Qait Bey revisited The Qait Bey Fort in Alexandria directly overlooks the Mediterranean Sea. The promenade of the fort is a beehive for various activities, one of which is selling traditional Egyptian souvenirs. Nesmahar Sayed's lens spotted a vendor displaying camels made of leather among his collection of mugs and plates decorated with Pharaonic inscriptions and motifs. This promenade where visitors to Alexandria walk through to the fort is very much reminiscent of the Khan Al-Khalili bazaar in Cairo. Gannat Darwish El-Helw Mustafa photos: Abdel-Hamid Eid What a refreshing place for a hot summer! Alexandria is pretty busy these days with several cultural activities. With Qait Bey Fort as a historical background, the eighth round of the Qait Bey Fort Festival for Music and Singing organised by the Cairo Opera House, was inaugurated by its director Abdel-Moneim Kamel, along with operatic singer and director of the festival Reda El-Wakil and veteran opera singer Hassan Kami last Saturday night. The first day of the festival presented the Chinese Acrobat troupe that dazzled around 10,000 audiences for 90 minutes with its outstanding skills and entertaining performances. A representative of the troupe pointed out that its performance in Alexandria coincided with the celebrations of the 23 July Revolution and the 60th anniversary of China National Day. Kamel disclosed that as a result of the unprecedented turnout at the festival, he will add 3,000 seats to the theatre in order to accommodate more spectators. The festival, running through 1 August, includes 15 free concerts offered to the people of Alexandria and its visitors featured in by the likes of pop singers Mohamed El-Helw, Iman El-Bahr Darwish and Medhat Saleh, folk singer Mohamed El-Ezabi, the angelic voice Gannat from Morocco, Magd Al-Qassem from Syria as well as Al-Fateh Hussein from Sudan. This is in addition to the marimba star Nesma Abdel-Aziz, pianist Fathi Salama and his Sharqiat band, trumpet player Raouf El-Ganaini and Sharara Sextet, led by veteran violinist Attiya Sharara. The Roman Theatre in Kom Al-Dekka has already hosted some of the Opera House Alexandria Summer Festival's concerts. It was featured by a galaxy of opera stars including talented singer Darwish who enlivened a beautiful evening after his long absence, the strong voice of El-Helw, singer Nadia Mustafa as well as Gannat who all mesmerised their Alexandria fans. In cooperation with the Embassy of India in Cairo, the Egyptian-Indian Friendship Association (EIFA) headed by Alieddin Hilal, organised a special visit to the Children's Cancer Hospital. During the visit, Ambassador of India in Cairo R. Swaminathan, accompanied by a large number of EIFA and Indian community members, visited various sections of the hospital. On his part, the ambassador praised the high-quality medical services and facilities being offered for ill children for free. He also hailed the efforts exerted by the staff of the hospital. In his address, Swaminathan expressed his admiration of this medical institution. Afterwards, he distributed some gifts to the ill children in the hospital. Within the framework of the charitable projects undertaken by NGOs for the sake of needy people in the field of health, Tahsin Al-Siha Association presided over by Sawsan Attiya, in cooperation with the German Embassy in Cairo, has established several clinics in Aswan governorate furnished by state-of-the-art medical equipment. In Aswan, Attiya received the cheque from the German Ambassador Bernd Erbel and his wife Maye. Thai Princess Siri, granddaughter of the Thai king, recently paid a visit to the Giza Pyramids. Siri was impressed by Egypt's unique monumental treasures and was thrilled to be accompanied in her tour by veteran archaeologist and Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Zahi Hawass. At the very end of her visit, Hawass granted Siri a replica statue of the life goddess Selket. photos: Mohamed Abdu Al-Ahram Chairman of the Board Abdel-Moneim Said honoured former minister of state for environmental affairs Nadia Makram Ebeid and Chairman of the Board of Mobinil Iskandar Shalabi for their attempts to solve pressing environmental problems. The event was held on the sidelines of a seminar organised by Al-Ahram Regional Institute for Journalism that discussed the international standards required for the set-up of mobile networks to avoid ensuing environmental problems. The seminar was attended by a bevy of experts in communication and media fields.
