Egypt has been, for well over a century at least, a magnet for tourists from all over the world. Among the first of Egypt’s most famous ancient landmarks to get visitors was the Giza complex, with the three Great Pyramids, the Sphinx and a host of other lesser monuments, tombs of various Pharaonic royal family members and workers’ village.
It has long been the custom for local Bedouins to guide well-paying European tourists up to the top of some of the smaller pyramids to see the sunset. However, this photo is unique in many ways. The most obvious fact is that the well-heeled and beautiful young men and women are having a picnic in the shadow of the Great Pyramid. And what’s more, they’re sun-bathing! In a way, they capture a different era, an innocence as well as wealthy easy living that the looming World War II would obliterate forever. Much water has flowed down the Nile since then…