When I think about Cairo I think of an overcrowded city with traffic jams, pollution, and friendly people. We spent little time in central Cairo mostly because it is so hard to get around. One could spend an hour traveling a quarter mile.
Cairo, the largest city in Africa, is estimated to have over 18 million people and is growing daily as farmers in the outlying areas come to the city in hopes of making a living. And so, the infrastructure is lagging way behind.
One of the highlights in Cairo was our hotel, the Sofitel El Gezirah, because it was ideally located on an Island in the middle of the Nile River within walking distance to the city center across "Lovers Bridge" where the young meet to chat, look into each others eyes, hold hands & dream.
Modern Cairo as we know it today dates back to 1863 when Khedive Ismail Pasha (Ismail the Magnificent - R.1863-1879) came to power. His aim was to transform Cairo into a modern, fashionable city that would compare with Paris. He drained the marshy flood plain between the old city and the Nile which is still the heart of central Cairo. He also completed the Suez Canal. Ismail succeeded - his dream was realized in the creation of a quarter with wide, tree-lined boulevards, grand squares, and public gardens, capped by an Italianate opera house.
Cairo is the most densely populated city in the World. This is evidenced by the horrific traffic jams - not just at commute time but all the time. There are almost no traffic rules. The people think the white lane lines are there for decoration so everyone drives all over the place racing to get ahead of each other. All cars have multiple dents. It seems fender/bender is a way of life in Cairo. 'J-walkers' are amazing. They have no fear and cross anywhere with little regard for on coming traffic.
In all our travels I've never seen such traffic (well maybe Bangkok) which causes a horrendous air pollution problem. Added to that is that all their gas is leaded. You can actually taste it. That combined with blowing sand/dust covering the city gives it a ghostly appearance.
There is so much to see and so little time but we managed to pack in as much as possible. I'd say we hit the highlights. On our first full day we headed out to visit Sakkara to see the Step pyramid,a carpet weaving factory, lunch at a local restaurant and on to the Giza Plateau to visit the pyramids, Cheops, Chephren, and Mykerionos, as well as the Sphinx. That evening we attended a home hosted dinner. Our host lived in a lovely apartment on the ninth floor. The husband owned his own furniture building business and had built all the furniture, doors, windows, molding. etc. The workmanship was outstanding. There were about twenty of us for dinner and their whole family helped out. It couldn't have been a better night.
Next morning we were up early for our bus ride to Alexandria. Once we got away from the city traffic moved OK. We only had one problem with a stalled truck as we left the paid highway entering Alexandria. It is the second largest city in Egypt with over four million people. It sits on the Mediterranean Sea and is the country's largest seaport, serving about 80% of Egypt's imports and exports. Alexandria is also an important tourist resort.
The second largest city in Egypt, Alexandria has an atmosphere that is more Mediterranean than Middle Eastern; its ambiance and cultural heritage distance it from the rest of the country although it is only 225 km. from Cairo.
Founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BC, Alexandria became the capital of Graco-Roman Egypt; its status as a beacon of culture is symbolized by Pharos, the legendry lighthouse that was one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
The setting for the stormy relationship between Cleopatra and Mark Antony, Alexandria was also the center of learning in the ancient world, but ancient Alexandria declined, and when Napoleon landed he found a sparsely populated fishing village.
While in Alexandria we visited the following sights.
The Corniche which is a road that runs along the eastern harbour with great views, many restaurants and some nice examples of Art Deco buildings like the (Sofitel) Cecil Hotel which has been enjoyed by Mohammed Ali (the boxer), Agatha Christie and Winston Churchill among others.
Citadel at Qaitbey is an impressive building, located on a narrow peninsula where one of the ancient wonders of the world, the famous lighthouse -- the Pharos once stood. The Fort was built in the 15th century and now houses a naval museum.
The Roman Amphitheater was recently discovered in 1967 by construction workers working on a new building. It is the only Roman Theater found Egypt. Built in the second century AD in the Roman era, the theater has 13 semicircular tiers made of white and gray marble imported from Europe. It accommodate about 800 spectators. Two of the marble columns are still standing by the theater. Just to the north of the theater lies the Roman baths which were built in the third century BC.
Alexandria has historically been a place of learning. It's a city that has attracted poets and writers for thousands of years. In 2002 a new Bibliotheca Alexandria was constructed harking back to the great library of the 3rd Century BC.
The Alexandria National Museum is located in a restored palace and contains about 1,800 artifacts that narrate the history of Alexandria throughout the ages. The Museum opened its doors in December 2003. The Museum was pretty interesting but as with most museums one never has enough time to see everything.
Lunch at the El Salamlek Palace hotel, casino and restaurant has gorgeous surroundings and cabanas on the water.
The Al-Montazah Palace was built by a former king a hundred years ago, as a summer residence. It's now used by Egypt's president but the gardens are open to the public. The gardens are nice and shady with a central gazebo, lots of flowers, and a nice beach. It's a popular place for local Egyptians to enjoy a stroll and a picnic.
After visiting the cabanas at the beach we jumped on the bus for the long ride home. The trip was uneventful and we arrived back at our hotel after ten, but it still gave us enough time for a nightcap.
This morning we're off to visit Old Cairo where we will visit the Hanging Church, the crypt in St. Sergius Church, and the coptic museum and the Egyptian Antiquities museum. Our first stop is the Hanging Church. Known in Arabic as al-Muallaqah ("The Suspended"), the Hanging Church is the most famous Coptic church in Cairo. The church is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and is thus also known as Sitt Mariam or St. Mary's Church.
The Hanging Church is named for its location above a gatehouse of the Roman fortress in Old Cairo; its nave is suspended over a passage. The church is approached by 29 steps; early travelers to Cairo dubbed it "the Staircase Church."
Next we visited St. Sergius Church. The Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus (Abu Serga) is a 4th century church and today is considered to be the oldest of Cairo's Christian churches. It is dedicated to two early martyrs and traditionally believed to have been built on the spot where the Holy Family, Joseph, Mary and the infant Christ, rested at the end of their journey into Egypt. They may have lived here while Joseph worked at the fortress.
From there we walked through the narrow streets to Ben-Ezra Synagogue. The outside is modest but the inside has been beautifully restored It was here that the 140,000 Cairo Geniza fragments of Hebrew and Jewish literature were found. The collection of material dating back to as early as the 9th and 10th century A.D. is now housed in Cambridge, England. Until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls these biblical fragments represented the oldest examples of the Hebrew biblical text.
Legends claim that there are several possible reasons for locating the building on this particular site. Either this was where the baby Moses was found by the pharaoh's daughter in the bull rushes, hidden from danger, and where Jeremiah spoke to survivors after the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar or this was where the adult Moses prayed to God that the Jews might be taken out of slavery in Egypt.
Next we visited the Coptic Museum and of course the museum gift shop before heading back to the bus for a last stop this morning at the jewelry factory store.
After a short break and lunch we spent the rest of the afternoon at the Egyptian Antiquities Museum. Again it was impossible to see everything so we concentrated on the important things. The museum has 120,000 items but of course not all are on display at one time. King Tutankhamun is well represented and one could spend the day just examining those. We also made sure that we made it to the Mummy room where they have twenty-seven royal mymmies from pharaonic times on display. None of them were smiling and their skin was really dry. Unfortunately no pictures were allowed.
It was dark by the time we all gave up and were ready to head home. When we crossed the bridge to the island our hotel is on, Bob, Marilyn, Diane and I decided to jump off the bus and head over to the Cairo Tower to take in the views. It was probably less than a mile away. The view from the top was worth it. We ordered a Sakara Gold and sat back an enjoyed the view. We decided to head into town rather than go back to the hotel and instead head back across the bridge and go into town for dinner.
Somehow we managed the traffic, found the metro that would allow us to cross the busy intersection underground. Halfway through we stopped to ask a policeman if we were going the correct way. While asking the question our excellent photographer was snapping away. When the policeman realized she was taking pictures he made her erase them all. By the time we figured out which way to go we had drawn a crowd trying to help us - all with hand signals.
The drama for the evening was not over yet though. While searching for our restaurant we were stopped by a gentleman who knew exactly where the restaurant was and said he would take us there - just follow him. He was well dressed and spoke very good English. So we followed him a block and ended up in his essence shop. When he asked the girls there names they made up some dumb names just for fun. Finally we told him we knew where we were going and we didn't want an essence today.
The restaurant was only another block and turned out to be very popular and our dinner was excellent. On the way home we skipped the underground shortcut and opted to risk the traffic. The trick was we followed two good looking girls knowing no one would hit them. Net was we had a nice night.
We've broken up the Egypt part of our trip into seven major parts. For more info and pictures on each just click below.
Go see Cairo photos.
Go see more Egypt.
Go to see other trips.