The Pursuits Of
Philomena Schurer Merckoll.
German-Norwegian, London-raised and now firmly Cairene: Philomena Schurer Merckoll on falling for a city of 23 million, one faded building at a time.
Cairo has a way of catching people off guard. Philomena Schurer Merckoll came for a holiday in 2023 and, like many before her, never quite left. In true Cairene fashion, it started with a building: she posted a photograph of a Zamalek apartment block on Instagram and ended up living in it. Since then she has co-founded Egypt Beyond, a platform celebrating the country’s most interesting privately run properties, with Florian Amereller of Al Moudira.
I came into Philomena’s orbit while struggling to find accommodation for my Egypt tour — places living up to its romance and beauty. I’d booked Al Moudira for the Luxor leg but couldn’t find a Cairo hotel that wasn’t channelling Las Vegas; nor a boat that captured the golden age of travel on the Nile. Egypt Beyond got it so right — apartments in Cairo’s Immobilia Building and the magnificent sailing boat Nile Canopus — you wonder why no one did it sooner.
German-Norwegian, London-raised, and the force behind Marrakech’s Riad Mena, she has spent a lifetime moving between cities — Paris, Berlin, Mexico City, New York — but Cairo, she says, is different. Here she talks faded glamour, cultural renaissance and the particular humanity of a city that still makes time to talk.
How would you describe Cairo to someone who has never been?
I know of no other city in the world that has so many cultures and eras living side by side in contemporary times. Cairo — and Egypt — has so much richness to draw from, that each visit brings new discovery and experience of the place. It’s a heady mix, old and new sitting together. And of course it’s always the people who make the place!
Who’s driving the city’s renaissance?
So many interesting creatives live or have moved back here. The Egyptian architect Tarek Shamma grew up in Cairo and just moved back. There’s French artist Louis Barthelemy, who creates works with the Khayamiya artisans, and Dr Mounir Neamatalla, the visionary founder of Adrere Amellal. Amina K the fashion designer works with repurposed traditional fabrics… and so many more.
We wanted to give travellers, who had a certain taste, a way of accessing the country through what we think are Egypt’s most unique privately run properties.
What has been the impact of the Grand Egyptian Museum?
The GEM and its trove of ancient wonders has of course been a huge draw, for people to come, or come back, to Egypt. At Egypt Beyond, we definitely noticed an uptick in people spending more time in Cairo since the museum opened. This is wonderful as it allows people to discover more of Cairo, a city usually reserved as a stop-off for other destinations in Egypt, but in my mind very much a destination unto itself. And it’s just a few hours from many European cities, so perfect for a long weekend.
What took you to Egypt?
I came here on holiday with a friend and our children in 2023, where we visited Cairo and Adrere Amellal in Siwa and instantly had a feeling with Egypt. This has only happened to me before with Marrakech and Mexico City!
In Cairo we knew no one and I could feel this city had so much more to offer than just the classic tourist offering, but I could not work out how to access it. Funnily enough, the only thing we knew we had to go to was the Malaika store (where all the bedding is from in the various properties at Egypt Beyond) and as we walked around Zamalek afterwards I was photographing the buildings thinking how cool these old, slightly crumbling but amazing buildings were. I posted my favourite one on my Instagram and thought nothing more of it — and realised a week after renting an apartment in Zamalek that it was the same building! It feels very fated that I found myself here.
What’s Zamalek like day to day?
I love living in Zamalek. Downtown, where Immobilia is, has this incredible buzz and energy. Zamalek is its more relaxed counterpart, but still so centrally located in the city. The streets are filled with trees and the pavements are wide, so you can easily stroll around. There is the Gezira Club, a totally old-school throw back, where I start my day in true middle-aged style playing a round of tennis.
People know each other in Zamalek, so you say hello to everyone from the guard downstairs to the great guys in my local coffee shop — Amor Perfecto — that serves me the best cappuccino at 7.30am every day without me even having to ask for it. I often bump into friends from the neighbourhood there too.
Tell me about Marrakech and your hotel, Riad Mena.
I first went to Marrakech in 2005 with my mother, who wanted to buy a place there as it was so close to London, had lovely weather and is of course an amazing place in and of itself. We found Riad Mena that same week and after seven years of renovations — made bearable thanks to my decorating partner in crime, Romain Michel Meniere, who went on to do Berber Lodge — it opened as Riad Mena in 2014. When things flow they flow!
What led you to launch Egypt Beyond?
I met Florian Amereller at Riad Mena through a mutual friend, Alice Daunt, the Founder of Daunt Travel. He had just bought Al Moudira in Luxor, which I helped do the international relaunch for. He then had the idea for Egypt Beyond.
We wanted to give travellers, who have a certain taste, a way of accessing the country through what we think are Egypt’s most unique privately run properties and the interesting experiences around them. It was how I had not been able to travel when I went to Egypt — as if you had a friend there, giving you the top tips: high, low, classic and out of the box! With this in mind, we also created a Cairo Guide for Immobilia to give guests a way of accessing the city in a more local way. Egypt Beyond launched in September 2024 and it seems it resonated with many people coming to Egypt. The rest is history, as they say.
There is a sense of old-world courtesy across social strata here that is still very present.
Who were the designers behind Immobilia, Al Moudira and Nile Canopus?
These properties make up The Moudira Collection, which Florian is behind. A friend helped with soon-to-be-launching The Immobilia, who has wonderful taste and created this kind of 1940s vibe. Florian’s wife Margarita Andrade who is behind Malaika Cairo, Threads of Hope and MADU has great taste and also added here and there.
Of course Zeina Aboukheir was the founder of Al Moudira over twenty years ago and she still sprinkles her magic. Florian hired her as a consultant to ensure that Al Moudira keeps its spirit despite the vast upgrades and expansion he did. She still spends most of the year in Luxor and stays there almost permanently from mid-September till the end of April. We love working with her and she also loves seeing her baby develop, as well as working on other projects within the collection.
What’s next for the Moudira Collection?
We are launching the 8th floor at Immobilia, which will allow guests to rent a suite on a bed-and-breakfast basis rather than a whole apartment. We also launched the most amazing 12-suite private Villa in Luxor – Beit el Nil – uniquely situated on its own private stretch of the Nile, facing bucolic riverbanks and just fifteen minutes from the Valley of the Kings. There will be an incredible apartment in Downtown launching early January and another one at Immobilia shortly thereafter. And hopefully something coming in Aswan, too.
Tell me about the other properties in your portfolio.
Egypt Beyond came about as a platform to share what we think are Egypt’s most beautiful privately run properties. La Maison Bleue with its eclectic yet glamorous style and perfect Red Sea location epitomises the best in this area and offers the perfect end to a culture-packed Egypt journey. Adrere Amellal, and the vision of its founder Dr Mounir Neamatalla when he created it is simply an iconic property in Egypt and beyond.
What are your favourite things to do in Cairo?
It is a city with so many layers, eras and experiences, all found side by side. I love the aforementioned strolls in Zamalek and pottering around there, going to my favourite galleries such as Tintera and Ubuntu and the furniture gallery CAF are there as well. I love getting together with friends and having a sunset felucca ride on the Nile, in the middle of the neon lights of this buzzing City! After a Chinese at the 8 restaurant in the Four Seasons opposite the Felucca stop is great.
The lesser known Agricultural Museum is magical and of course just being able to jump into the car and see the Giza Pyramids — of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the only one to survive — and my favourite, Saqqara, is also a treat. Once you delve more deeply into things, there are incredible artisans dotted all around the city where you can have so much fun making things, as well as great antiques shops where all of the furniture in the Immoblia apartments was sourced!
What is it you most love about Egypt?
I felt very at home in Egypt from the moment I first arrived, which is strange given Cairo is a megalopolis of 23 million people! There is a shared sense of humanity here, where you have daily interactions with all your neighbours, from the doorman, bin man and shop owner to that very elegant neighbour down the street. There is a sense of old-world courtesy across social strata here that is still very present. Not to mention the fascinating mix of people, with Cairenes coming together with interesting international people passing through, often leading to the most interesting dinner table conversations. It feels incredibly cosmopolitan. People still talk and exchange — something I feel that is getting lost elsewhere thanks to our ‘smart’ phones — and which I love here. Visually there is incredible beauty in its pockets of faded glamour. It feels like a real feast: of cultures thanks to its long history; and to the many nationalities still converging here.
