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In pharaonic times Giza lay en route between Heliopolis and Memphis and probably also housed the skilled corps of pyramid-builders. As Memphis declined during the Christian era, so Giza flourished, thanks to its proximity to the Fortress of Babylon, across the river; Amr's reopening of the ancient Delta-Red Sea canal subsequently boosted its prosperity under Muslim rule. Giza's apogee coincided with the reign of Salah al-Din - the Moorish traveller Ibn Jubayr described it as a "large and important burgh with fine buildings" - when its Sunday market attracted vast crowds. But the area's vulnerability to floods caused stagnation, and it wasn't until Ismail laid the Pyramids Road, drained swamps and built a palace in the 1860s that Giza became fashionable again. By Nasser's time, however, expansion was proceeding virtually unchecked. As Giza's population topped a million, a tide of high-rise hovels, tacky nightclubs and roaring flyovers devoured crumbling villas, erstwhile farmland and desert, right to the Giza Plateau beneath the Pyramids. Transport from Midan Tahrir approaches Giza via Gezira and Dokki (bus #30, #108, #200, #356, #357 or #997), or crosses over from Roda Island (bus #803); either route serves to reach the zoo or Midan Giza.
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