionable paintings</u></a> and inspired decor trends.</p><p>Since he'd had to capture everything in <a target="_blank" href="https://archive.archaeology.org/9905/abstracts/egypt.html"><u>short bursts of time</u></a>, Denon had pushed for two commissions of savants to return and better document <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/egypt-best-tourist-sites-luxor-ancient-city-of-thebes-photos-2019-4">the monuments</a>.</p><p>Napoleon's <a target="_blank" href="https://archive.archaeology.org/9905/abstracts/egypt.html"><u>architects and engineers</u></a> made careful drawings and took measurements of a large number of monuments. Others attempted to measure the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pyramid-hidden-rooms-lidar-egypt-sahure-2023-10">pyramids</a>. (<a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/historians-absolutely-hate-ridley-scott-napoleon-movie-2023-11">Napoleon never shot</a> them with cannons, in case you were wondering.)</p><h2>3. Savigny discovered a new way to classify insects</h2><p>When he was back in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/american-moved-to-paris-healthcare-rent-affordability-2023-9">France</a>, Jules-César Savigny needed to organize the 1,500 species of insects he'd brought back. There didn't yet exist a systematic way to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/bees-officially-type-of-fish-california-judges-ruling-endangered-species-2022-6">distinguish one species</a> of moth or butterfly from another. So Savigny invented one.</p><p>It turned out, the mouth parts had <a target="_blank" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/986871"><u>sufficient</u></a> differences to allow Savigny to separate the bugs into species. He pored over the tiny jaws of the insects. He drew over 1,000 images of specimens, some of which were only a centimeter long.</p><p>Just 21 and a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/growing-food-on-mars-like-the-martian-2015-9">botanist</a> by training when he arrived in Egypt, Savigny collected invertebrates like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/forty-six-thousand-year-old-worm-found-siberian-permafrost-brought-back-to-life-2023-7">worms</a>, bees, spiders, snails, and flies. He also took specimens of starfish, coral, and sea urchins.</p><div type="image" title="A number of drawings of arachnids of different types with different parts drawn separately, like eyes and jaws" height="1809" width="2000" msid="105679571" hostid="261" sizebytes="188552"></div><p>Savigny applied the same rigor to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cruise-passenger-said-spider-laid-eggs-in-toe-experts-unlikely-2023-11">arachnids</a>, worms, and other animals that lacked backbones. Some of his classification methods are <a target="_blank" href="https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1171&amp;context=gvjh"><u>still in use</u></a> today.</p><h2>4. The discovery of a new species of crocodile that took 200 years to confirm</h2><p>Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire was convinced there were two species of crocodiles in the Nile.</p><p>Like Savigny, Geoffroy was a prolific collector. While in Egypt, he studied bats, mongooses, tortoises, and more.</p><p>One reason Geoffroy was able to dissect and stuff so many specimens was he had purchased an 11-year-old enslaved boy, whom he trained to help with his work.</p><p>Geoffroy dissected so many different kinds of animals that he started to see patterns between even very different species. It led to his theory of a "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0160932707000804"><u>unity of plan</u></a>" or "unity of composition" a kind of quasi-evolutionary idea that Charles Darwin would reference decades later.</p><p>Geoffroy's <a target="_blank" href="https://arcade.stanford.edu/rofl/ibis-and-crocodile-napoleon%E2%80%99s-egyptian-campaign-and-evolutionary-theory-france-1801%E2%80%931835"><u>theories</u></a> often irritated his fellow naturalists. That includes when he attempted to demonstrate a mummified crocodile he'd taken from Egypt represented a separate species.</p><div type="image" title="A drawing of two crocodiles, one full size and smaller one in front" height="1000" width="3501" msid="105679573" hostid="261" sizebytes="1424952"></div><p>Its jaw was completely different from the Nile crocodile, Geoffroy said. Plus, it was less aggressive. One had been on display in Paris. "It took pleasure in being patted; and anyone might, without the least danger, open its mouth, and place his hand between its teeth," <a target="_blank" href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/New_Monthly_Magazine_and_Humorist/R8g2AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&amp;gbpv=1&amp;dq=Geoffroy+Saint-Hilaire+crocodile+suchus&amp;pg=PA158&amp;printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&amp;q=Geoffroy%20Saint-Hilaire%20crocodile%20suchus&amp;f=false"><u>according</u></a> to one account.</p><p>His colleagues said he was wrong about there being a separate species of crocodile. However, over 200 years later, biologist Evon Hekkala and a team of researchers <a target="_blank" href="https://news.fordham.edu/science/new-croc-discovered-by-fordham-biologist/"><u>analyzed the DNA of modern crocodiles</u></a> and some of Geoffroy's mummies to confirm his suspicions, and show two separate species swam in the Nile: Crocodylus niloticus and Crocodylus suchus.</p><h2>5. The advent of ophthalmology</h2><div type="image" title="An engraving of the house of Osman Bey with elaborate columns, several levels, a brick wall, and people and a camel and horses in the courtyard" height="1500" width="2114" msid="105679574" hostid="261" sizebytes="595250"></div><p>The French physicians who accompanied Napoleon encountered unfamiliar diseases in Egpyt. One disease they brought back with them to Europe was something they called <a target="_blank" href="https://www.utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/cbmh.27.2.321"><u>Egyptian ophthalmia</u></a>, which is now known as trachoma and can cause itchy, swollen eyes and lead to blindness.</p><p>It became so prevalent that physicians all over Europe started studying the disease. Geoffroy, who contracted it, was "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0160932707000804"><u>totally blind" for weeks,</u></a> he wrote.</p><p>Up to that point, ophthalmology wasn't a formalized branch of scientific research, but the race to find the origin of this disease laid the groundwork for its creation.</p><p>Eventually, British physician <a target="_blank" href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6359513/"><u>John Vetch</u></a> realized the pus from the infected eye could spread the disease. Knowing it was contagious, Vetch developed methods of prevention and treatment that are considered milestones in the history of ophthalmology.</p><h2>6. The Rosetta Stone helped Champollion discover how to decipher hieroglyphs</h2><p>For centuries, no one could read hieroglyphs, the pictorial writing that covered many Egyptian monuments. </p><p>When the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/disputed-ancient-artifacts-2011-7">French found the Rosetta Stone</a> during their invasion, they knew it could serve as a kind of translation key.</p><p>Deciphering hieroglyphs would allow scholars to read the writing on scores of other Ancient Egyptian texts and monuments.</p><p>In 1801, the British were negotiating for France's surrender. One stipulation was that the British would take the <a target="_blank" href="https://archive.archaeology.org/9905/abstracts/egypt.html"><u>antiquities and the savants' collections</u></a>, which included the Rosetta Stone.</p><p>Geoffroy <a target="_blank" href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Mirage/n--z6iyUooUC?hl=en&amp;gbpv=1&amp;dq=mirage+napoleon%27s+scientists+and+the+unveiling+of+egypt&amp;printsec=frontcover">told the British</a> that the savants would "destroy our property, we will disperse it in the Libyan sands, or we will throw it into the sea" before they handed it over. They were allowed to keep their notes and collections.</p><div type="image" title="A man and woman in 1930s clothing stand in front of and behind the Rosetta Stone" height="1500" width="1914" msid="105679576" hostid="261" sizebytes="322900"></div><p>Three texts were inscribed on the stone, in Egyptian hieroglyphs, an Egyptian cursive script derived from hieroglyphs, and Ancient Greek. Since the three were identical, the Greek writing could help researchers decipher the hieroglyphs.</p><p>It took two decades for French scholar Jean-François Champollion to translate them. Champollion made use of a <a target="_blank" href="https://napoleon.lindahall.org/rosetta_stone.shtml"><u>copy</u></a> the French savants had taken of the slab and published.</p><p>The Rosetta Stone is currently in the British Museum. Egypt has been trying to get it back, calling it a "spoil of war."</p><h2>7. The<em> </em>invention of an engraving machine that sped up the printing process</h2><p>When the savants returned to France, many worked on compiling the multi-volume book "Description de l'Égypte," which amounted to 7,000 pages encompassing what they'd seen and studied in Egypt.</p><p>To save some of the laborious work of engraving, engineer Nicolas-Jacques Conté created a <a target="_blank" href="https://napoleon.lindahall.org/engraving.shtml"><u>machine</u></a> that automated part of the process.</p><p>To print the hundreds of illustrations, engravers first had to transfer them to <a target="_blank" href="https://archive.archaeology.org/9905/abstracts/egypt.html"><u>copper plates</u></a>.</p><div type="image" title="A drawing of a domed mosque and tall tower in Cairo circa 1798" height="1500" width="2115" msid="105679580" hostid="261" sizebytes="507550"></div><p>For plates with monuments, Conté's machine could <a target="_blank" href="https://archive.archaeology.org/9905/abstracts/egypt.html"><u>engrave the sky</u></a> in the background. The engraver could program it to create clouds as well.</p><p>What originally would've taken six to eight months could be completed in just a few days.</p><p>It was still a massive undertaking and considered to be the most ambitious work of France in the early 19th Century. The first volume wasn't printed until <a target="_blank" href="https://academic.oup.com/oaj/article/39/2/243/2223028"><u>1809</u></a>. The final volume came out in the late 1820s, nearly a decade after <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/napoleon/napoleon-and-josephine/who-was-napoleon.html"><u>Napoloen's death</u></a>.</p>

7 scientific breakthroughs that resulted from Napoleon's invasion of Egypt

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Humans have long been fascinated by the winter solstice.</li><li>Many cultures found ways to incorporate it in their important sites. </li></ul><p>The winter solstice is the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sad-seasonal-affective-disorder-depression-winter-what-to-do-2017-11">longest night of the year</a>.</p><p>It's the time when the planet is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/when-is-winter-solstice-shortest-day-year-december-2018-12">tilted furthest away</a> from the sun, but also marks the time when the days start <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-equinox-and-solstice-work-in-simple-animation-2020-9">getting longer</a>.</p><p>For millennia, people have looked out for that somewhat mystical day, which often symbolizes the beginning of winter or a time of rebirth. </p><p>Archaeologists have found many ancient sites that line up with the winter solstice sun. But the purpose of these sites often remains shrouded in mystery. </p><p>Here are 11 sites that line up with the winter solstice, and what experts think about them.</p><h2>Nazca Lines, <strong>southeast of Lima, </strong>Peru</h2><div type="image" title="An aerial photo shows the shape of a condor drawn into the Atacama desert." height="1333" width="1778" msid="96298690" hostid="261"></div><p>Scientists who studied the Nazca lines in the 1940s noticed one of them lined up perfectly with the southern hemisphere sunset on July 21. </p><p>Paul Kosok and Maria Reiche, who studied the phenomenon, thought this could mean the mysterious lines could serve as a sort of astronomical calendar. </p><p>That theory has <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/south-america/nazca-lines#:~:text=More%20recent%20research%20suggested%20that,to%20bring%20much%2Dneeded%20rain.">since been discredited</a>, and we still don't know what practical or spiritual purpose these lines may have served. But the idea remains a draw for tourists around the world.  </p><h2>Newgrange, County Meath, Ireland</h2><div type="image" title="Peopel are sat on the floor or looking up at the sky. In the background, Newgrange appears as circular structure made of rocks surmounted by grass" height="1307" width="1742" msid="96298692" hostid="261"></div><p>Found 26 miles north of Dublin, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/want-to-witness-winter-solstice-at-newgrange-you-havent-missed-it-10866174">Newgrange</a>, a massive circular structure, is about 5000 years old. That makes it older than Stonehenge and the pyramids. </p><p>"There are a number of Neolithic monuments that have solstice or equinox orientations at the heart of their architecture, indicating that these alignments were core to their belief system," said Jennifer Wexler, curator of the World of Stonehenge exhibit at the British Museum, in an email to Insider.</p><p>Newgrange is one of the earliest of these monuments that aligns with the winter solstice, and may have inspired Stonehenge, she said. They were generally built by early farmers, she said.</p><p>"Key to their survival was understanding important moments in the seasonal cycle and the cycle of the sun, as this would dictate their farming year as well become central to their religious beliefs," she said.</p><p>Above the entrance at Newgrange, a slab of rock placed horizontally creates the so-called roof box, which can be seen below. </p><div type="image" title="A picture shows the entrance of Newgrange. An opening peers between monolythic walls of grey stone stacked on top of each other. In fron of the opening is a large boulder carved with celtic shapes." height="1325" width="1766" msid="96298694" hostid="261"></div><p>On the winter solstice, light filters through this tiny opening and creates a bright beam that travel through a 62-foot passageway to an inner chamber.</p><p>The beam spreads to finally illuminate the whole chamber. </p><p>There's little doubt that this building was made to mark the solstice. Its impressive architecture seems entirely directed towards capturing that singular beam of light.</p><p>But because this was built in prehistoric times, there's no written record of what it may have been used for. It's possible it was only used to mark the time, but <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/17/science/irish-archaeology-incest-tomb.html">scientists suspect</a> it may have had a spiritual or ritual significance.</p><div type="image" title="A picture shows the inside of the Newgrange monument. Narrow stone corridors are lined with drawings of animals." height="2530" width="2000" msid="96298696" hostid="261"></div><h2>Sun temple, Machu Picchu, Peru</h2><div type="image" title="Machu Pichu tourist" height="1334" width="1778" msid="96298698" hostid="261"></div><p>One of the most famous examples of ancient architecture lining up with the winter solstice is in Machu Picchu, Peru. </p><p>On June 21, the winter solstice in the southern hemispheres a beam of light <a href="https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20110720-what-most-people-miss-at-machu-picchu">shines through a window</a> on a temple celebrating the sun god, forming a rectangular shape on a slab of granite. </p><p>Machu Picchu also hosts another, perhaps slightly less well known, monument to the December solstice, called <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/things-you-never-knew-about-machu-picchu-2017-2">Intimachay or "the cave of the Sun".</a> The sun shines onto the back wall of this structure for 10 days before and after the solstice. </p><h2>Temple of Karnak, Luxor, Egypt</h2><div type="image" title="The sun peers through two massive walls that line the Temple of Karnak during the alignment of the winter solstice sunrise to the temple in the southern Egyptian city of Luxor on December 20, 2014." height="2658" width="3551" msid="96298699" hostid="261"></div><p>Tourists flock to the Temple of Karnak to watch the winter solstice rise in alignment with the main axis of the temple. </p><p>The temple was built in Luxor more than 4,000 years ago. It was the main place of worship the sun god Amun-Ra. </p><p>When it was originally designed, the sun would have been perfectly aligned with the temple's axis, but <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322715030_The_Karnak_Temple_and_the_Motion_of_the_Earth's_Axis">one study</a> said that the alignment has since been knocked out of whack by half a degree due to the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/earths-shortest-day-chandler-wobble-recorded-2022-159-milliseconds-clock-8">Earth's axis wobbling</a>. </p><h2>An ancient tomb in Qubbet el-Hawa, Egypt, revealed this year </h2><div type="image" title="A tomb in Qubbet el-Hawa is shown in Winter. The light filtering into the tomb seems to line up with the back of the tomb." height="1499" width="1999" msid="96298700" hostid="261"></div><p>A tomb found in the necropolis of Qubet el-Hawa in Egypt may be the <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/971832">oldest tomb</a> oriented to the winter solstice, scientists said in November. </p><p>Light filters into tomb, seen above and his the back on the day of the winter solstice. When it was built in around 1830 BC, a statue of the local governor would have been placed in the alcove. </p><p>"The alignment of tomb 33 in Qubbet el-Hawa was INTENTIONAL and it was full of religious significance," Alejandro Jiménez-Serrano, director of Qubbet el-Hawa Project from the University of Jaén, Spain, told Insider in an email. </p><p>"From the winter solstice the days are longer, which was a metaphor of the rebirth of the deceased," he said. </p><h2>Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, US</h2><div type="image" title="An aerial view of Pueblo Bonito shows the ruins of a semi circular settlement." height="1393" width="1857" msid="96298701" hostid="261"></div><p>This settlement, called Pueblo Bonito, seems to have been constructed in line with astronomical landmarks in order to maximise solar heating during the year. </p><p>Built between 850 and 1150 by ancestral Puebloan peoples, it was a massive house.</p><p>Two second-story windows on the southeast end of the building have attracted scrutiny over the years. Light only shines through this window during eight weeks of the year, in the <a href="https://www2.hao.ucar.edu/education/prehistoric-southwest/solstice-window">lead-up to the winter solstice</a>.</p><p>Though it is possible this is a coincidence, scientists think this could have given people in the house a lead-up to prepare for the winter months. </p><h2>Hovenweep Castle, southeastern Utah, US</h2><div type="image" title="Hovenweep castle ruins are shown bathed in bright orange sunset light set against a stormy sky" height="1269" width="1692" msid="96298702" hostid="261"></div><p>The Hovenweep castle was an ancestral Puebloan settlement, inhabited until the early 14th century. </p><p><a href="https://www2.hao.ucar.edu/education/prehistoric-southwest/hovenweep-castle#fig3">It is thought</a> that the openings on the face of the castle would line up with the equinox and winter-and-summer-solstice sun to allow Puebloans to trace a calendar as the light shone on the wall. </p><h2>Sun daggers, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, US</h2><div type="image" title="A slice of light cuts through a spiral petroglyph tucked away in sandstone." height="1499" width="1999" msid="96298703" hostid="261"></div><p>The ancestral Puebloan people, who lived in the US southwest <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/swscience/ancestral-puebloan.htm#:~:text=Cultural%20traits%20common%20to%20the,kivas%20(subterranean%20ceremonial%20chambers).">until</a> the coming of Spanish explorers in 1540, kept a close eye on the sun because they relied heavily on agriculture for their food.</p><p>To spot the change in seasons, it's possible they marked where these <a href="https://www2.hao.ucar.edu/education/prehistoric-southwest/sun-dagger">"sun daggers"</a> appeared on the rocks by drawing petroglyphs, specific shapes, in the rock.</p><p>The most famous sun dagger is found in Fajada Butte in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico.</p><p>During the summer solstice, as seen above, a sun dagger splits a spiral glyph through the middle. During the winter solstice, two daggers appear, which bracket the spiral perfectly, as can be seen in the presentation below. </p><p>There has been <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/2012.10834.pdf#:~:text=A%20'sun%20dagger'%20is%20a,et%20al.%2C%201979).">some debate</a> about whether these carvings were intentionally placed there or they were drawn at random and some just happened to be lined up with the solstice light. </p><h2>Mnajdra megalithic temple, Malta</h2><div type="image" title="A temple in Malta is seen pictured from the inside." height="2304" width="3072" msid="96298706" hostid="261"></div><p>Seven megalithic temples found on the islands of Malta and Gozo in the Mediterranean are world heritage sites. These prehistoric monumental buildings were built between 4,000 BC and 3,000 BC.</p><p>One of these temples, called Mnajdra, is suspiciously aligned with the winter and summer solstice. However, scientists are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212054822000182">still debating</a> whether this was by design. </p><h2>Stonehenge, southwest England</h2><div type="image" title="Stonehenge." height="851" width="1134" msid="96298707" hostid="261"></div><p>Perhaps the most iconic solstice site, people swarm to witness the sun lining up with the stones in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stonehenge-origins-purpose-built-in-wales-moved-to-england-2021-2">Stonehenge</a> on England's Salisbury Plain. </p><p>"Stonehenge was built to align with the sun on the solstices," Wexler, the Stonehenge expert, told Insider. </p><p>"The winter solstice had particular resonance, a crucial time when the sun's return hung in the balance. Ideas of rebirth were intertwined with the celebrations just as they are with our own mid-winter celebrations," she said.</p><p>Again, because there is no written record of that time, we don't know exactly what Stonehenge was for. </p><p>But evidence suggests at least, that it was a site that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-stonehenge-was-built-2012-7">brought together</a> people from all over the country, who met over the winter months to have lavish feasts and build the massive stone structure, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ancient-poop-gives-clues-about-stonehenge-feast-menu-4500-years-ago-2022-5">Insider previously reported.</a></p><div type="image" title="People celebrating the summer soltice in Stonehenge" height="1333" width="1777" msid="96298708" hostid="261"></div><h2>Woodhenge, Durrington Walls, England</h2><div type="image" title="The big wooden structure in Durrington walls" height="1500" width="2000" msid="96298709" hostid="261"></div><p>These Stonehenge feasts would have taken place in the nearby human settlement in Durrington Walls. </p><p>The settlement was made up of hundreds of wood and chalk houses surrounded by three huge ceremonial structures out of wood pillars.</p><p>"To anybody at that time, Durrington Walls would've looked more impressive than Stonehenge," Michael Parker Pearson, a lead archaeologist on the Durrington Walls excavation site and an author of the study, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ancient-poop-gives-clues-about-stonehenge-feast-menu-4500-years-ago-2022-5">previously told Insider</a>.</p><div type="image" title="An annotated map shows the location of Stonehenge as compared to Durrington Walls" height="983" width="1966" msid="96298710" hostid="261"></div> "Like Stonehenge, Woodhenge and Durrington were aligned with the solstices," Wexley said. <p>"People gathered there from long distances in midwinter for feasting and celebrations. Pilgrims embarked on a choreographed procession to Stonehenge, starting at Durrington and Woodhenge at midwinter's dawn, then by boat along the River Avon, arriving at Stonehenge for sunset," she said.</p>

11 ancient sites that are mysteriously aligned with the sun on the winter solstice, in photos.

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11954586" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="egypt" source="Orion">Egypt</keyword> on Thursday revealed an ancient road that was buried in sand for thousands of years.</li><li>The "Avenue of the Sphinxes" connects two temples in the city of Luxor.</li></ul><p>Egypt on Thursday revealed an ancient road that was buried in sand for thousands of years.</p><p>Dubbed the "Avenue of the Sphinxes," the 3,000-year-old promenade connects the Luxor and Karnak temples and is lined with statues of rams and sphinxes, the Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/science-africa-middle-east-egypt-nile-river-1beac6181f4e599331510557c14343fc?utm_medium=AP&amp;utm_campaign=SocialFlow&amp;utm_source=Twitter">reported</a>.</p><p>The site in southern Egypt has been excavated for the last 50 years, the report said, and stretches for a few miles near the bank of the Nile River.</p><p>A lavish unveiling celebration on Thursday evening was equipped with fireworks, dancing, and music. A <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL36V1FFhhU">video</a> from the country's Ministry of <keyword id="11894427" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="tourism" source="Orion">Tourism</keyword> showed a parade with multiple choreographed dances as attendees watched.</p><div type="image" title="Visitors walk past the statues of the Ancient Egyptian New Kingdom Pharaoh Ramses II (1303-1213 BC) at night at the Temple of Luxoron November 25, 2021 in Luxor, Egypt." height="3840" width="5119" msid="87938441" hostid="261"></div><p>President Abdel Fatah el-Sissi was in attendence, the AP said.</p><p>It's the second time this year that Egyptian authorities have organized a grand celebration to honor its ancient history.</p><p>In April, 22 mummies were paraded through the streets of Cairo in a motorcade that featured music, costumes, and lights, CBS <keyword id="11893589" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news" source="Orion">News</keyword> <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mummies-parade-egypt-royal-golden-pharaohs-parade-ancient-kings-and-queens/">reported</a> at the time.</p><p>The festivities are Egypt's latest attempt to revive its tourism sector, which has been hit by a decade of political instability and now the COVID-19 pandemic, the AP said.</p>

Egypt revealed an 'Avenue of the Sphinxes' that was buried in sand for thousands of years

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>Egypt's most famous site is t</strong><strong>he<span> </span><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/egypt-pyramids-of-giza-look-like-2019-1">Great Pyramid of Giza, </a>the only one of the Seven Wonders of the World still standing and one of the<span> </span><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/wonders-of-the-world">new seven wonders of the world</a>, introduced in 2007.</strong></li><li><strong>On a recent trip to Egypt, I found that the city of Luxor, once the ancient capital of Thebes and often called the world's "<a href="https://www.lonelyplanet.com/egypt/nile-valley/luxor">largest open-air museum</a>," held far more fascinating ancient Egyptian ruins, burial sites, temples, and hieroglyphs than Giza.</strong></li><li><strong>Luxor is home to the Valley of the Kings, a valley of over 60 rock-cut royal tombs filled with colorful hieroglyphs and cave paintings, the temple of Karnak, a complex built over the course of 1,500 years, and dozens of other tombs, temples, and statues.</strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories</a>.</strong></li></ul><p>Lots of tourists think of Egypt as a stop-over: Spend a night in Cairo, get up early, check the Great Pyramid of Giza off the bucket list, and head to the next destination. What a mistake they make. </p><p>Though Egypt's most famous site dating back to ancient times is the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/egypt-pyramids-of-giza-look-like-2019-1">Great Pyramid of Giza</a>, the sights in Egypt's south are perhaps even more awe-inspiring. In particular, I'm talking about those in the city of Luxor.</p><p>Luxor is often called the world's "<a href="https://www.lonelyplanet.com/egypt/nile-valley/luxor">largest open-air museum</a>." The city sits on what was once the ancient city of Thebes, the capital of unified Egypt for hundreds of years. At the height of Egypt's powers, it was world's center of art, business, and culture. </p><p>This past December, I visited Luxor over the course of two days, far too short a time to experience it all, and found it to be the highlight of my month in the country.</p><p>Here's what it was like.</p>

Forget about the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx: I spent a month in Egypt, and the most spectacular site I visited was the ancient city of Thebes

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>As a city of more than 20 million people, Cairo is the <a href="https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/15-biggest-cities-in-africa.html">most populous city in the Middle East</a>. It has a reputation as a busy, crowded, and polluted city with few reasons for tourists to visit.</li><li>Business Insider international correspondent Harrison Jacobs and producer Annie Zheng <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cairo-most-polluted-city-in-the-world-americans-air-pollution-2018-11">visited Cairo</a> in December expecting it to be little more than a stopover before visiting <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/egypt">Egypt's</a> bucket-list attractions like the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/great-pyramid-giza-egypt-2019-2">Pyramids of Giza</a>, the Sphinx, and the temples of Luxor and Karnak.</li><li>After spending two weeks exploring the Cairo's interesting food, vibrant culture, and nonstop energy, they fell in love with the city. Future visitors ought to make time to explore the Egypt of today, not just the Egypt of 5,000 years ago.</li></ul><p>As a city of more than 20 million people, Cairo is the<span> </span><a href="https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/15-biggest-cities-in-africa.html">most populous city in the Middle East</a><span> </span>and the second most populous in Africa. It feels like it.</p><p>Every highway, road, and alleyway is clogged with cars and motorbikes spewing fumes into the air. The honking never stops: long honks, short beeps, and everything in between. The cars, and their drivers, are in every kind of conversation imaginable. Other noises proliferate, from street-side shouts to the rumble of construction.</p><p>While those elements likely drive most tourists out of the city as fast as they come in, visitors willing to brave Cairo's idiosyncrasies will find a colorful city full of mad energy. The alleyways teem with shops, restaurants, and cafes and around every corner there's another Egyptian cracking a joke either with or at you. </p><p>Though Egypt's tourism industry, and economy at large, has taken a major hit since the 2011 Arab Spring Revolution, a new entrepreneurial generation is making the city its own, opening new restaurant concepts and starting new businesses.  </p><p>I (Harrison, here!) spent two weeks in the city in December, along with my <keyword id="6354692" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Travel">travel</keyword> partner and Business Insider's international producer, Annie Zheng. </p><p>Here's what it was like to visit Cairo.</p>

Travel guides will tell you to skip Cairo, but the Egyptian capital is a fascinating city bursting with amazing food and culture

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>While <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/egypt">Egypt's</a> best known sites are the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/downside-to-visiting-pyramids-of-giza-in-egypt-2019-1">Great Pyramids of Giza</a> -<span> </span>the only one of the Seven Wonders of the World still standing - and the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, those bucket-list destinations can be crowded and give only a small picture of ancient Egyptian society.</strong></li><li><strong>An Egyptian local told me, upon arriving in the southern town of Aswan, that if I wanted to really get to know ancient Egyptian culture, I should visit the ruins of Abu, l<strong>ocated on the small, quiet Elephantine Island in the middle of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/egypt-economy-egyptians-entrepreneurial-creative-2019-1">Nile River</a>.</strong></strong></li><li><strong>Few tourists take the time to visit the site, making <strong>Abu a treat to explore. Its fascinating ruins</strong> are that of an ancient border town and military stronghold, showing what life was like during ancient Egypt all the way through the ancient Greek and Roman empires.</strong></li></ul><p>While most tourists visit Egypt to cross the Great Pyramid of Giza off their bucket list, the country is jam-packed with historical monuments, ancient temples, and artifacts.</p><p>After spending a month in the country this past December, I was surprised to find that the highlight of my visit wasn't the Great Pyramid, or even the<span> Luxor and Karnak temples, the country's most famous ancient temples. Instead, it was ancient ruins near Egypt's southern border that I didn't even know existed before I got there.</span></p><p><span>After I visited the pyramids in Giza, I took an overnight train to Aswan, a small town in Upper Egypt that serves as a jumping off point for tours up the Nile River. I was picked up at the train station by my tour guide, a man named Michael. </span></p><p><span>After a day of sightseeing around the town, he took me on a felucca, a small wooden boat, across the Nile River to Elephantine Island, where he told me I'd be staying. From far away, the island doesn't look like much. There's a Movenpick Resort on one end and a Nubian village on the other. But, after he got me settled in the Nubian bed and breakfast, he took me out to the balcony and pointed towards the tip of the island.</span></p><p><span>"When you have free time tomorrow," he said. "Walk down there. Trust me, you won't regret it." </span></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><span>The next day, I turned out to have <em>a lot</em> of free time, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/egypt-tourism-industry-leaves-tourists-frustrated-2018-12">after a snafu with the Nile cruise ship</a> I was supposed to be on. I decided to take advantage and headed where Michael had directed me.</span></p><p><span>I stumbled past an unmanned gate into what looked like ruins that were still mid-excavation. As I wandered through, I couldn't help get the feeling of an archaeologist still surveying the field for new discoveries. </span></p><p><span>The ruins turned out to be that of Abu, sometimes called Yebu, which means ivory or elephant in Egyptian. The settlement of Abu has existed since prehistoric times and was continually inhabited up until the Middle Ages.</span></p><p><span>After I'd walked through the area for a few minutes, a tour guide on the site flagged me down to point me in the direction of the ticket booth. Then he offered to give me a tour. I was glad I took him up on it.</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p>As the guide explained, Abu is fascinating for a few reasons.</p><p>While the Valley of the Kings and the Pyramids are structures dedicated to the deceased, Abu was a thriving town for thousands of years. It provides a real window into what Egyptian society was like through the ages.</p><p>For a long time, Abu marked the border between the kingdom of Egypt and the kingdom of Nubia. It served as a major military fort for the Egyptians and experts believe it served as a major trading center for ivory, hence its name.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">The god Khnum, depicted as a man with a ram's head, is all over the town.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The ruins look to be mid-excavation because they are. The <span>German Archaeological Institute <a href="https://www.bluffton.edu/homepages/facstaff/sullivanm/egypt/aswan/satet.html">began excavating Abu in 1969 </a>and it continues to do so to this day. </span></p><p>While much of the ancient town has been knocked down by the Ottomans and other empires, it was never built over because of its isolated position on the island. That means much of the materials are still mostly intact and can be reassembled into the various temples and structures that once stood. </p><p>The town <a href="https://www.egypttoursplus.com/elephantine-island/">was an important religious center as well</a>. In ancient Egypt, locals believed that Khnum, the god that controlled the Nile River, lived on the island. The largest structure in the town is the reconstructed <span>Temple of Khnum, built during the Old Kingdom and then rebuilt when the Greeks controlled Egypt during the Ptolemaic dynasties.</span></p><p>The god Khnum, depicted as a man with a ram's head, is all over the town.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">Historians believe the indent in this wall exists because that is where people placed their head when they prayed.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>There are nooks and crannies to explore throughout the town at your leisure. Whereas top sites like the Luxor and Karnak Temples and the Pyramids were swarming with tourists when I visited, Abu was deserted. The tour guide and I were the only ones in the entire complex.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>That left plenty of time for him to point out interesting phenomena that I would have never noticed otherwise, like this indent in the wall of one of the temples in the below photo.</p><p>According to the guide, historians believe the indent exists because that is where people placed their head when they prayed.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The guide said that this reconstructed seating area was once part of an ancient bathhouse. </p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">This reconstructed seating area was once part of an ancient bathhouse.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>And this shrine was made from a single block of granite. Much of the ruins and temples near Aswan are made of granite due to the ubiquity of the stone in the area. Elephantine Island, on which Abu is located, had several ancient granite quarries.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">A shrine made from a single block of granite.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>As the town was inhabited for thousands of years, there are temples, carvings, and monuments to the kings and gods of ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and ancient Rome.</p><p>While Romans worshipped their own gods, and then later brought Christianity, the ancient Greeks paid tribute to Egyptian gods, likely to make it easier to rule the locals. For example, this <a href="http://www.travelcenturies.com/depdetails.aspx?ID=514&amp;Name=The_Temple_of_Khnum,_Aswan">stone gateway was built by Alexander IV</a>, the son of Alexander the Great, to honor and worship Khnum.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">This stone gateway was built by Alexander IV, the son of Alexander the Great, to honor and worship Khnum.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The most interesting part to me were the Nilometers, ancient devices that were <a href="https://www.egypttoursplus.com/elephantine-island/">used to measure the annual floods</a> of the Nile. So far, archaeologists<a href="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/05/160517-nilometer-discovered-ancient-egypt-nile-river-archaeology/"> have only uncovered around a dozen</a> in Egypt. Two of them are on Elephantine Island.</p><p>While they vary somewhat in structure, this Nilometer is a rectangular staircase that leads down to the river. When the river flooded, water rushed into the passageway. The severity of the flood was determined by the scales built or carved into the walls.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">This Nilometer, which measured annual floods of the Nile, is a rectangular staircase that leads down to the river.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The Nilometer was used throughout the Egyptian, Greek, and Roman periods. Each civilization used its own measuring method, evidenced by the differing limestone and rock measurement carvings along the wall. They served a very important purpose.</p><p><span>"During the time of the pharaohs, the nilometer was used to compute the levy of taxes, and this was also likely the case during the Hellenistic period," Robert Littman, an archaeologist at the University of Hawaii, <a href="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/05/160517-nilometer-discovered-ancient-egypt-nile-river-archaeology/">told National Geographic</a>. </span></p><p><span>"If the water level indicated there would be a strong harvest, taxes would be higher."</span></p><p><span>After two hours meandering through the deserted town, I was ready to leave. But I couldn't have been happier that I took the time to explore.</span></p><p><span>Often times, the best tourist experiences are the ones you didn't plan and had no expectations for.</span></p><ul class="read-more-links"><li><strong>More about visiting Egypt from Business Insider's international correspondent:</strong></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/egypt-tourism-industry-leaves-tourists-frustrated-2018-12" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">I'm convinced Egypt could be the world's greatest tourist destination if it weren't for a troubling pattern</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/egyptair-boeing-777-economy-class-flight-review-2019-1" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">A flight on EgyptAir showed me even the most basic flag carrier can be better than American airlines</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/egypt-pyramids-of-giza-look-like-2019-1" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">Staying in the shadow of Egypt's iconic pyramids is more surreal than any photos can show</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/overnight-sleeper-first-class-train-egypt-2019-1" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">I took a 12-hour overnight first-class sleeper train through the heart of Egypt, and it's an experience I won't forget anytime soon</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cairo-most-polluted-city-in-the-world-americans-air-pollution-2018-11" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">I visited what's possibly the world's most polluted city, and realized Americans have no idea how good they have it</a></li></ul>      <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boogers-snot-eat-nose-unhealthy-science-virus-bacteria-2019-1">There are serious health reasons why you shouldn't eat your boogers</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Forget the Pyramids of Giza. A local tipped me off to a little-known site of ancient ruins that's equally fascinating and never crowded

<p><span><strong><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">Egypt can be a breathtaking and frustrating place to visit.</p></div><p></p></div></div></strong></span></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><span><span>After years of instability, tourists are starting to come back to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/egypt">Egypt</a>, a country that was once one of the premier destinations in the world, with gorgeous beaches, breathtaking desert landscapes, </span></span>arguably, the greatest collection of ruins, temples, and artifacts in the world.</li><li>I decided to make the trip to Egypt this year after dreaming of visiting since I was a kid.</li><li>While the historical sights and scenery lived up to expectations, I found myself constantly frustrated by the feeling that I'd been taken advantage of by guides,<span> that tour operators were cutting corners, or that people were outright lying to me. </span></li></ul><p><span>It had long been a dream of mine to visit Egypt. </span><span></span></p><p><span>Sitting on the Mediterranean, the country is blessed with gorgeous beaches, breathtaking desert landscapes, a pleasant, warm winter climate, and, arguably, the greatest collection of ruins, temples, and artifacts in the world.</span></p><p><span>But after the 2011 Arab Spring Revolution, the country seemed unstable and unsafe. Political turmoil, violence, and terror attacks put a visit to Egypt on the back burner for me. I wasn't the only one. </span><span></span></p><p><span>In 2010, Egypt attracted 14.7 million visitors, the tourism industry employed <a href="http://www.hospitalitynewsmag.com/en/event/the-revival-of-egypts-tourism-industry/">around 12%</a> of the country's workforce, and made up a tenth of its GDP. In 2011, the year of the revolution, that number dropped to <a href="http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/3/12/38306/Business/Economy/Egypt-tourist-numbers-fell-a-third-in--Official-st.aspx">10 million</a>. By 2014, revenue for Egypt's <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/29/egypt-tourism-revenue-falls-95-percent">top tourist sites had dropped 95%</a> from 2011, numbers so low the government speculated it might not be able to keep the sites open. </span></p><p>Eight years on,<span> the revolution has given way to a tenuous stability enforced by the quasi-democratic strongman presidency of Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, the jailing of dozens of journalists and activists, and occasional terror-related incidents in Sinai, outside Cairo, and on the western border with Libya.</span></p><p><span>Last year, tourism <a href="https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-11-27/tourists-are-returning-egypt-after-years-staying-away">started to bounce back</a>. With the Egyptian pound trading with the dollar at 17-to-1 , those in the industry and the government are optimistic the industry is back on the upswing.</span></p><p><span>With all that in mind, </span><span>I decided to make the trip to Egypt this winter.</span></p><h2><span><strong>Egypt is a beautiful, interesting, and frustrating place to visit </strong></span><span></span></h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">Dusk at the White Desert in western Egypt.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><span>For the most part, it was enthralling. </span><span></span></p><p><span>Visiting the Pyramids of Giza was awe-inspiring as I'd hoped. Luxor and Karnak Temples, the country's most famous ancient sites, were well-kept and tightly managed. The tomb paintings in the Valley Of The Kings, rich with yellows, blues, and reds from thousands of years ago, left my jaw on the floor. </span><span></span></p><p><span>And yet, I couldn't wait to leave. </span></p><p><span>By the day of my flight out, I was exhausted and frustrated. Dozens of tourists I met over my one month in the country expressed a similar feeling. The same joke was made repeatedly: "I love the Egypt of thousands of years ago, but I can't stand Egypt today."</span><span></span></p><p><span>Nearly every tourist I spoke to was referring to the same issue. Throughout his or her trip, they'd felt taken advantage of by guides, had tours where operators cut corners, or were outright lied to. </span><span></span></p><p><span>Such issues do not only happen in Egypt. </span><span></span><span>But the frequency with which I - and others I spoke to - experienced these issues made me think it was more than my isolated experience or a few bad apples.</span></p><h2><span><strong>I was constantly arguing to get things I'd already paid for</strong></span><span></span></h2><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">The inside of a tomb at the Valley of the Kings.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>Let me walk you through one of the dozen experiences that happened to me while in Egypt.</span></p><p><span>I traveled to upper Egypt for a five-day tour to all the major sites in the region and a cruise up the Nile. </span><span>I normally don't take tours, preferring to explore on my own. But Egypt's lack of infrastructure makes tours the easiest way to see the country - even for seasoned backpackers - and put money in the hands of regular Egyptians.</span></p><p><span>The tour started off ominously when I arrived in Aswan, a small town that serves as a jumping off point. My local guide started the tour of the nearby Philae Temple five hours later than scheduled so he could add an additional traveler to our tour after their late arrival, leaving us </span><span>with less than an hour to see the temple before it closed.</span></p><p><span>The following day, I woke up at 4 a.m. to drive four hours with a different guide to Abu Simbel temple near the border with Sudan. When we got there, we were told we'd only have an hour to see it, rather than two hours as promised. The tour group argued until the guide relented.</span></p><p><span>I'd woken up at 4 a.m. for that tour so we could drive back to Aswan in time to </span><span>catch my Nile cruise ship before it sailed that afternoon. When we got back, another guide checked me into the cruise ship and reiterated that the ship would leave shortly after lunch so that we could see Kom Ombo Temple that evening.</span></p><p><span>I went downstairs, had lunch, and then went to my room to relax while the boat sailed. An hour passed, then two, and then three. The sun was setting and the boat still hadn't sailed. </span></p><p><span>In the lobby, I asked the cruise ship director why we hadn't sailed. He looked at me, confused. "We don't sail on Wednesdays. We sail on Thursdays," he said. When I complained that my guide had said we'd sail that day and that the itinerary was contingent upon that schedule, he shrugged. "I only manage the ship. I don't know about your tour company, but everyone in Aswan and Luxor knows we sail on Thursdays," he said.</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">The Abu Simbel temple near Egypt's border with Sudan.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>Leaving aside that two different guides seemed to have lied to me, the cruise ship's itinerary meant I would have less than a day to see Luxor, the location of Egypt's most treasured archeological sites and the main reason I took the tour. My itinerary had called for two full days, already tight with what I planned to see.</span></p><p>When I got to Luxor on Friday night, my guide there, a man named Reda, conceded that completing everything in the Luxor itinerary - a <span>hot-air balloon ride</span> and visits to <span>Luxor Temple, Karnak Temple, the Valley of the Kings, and Hatshetsupt Temple - in time for my afternoon bus on Saturday was likely impossible.</span></p><p><span>He called his manager, who told me that it had been out of his control that the boat left a day late and he'd had no idea. When I told him the cruise ship director said every guide and company knows the boat sails from Aswan on Thursdays, he offered to put me up for a night in Luxor so I could get two days in the city as promised.</span></p><p><span>Thankfully, I could afford to add a day to my itinerary. But I met many others on the cruise in a similar situation who had no such wiggle room. They were on meticulously planned one-week or 10-day vacations.</span></p><h2>The tug-of-war with tour guides turned a fun experience into an exasperating one</h2><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">The Philae Temple at dusk.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>I came to Egypt worrying about safety - a worry that I can say was mostly unfounded - but left exhausted by feeling cheated at every turn. </span></p><p><span>Over the course of the month, I repeatedly had tours start hours after they were supposed to, watched itineraries change without notice, and heard I had significantly less time at a tourist site than I'd been told when booking, to the point that guides rushed me through temples I'd waited my whole life to experience. I had drivers try to drop me 45 minutes from my hotel because it was more convenient for them and tour operators lie about where our transportation was.</span></p><p><span>At first, I thought a poorly managed tour company was to blame. </span></p><p><span>But, as the incidents stacked up with different companies and guides, it began to feel like a pattern. Nearly every traveler I met on the cruise ship, in Aswan, in Cairo, and elsewhere described similar experiences to me, and they'd all booked with different companies or guides.</span></p><p><span>The experience bummed me out.</span></p><p><span>More than most countries I've visited, Egyptian tourism seemed to benefit locals, not just international conglomerates. The guides, drivers, inn owners, and tour operators were, from what I saw, always locals from the town or city. Most were exceptionally friendly and open, with a wealth of knowledge about their country and its history. </span></p><p><span>I sympathize with those in Egypt suffering the post-Revolution economic downturn. I hope tourists return en masse to experience the many amazing landscapes, culture, and history the country has to offer. It would do wonders for helping the country - and its beleaguered people - get back on its feet.</span></p><p><span>But I know that, while I'm the kind of traveler who has the flexibility to deal with those aggravations, others may go home feeling that visiting Egypt isn't worth the hassle. </span></p><p>That's bad news for everybody.</p><ul class="read-more-links"><li><strong>More <keyword id="6354692" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Travel">travel</keyword> tips from Business Insider's international correspondent:</strong></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/travel-tip-find-healthy-good-cheap-food-2018-11">I use the same trick in any city I visit to make sure I find amazing food</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-use-couchsurfing-app-to-meet-locals-traveling-2018-1">Couchsurfing has a hidden feature that helped me have the wildest night in Tokyo partying until sunrise</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/multicity-flights-expedia-skyscanner-mistake-2018-10">I found out the hard way that one of the best strategies to save money on flights can end up costing you big time</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-travel-advice-skip-attractions-that-dont-interest-you-2018-10">The single best piece of advice I can give you for any trip you take</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/travel-advice-biggest-travel-mistakes-2018-10">I've traveled to more than 30 countries, and here are the dumbest mistakes I made on the road that I'll never make again</a></li></ul><p class="tagline">This is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ancient-egyptian-tomb-mummies-and-relics-2017-9">Look inside a newly unearthed 15th century BC Egyptian tomb full of mummies and relics</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

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