Elie Rogers
Giza Plateau, Egypt

I must vote for Egypt’s Giza plateau, a place I will never tire of visiting. It combines urban spaces and the oldest man-made world wonder—the Great Pyramid. You can take in all the sights, sounds, and smells of a typical Egyptian experience while strolling in the town of Giza. If you are lucky, you may be invited by a local resident to his home for tea or dinner and get to see Arab culture through his eyes as you sample his food.

I would try to spend at least one night in the old section of the Mena House hotel, a former palace built for the Egyptian ruler’s guests at the time of the opening of the Suez Canal. From the hotel swimming pool, while sipping refreshments, you can look up through palm trees at the towering facade of the pyramid. A stream of debris, detritus from pyramid-building times, ends at the edge of the hotel golf course.

Elie Rogers is a former illustrations editor for NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC.