Egypt

Actually true

• The pyramids are genuinely at Cairo's edge

  Giza's pyramids sit within view of the city's suburbs, not isolated in remote desert.

• The Nile still floods life around it with fertility

  Its annual cycle (before the Aswan Dam) shaped agriculture for millennia and still defines the green strip of habitable land.

• Egyptian Arabic is the region's most understood dialect

  Thanks to decades of film and music exports, it's widely understood across the Arab world.

• Cairo genuinely never really sleeps

  Traffic, tea shops and street life run long into the night across most neighbourhoods.

Commonly believed, wrong

• "The pyramids are in the middle of nowhere"

  They are a short drive from central Cairo, visible from some city rooftops on clear days.

• "It's all desert with no greenery"

  The Nile Delta and valley are intensely green and among the most fertile farmland in the world.

• "Camels are the main transport"

  Cairo has a metro, ride-hailing apps and heavy road traffic like any major capital.

• "Ancient Egypt and modern Egypt are the same culture"

  Modern Egyptian identity blends Arab, Islamic, Coptic Christian and ancient Pharaonic layers.