Until recently, residents of this central Bosnian town never gave Visocica hill much thought.

Roughly pyramid-shaped and covered in woods, Visocica loomed 720 feet above the town. Occasionally, tourists or picnic parties would drive up the track on the back side to take in the scenery or to poke about the ruins of the medieval castle on its summit. Most of the time it was left to the sheep.

But over the past year and a half, this sleepy town of 12,000 has become one of Bosnia's busiest tourist destinations, with thousands of daily visitors coming in summer to see what is purported to be the world's largest pyramid. Four more purported pyramids are scattered around Visoko, disguised as hills.

Foreign geological experts who have visited the site report that it is a natural hill, and Bosnia's archaeological community has condemned ongoing digs here as a waste of the nation's limited resources and a threat to real sites. But for many Bosnians, it's a tourism dream come true...

Come see the pyramids ... in Bosnia?, Colin Woodard, Yahoo! News, USA, March 29, 2007.

Strolling around the base of the Great Pyramid, drifting further away from the group, I realized I was being followed. Four giant camels, accessorized with furry pom-poms, blocked my path. I was surrounded.

Seated atop these sandy desert dwellers were merchants, aggressively hawking tourist souvenirs. They forced alabaster trinkets, papyrus scrolls and snow globes into my hands, first offering them as "gifts," then demanding money.

Though I tried to be polite, the vendors were persistent. "Camel ride? Camel ride" they shouted.

As a perceived "rich" Westerner, local vendors can make you feel like a walking pocketbook, a living, breathing dollar sign. It can be pretty exhausting sometimes. Though I should be a pro at handling aggressive vendors and beggars, I'm not. I get frustrated. I flip flop between guilt and anger, humanitarianism and a hardened heart...

Dodging hawkers at the Great Pyramids, Julia Dimon, Toronto Metro, Ontario, Canada, April 04, 2007.

Today, Bonn will witness the opening of the [Egyptian] Sunken [Treasures] Exhibition amid expectations of an unprecedented turnout given that more than 850,000 visited the exhibition in Paris and Berlin. The exhibition, being the first of its kind, comprises 489 pieces unearthed by the European Institute Mission for Sunken Monuments [Institut Européen d'Archéologie Sous-Marine (IEASM)] working in Alexandria since the 1990s.

Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni said he agreed to hold the exhibition in Berlin, Bonn and Paris to enable the world to learn about a historical part of Egypt's ancient civilization. Hosni also added that the exhibition would move to the Crystal Palace in Madrid, Spain from February 19, 2008 to August 31, 2008. The chief of the Egyptian delegation said pieces on display include a black basalt painting, a statue for Habi, the Nile god and pink granite painting written in three ancient languages. My emphasis.

There appears to be two Crystal Palaces in Mardid...

Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Art and exhibition hall of the Federal Republic of Germany), Bonn, Germany.

Opening of Sunken Monument Exhibition in Bonn, Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, April 04, 2007.

Previously:

Sunken treasures in Bonn, April 02, 2007.