Travel: Minya Trek Despite Discouraging Warnings

The UCSD Guardian - University of California, San Diego (David Harvey)

It had begun as most of our trips do. I was headed out the door, and my roommate Wesley Horne shouted out something like, “What about middle Egypt, maybe Minya?”

“Yeah,” I shouted back. “That’s where all the terrorists grew up.”

Minya, as I had learned over the year, was once a thriving tourist stop between upper and lower Egypt. Those taking the longer, overland route to Luxor and Aswan in the south would often stop in Minya because of its beautiful riverside cornice, friendly environment, bustling markets and few remaining ancient Egyptian monuments. Through the late 1970s and into the 1990s, violent Islamism was frequently linked to students of Minya University, and the town gained a reputation for breeding terrorism. These days, according to several sources, tourists need constant security supervision. Our trip would be postponed a few weeks, until the end of the semester.