Tag Archives: Samuel Shepheard
The final journey of Sir Richard Francis Burton
I made a visit to one of London’s most unusual tombs today. No great hardship as it’s only a 30-minute walk from my own front door. It is the final resting place of the famously restless Sir Richard Francis Burton … Continue reading
Filed under Shepheard's, Travellers' tales
Looking for the heirs of Samuel Shepheard
I’ve posted many times here on Shepheard’s hotel, which, until it was burned down in 1952, was not only the most famous hotel in Egypt but one of the most famous in the world. But what about its founder, the … Continue reading
Filed under Grand hotels, Shepheard's
Fire in Cairo
I knew that Shepheard’s was severely damaged by fire in 1868 from a dramatic illustration that ran in the London Illustrated News, below. But I was never able to find any further details, so the event only receives a passing … Continue reading
Filed under Grand hotels, Shepheard's
Hotel du Nil
If anybody talks about the properly historic hotels of Cairo, then invariably it’s Shepheard’s that gets mentioned. Rightly so – until it was destroyed in 1952 it had renown and a guestbook to rank with any hotel in the world. … Continue reading
Filed under Egyptologists and Egyptology, Grand hotels, Lost Egypt
The hotel that history forgot
Alongside the Paris Ritz and London’s Savoy, Shepheard’s of Cairo was once one of the most famous hotels in the world. So how come you’ve never heard of it? I’m stood at the side of the road on Gomhurriya Street … Continue reading
Filed under Shepheard's
Before the travellers’ cheque
There’s a fascinating essay in the October 2011 issue of willfully eccentric US literary magazine The Believer entitled ‘How to Explore Like a Real Victorian Adventurer’. While researching a book about African exploration the author, Monte Reel, stumbled on a … Continue reading
Filed under Baedeker and other guides
