VIDEOS : Armchair Trips to Egypt, Ghost Towns and Nation’s Capital

“Egypt--Gift of the Nile” (International Travel Films, 78 minutes, 1991).

To plan or relive a trip, or just for a learning experience, this is a fascinating and rewarding video journey. It offers the viewer a feeling of history along with the absorbing lifestyle of people along the Nile, from Abu Simbel to the Mediterranean.

Highlights include scenes of the world’s oldest pyramid at Sakkara (2700 BC), the larger and more well-known pyramids at Giza and some of the incredible treasures of Tutankhamen.

Also of major historic interest is Luxor, built on the site of the ancient city of Thebes. The impressive temples of Luxor and Karnak are highlighted, plus the Colossi of Memnon and the nearby Valley of the Kings. The narrator explains the significance of the ankh symbol, the Rosetta Stone and mummification. The film also shows some of the relics from Thebes housed in Cairo’s Egyptian Antiquities Museum.

In Alexandria, Egypt’s largest city, a tour visits the crowded city and beaches and the marvelously fertile Nile Delta, where cotton is grown and processed into cloth.

The video, filmed and narrated by Doug Jones, was produced for theater presentation and is available from International Travel Films, Box 310, San Fernando 91341, (800) 622-0067. Price: $29.95.

“Touring America’s Ghost Towns” (Questar Video, Inc., 60 minutes, 1992).

Viewers may feel shortchanged by this title when they discover that only 11 ghost towns are explored in this video--all in the West. They may even question their description as “ghost” towns--since, though some are dead or dying, others are still very much alive.

However, by combining old still photos and film of these towns as they are today with history, legends and anecdotes about some of the famous and infamous characters who hung out there, this well-crafted video gives viewers some realistic insight into the turbulent, transient life of the Gold Rush period.

In California, the towns visited are Coloma, where the film and narration highlights the roles that John Marshall and John Sutter played in the discovery of gold; Grass Valley, the home of famed dancer Lola Montez and her protege, Lotte Crabtree; Murphys, a hangout for stagecoach robbers Black Bart and Joaquin Murieta, and Bodie, where the ruins are now a state park.

In Nevada, viewers tour Virginia City, the site of the rich Comstock Lode, now a thriving tourist attraction, and the nearby town of Sutro, which is now mostly ruins but where Adolph Sutro built a tunnel for easier access to the Comstock mine.

There are also stops in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Montana. In Arizona, viewers tour Vulture City, the town founded by Henry Wickenburg, who discovered gold, lost it and committed suicide.

Tapes are available from Quester Video, Inc., P.O. Box 11345, Chicago, Ill. 60611, (800) 544-8422. Price: $29.95.

“How to ... Washington, D.C.” (TraVid Corp., 20 minutes, 1992). This can be a visual aid for anyone planning a trip to the nation’s capital. It’s not a picture-postcard video tour of the sites, but an illustrated narration on how-to, what-to, where-to and when-to information backed by brief scenes of places mentioned.

Viewers are given a description and a map of the layout of the city, with tips on how to get into town from the airport, bus or train depots, and how to get around when you get there--by rental car, taxi, subway, bus or tourmobile.

There’s information on parking, visitors’ hours at the different sites, restaurants, cultural offerings, night life and shopping areas.

There ae no recommendations on hotel accommodations, but a helpful list of tourist information centers and phone numbers is provided at the end.

A booklet is included with the video that contains subway and street maps, plus addresses and phone numbers of places mentioned. For easy reference, the places listed are numbered to correspond to numbers on the screen.

Tapes are available from TraVid Corp., 3033 Van Ness St., N.W., Suite 102-West, Washington, D.C. 20008, (202) 363-8300. Price: $12.95.