When not exploring Pharaonic wonders, we spent our days walking through various neighborhoods of Cairo and finding our way among the city streets. Cairo is a city of 20 million and truly puts NYC to shame as the city that never sleeps. We have heard that the time to really see the city is after midnight; however, at this time there is a curfew on so that is not possible for us.
One of the most invigorating aspects of touring the streets of Cairo is the game of human frogger that one must engage in when crossing. We had some experience with this in Amman, but there are more cars and much wider spaces for traffic to fill in Cairo, so it takes a little more maneuvering (one lane at a time). Speaking of lanes, we don’t think they exist because we have also taken some cab rides and witnessed firsthand the ways in which drivers push themselves right into any open space. It’s quite fascinating and we have yet to see one accident (though there was a very close call at a corner we crossed on one occasion). We also quickly observed that the majority of vehicles’ bumpers are scratched and scraped and that parking is also a free-for-all – cars double and triple-park stopping right up against the bumper of any car in the vicinity.
Our explorations of Cairo brought us to several points of interest. On our first excursion, we headed straight for the Nile and crossed onto a small island at an area called El Gezirah where the Opera House and a Museum of Modern Egyptian Art can be found in a lovely peaceful courtyard. It was a nice little quiet space outside all of the traffic and blowing horns. We also saw the Cairo Tower, the tallest city structure providing 360˚ views of the city (the entry fee is steep – higher than to visit the pyramids, so we just looked from below). Our stroll continued along the Nile on both sides and through Tahrir Square, which you surely have heard of in the recent news and revolution (some of which we were able to observe while waiting to meet up with a friend for dinner Friday night).
We spent an entire day walking through the Egyptian Museum viewing the over 250,000 relics from Pharaonic sites all over the country. It was information overload for sure, but amazing to see so many artifacts in such good condition and with such detailed hieroglyphs and designs and paintings. We even saw the Rosetta Stone and didn’t realize it! We were looking at it talking about the 3 languages inscribed and it resembled something familiar, but it wasn’t labeled and at the time we couldn’t quite place it. It wasn’t until later that Anthony remembered it was in the museum and when we were enjoying a snack outside a friendly Egyptian man told us right where it was at the front of the museum where we returned to view it.
Thursday took us to the Islamic Cairo (also on the World Heritage List) section of the city where we toured the al-Azhar Mosque; in addition to removing our shoes, ginnie had to cover her hair and her hoodie made a good scarf for the occasion. This was our first time in a mosque and it was a very ornate one at that, with three sections that have been added onto during successive periods (a caretaker gave us a tour and spoke in a mix of Arabic and English, so all we know for sure is that one section is Turkish and one is Suni, we did not get the last).Across the street from the mosque is the Khan al-Khalili souq (bazaar; market) where vendors sell their wares always at a negotiable price. We wandered the alleys in search of anything that caught our eye. Along the way we even visited a shop where we found a man weaving large ornate Oriental/Persian rugs.
During our wanderings we also discovered The Egyptian Pancakes House where we tried fatir, an Egyptian version of pizza, thin flaky pastry dough filled with your choice of items (we got cheese and fresh olives – delicious for ginnie; nice of Anthony to go with the olives). It was delightful. We continued on our walk through Bab Zuweila, an old southern gate for the city that then led onto the Tentmakers’ Bazaar, where we met a very kind man who wrote our names in Arabic in fun shapes. We viewed many different weavings and after some negotiating and bargaining, settled on a fair price and purchased a beautiful piece from him that says Salaam (peace in Arabic) in the shape of a bird. Ginnie was also able to pick up a nice Egyptian cotton scarf for a great deal (under $2!).
To close out the day, we meandered over to the Nile River for a sunset felucca ride with a wonderful guide from Asuan (a site we will visit on a future trip to Egypt).
On Saturday we hopped on the Metro, which has a stop right by our hotel, and went to Coptic Cairo (aka Old Cairo), which is the Christian area of the city. We disembarked right inside the walled area of a few of the Christian churches built thousands of years ago. The most interesting, for us, is the Hanging Church built on pillars above a now ancient Roman water drainage system. The artwork on the panels is reminiscent of that in the mosques but with crosses interwoven within. The church holds relics of several saints, as well as paintings from as far back as 12 A.D. It is quite different from the Spanish colonial churches of Latin America. We also visited Saint George’s Greek Orthodox Church.
Continuing along our journey Saturday, we visited The Citadel. On a side note, this involved stopping 4 taxis before finding one who knew where we were going (or understood us). Disappointingly, many of the areas within the Citadel were closed, but we were able to enjoy the views of Cairo from above (even seeing as far out as the Pyramids at Giza) and enter the ornate Mohammed Ali Mosque. We also walked through the Military Museum and quickly discovered that neither of us has much interest in military history and artifacts! At least we tried. The evening was relaxed with a visit to the incredible sweets stop, El Abd, where we were overcome by the delicious aroma of freshly baked treats. There were so many cakes, pastries, croissants, cookies, and candies; we were overwhelmed. We selected two delightful sweets (one with an apricot topping, one chocolate) that were essentially layers of cake or flaky pastry dough and cream – fantastic! For those who know Boston, picture Mike’s Pastry with lots more people and a wider, cheaper selection.
In addition to the sight-seeing, we’ve been able to spend time visiting our friend and fellow BZ RPCV, Catherine. We are also enjoying some great Egyptian eats, ginnie has had a lot of koshary and Ant is loving the taamiya (fava bean falafel that is flat). Not to mention these delectable eggplant sandwiches we have been eating. On our latest visit to Felfela (a takeout place where we get the koshary and taamiya) one of the employees told Ant he has become a regular since he’s seen him so frequently! Nice J
We only scheduled a week in Egypt, so we are now relaxing on a final day with a planned walk across the Nile again and another evening with Catherine. Now, it’s time to guess where we’re heading next!
Next Destination Hints:
~claims are made that its stock of arresting architecture is one of its most attractive features
~opportunities to explore the arts of beadwork and basketwork
~exploration of lush gardens and beautiful beaches
~boasts adventure outdoor activities such as kloofing
Al Hub as-Salaam!
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