HTSI editor’s letter: in the thrall of the Pharaoh

Few events have tickled the public imagination so much as the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in November 1922. The unveiling of an ancient burial site crammed full of some 5,000 relics was the zenith of Egyptomania, further establishing a series of tropes that are found everywhere from Verdi’s Aida to Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones.

Combining magic, fortune, ancient mysticism and imperial fervour, the pharaoh’s tale still holds us in its thrall. The intervening years have allowed much controversy over the ownership and subsequent dispersal of the tomb’s treasures; this great discovery defined the politics of imperial privilege in what even then was a fast-eroding age. But there are still few visitors to Egypt who do not seek to see its wonders for themselves. In this autumn travel issue of HTSI, Gilles Khoury traverses a country that in recent years has experienced revolution, political upheaval and economic hardship. Yet rather than finding a nation that jumps between historic paradigms, he sees that Egypt’s modern sensibilities and ancient stories are still entwined. “From one instant to another, a city that seems so turbulent, so tense and intense, offers up something akin to sweetness… This is what most likely accounts for Egypt’s endless magic: that it has somehow outlived time.”

Magic and mysticism: the pharaoh’s tale still holds us in its thrall

In other travel stories, Maria Shollenbarger visits Castello Sonnino, a magnificent 16th-century retreat in Tuscany that Gucci has designated as one of its seven global palaces. Run by the de Renzis Sonnino family, the castle has not had an entirely smooth story. When the family patriarch Baron Alessandro de Renzis Sonnino died of Covid in 2021, it behooved his two children to ditch their early career aspirations and return home to maintain the house and farm. Having to jack in your job in order to go and run the family castle is a dilemma I rather wish I shared, but I empathise deeply with the radical change of direction one’s life can take following the unexpected death of a parent, as well as the obligations that such events extend.

Leone and Virginia have since brought their own impressions and aspirations to the running of the castello; Leone is moving on from his father’s orthodoxies in winemaking while Virginia has joined her mother to expand the castle’s education programme, giving academics and students free rein to pick through their archive. The property embodies a timeworn elegance that emerges only after observing the customs of a country and respecting centuries of tradition. And yet the current Sonnino proposition is also modern and forward-looking: no wonder Gucci was seduced.

For many, travel is as much about capturing the flavours of one’s destination as it is about the views. In Bhutan, now reopened following Covid-induced isolation, Ajesh Patalay goes on a food odyssey around the Land of the Thunder Dragon that takes in some of the world’s most fiery foods. Not all of it sounds appetising: I won’t be eating cordyceps on Ajesh’s recommendation any time soon. But his descriptions of the dumplings, noodles and soups at Momo Corner, or the ema datshi (cheese and chillies) he eats during his café hops are something to behold.

Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, Zoe Suen has decided that after having “been drawn to the powerful caffeine kick of an Americano or the ease of PG Tips” for much of her life, it is time to learn more about one of the world’s oldest drink cultures: the art of Chinese tea. It’s a beverage awakening. I’m not sure I can afford to keep myself in high-grade Pu’er – prices for which can reach into the thousands – but Zoe has offered many options, so when I’m sitting at my desk in London I can imagine myself in the Wuyi Mountains, or on a lush tea plantation in Yunnan.

@jellison22