Egypt. The Al Gezirah of the pashas on the island of Zamalek in Cairo

The gilded canopies are still the original ones. So are the staircases of inlaid marble, the antique clocks, the sculpted fountains in the garden and the lion statues at the entrance. It was Ismail Pasha, the sovereign eager to embellish Cairo to such an extent that it could rival the most important European capitals, who inspired and financed the construction of the Al Gezira, conceived as an architectural calling card for sovereigns and especially entrepreneurs interested in drawing the Suez Canal. Lying on the island of Zamalek where many embassies are located and where one can visit the Museum of Modern Egyptian Art and the Museum of Islamic Ceramics, as well as the gallery named after the artist Mahmoud Mokhtar, the Gezirah Palace, now part of the Marriott brand, houses in its opulent halls the Saraya Galley restaurant, a patisserie, Egyptian and international cuisine restaurants. Agatha Christie also loved to stay there: she used to go out early in the morning to stroll along the Nile, where a Promenade has recently been inaugurated on the very island of Zamalek. Another pleasant spot is the Al Andalus Garden where the palm-lined avenues and Mudejar ceramics are inspired by southern Spain. A short distance away, one can discover the Hadiket al-Asmak, the late 19th century garden that Ismail Pasha himself created as a vegetal setting for a large aquarium composed of clay caves that housed fish splashing in the Nile among now gigantic ficus trees. Romantic is the evening spent on the Blue Nile barge admiring the illuminated feluccas.