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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.

He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.

In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.

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There are more than enough companies, organizing trips to Egypt. Together with the cities of ancient Greece this is perhaps the oldest and more frequently used tourist destination for the wealthy and not so rich Europeans and Americans. To say that there are thousands of companies ready to take you right now to Egypt will be a too conservative estimate, so if you're going to spend a week looking with amazement at the pyramids, you can have enough information at just two clicks of the left button. These thousands of companies have one common problem, which is strongly linked with your budget and more importantly with your time schedule. You just can't cover ancient Egypt is a week or less. It's hardly enough to go to see the pyramids, the Sphinx and to take a brief look at the marvels in the Cairo Egyptian museum. There won't be any time left to go to the Upper Egypt capital Luxor at some 500 km to the south.

If you're a professional in archaeology or an adventurer by heart, a kind of Indiana Jones, you can think about relocating permanently to the country. If you're falling within these categories of persons, perhaps you're already there. If you're falling short of any extreme way of life, but still don't agree that Egypt can be discovered in a few days, then some temporary stay, month or two will fit better with you plans. The marvels of ancient Egypt are centered in two areas, the one around Cairo and Giza's Pyramids and the second around Luxor, Karnak and the Valley of the Kings (see the map). Cairo is vibrant and overcrowded city, when sometimes it takes you more time to get in and out than the trip by plane between Europe and Egypt. Don't be discouraged; it's a part of the local charm. If you insist to rent a modern type furnished apartment in the city, then you'll have to pay more, something between $1,500 and $3,000 per month. If you're on smaller budget, you can have an older housing for a fraction of this sum. Interesting enough is that when we look at the offers it seems that the same kind of properties have very different rents denominated in $US and in local currency Egyptian pounds (LE). The difference is so important, sometimes reaching 3-4 times that perhaps it would be much interesting to change our currency into local one before going shopping for cheaper housing. In this case we are helped by the local legislature, which doesn't require from us to convert any amount of foreign currency into LE. What we should bear in mind is that the maximum amount of Egyptian currency that can be brought in or taken out of Egypt is 1,000 LE.

Our dollars will be more than welcomed in Egypt, where there are dollar shortages since 1997 terrorist attacks on foreign tourists. The situations on this front now seems under control and since then terrorists have killed no foreign tourist, but the effects of 9/11 coupled with the lower Suez Canal tolls have forced the Egyptian government to devaluate the pound. During the last years the value of the $US has increased by more than a third. The individual tourists, who would like to enlarge the scope of their visits, should bear in mind that in order to visit some areas near the frontiers, including oases near Libyan border or some areas in Sinai, they must obtain permission from the ministry of interior.

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See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of Egypt.