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Another son works for a large consulting firm and “lives the life of a pasha at 22,” she says.

Now a city icon, it was a diplomatic gift from Muhammad Ali, the viceroy and pasha who is considered the founder of modern Egypt.

Since the early 1800s, when rich, high-ranking Ottoman officials known as pashas were said to have used their houseboats to rendezvous with their mistresses, the boats have radiated a kind of louche, half-light glamour.

During Ottoman times, rich Egyptian pashas often took houseboats as fancy second residences using them to entertain guests with music and belly dancers.

“The pasha gave him his weight in gold,” my father would say, “and once again in jewels. And your great-great-great-grandfather returned home. He bought all the land around Ardestan.”