I didn’t know what to expect about Cairo. You either love it or hate it. I have heard versions of both. I was mentally prepared for both. No place can be that good or that bad. Well, it turns out Cairo is both.
Our adventure started at the Egyptian Museum. We figured it was going to take a couple of hours, so we reserved the Heritage Hostel Cairo across the street and were there at opening – 9am. Just as expected we found long lines full of tourists and locals. The first one was to get the tickets and the second was to enter the building. It took about 15 minutes to go through the process.
The place was packed inside and out. As everybody started going right, we decided to go left. There was not really a way to avoid the crowds. We began with the mummy room and then tried to figure way a logical manner to navigate. There was not really a way! It is a building full of rooms and hallways filled with artifacts and cabinets. It is very easy to miss exhibitions because the way its organized. Again, no map or direction is giving at the entrance so you need to figure it out once you are inside. Again, no AC. How are those invaluable items going to stay preserved?
The explanations that stand in front of each artifact were written in a typewriter and today they just look like an old piece of paper. They are very hard to read and understand. Not that they have to be engaging, but when you have two-stories filled with artifacts around you, it makes it really hard to stay interested or focused.
Of course, in our journey we did ran into some tours, as they just go around the highlights. A few sarcophagus and definitely the Tutankhamun room. The place is full at all times. The fun fact is that they are usually one or two trained guards to detect any kind of picture taken within. However, most of the tourist have developed laughable techniques to get away with it and take what I am assuming is probably a very blurry photo.
Turns out that the easiest way to do it is wait until when one person gets caught. Then everybody else takes advantage to get a picture of the mask of the pharaoh while the guards are making a scene (they will make you delete the pictures). It is very time consuming and there is no way you will be getting a selfie, so never-mind I moved on and Googled it later.
It took us around 4 hours to go through the place, but I saw it ALL. Probably, you can stay there the whole day or actually spend a few others. I am not very good with museums so we tried to go through faster than most. The good news is that they are building a new Egyptian Museum. Its construction will be completed on 2020, will be connected to the Giza pyramids and the subway will take you directly there. We drove through and it looks awesome! For now, this is the old version.
Our next destination was Old Cairo. We went through Synagogues, Churches and Mosques. You can basically walk all the place around and feel the local magic within a few hours. After our visit we decided to go into the Khan el-Khalili- market. Needed to do some shopping!
Filled with tourists, this market is not the most expensive but is also not the cheapest option. If you want to be closer to a decent price you need to haggle. They won’t give anything away knowing that other tourists will pay extra. They do have all the souvenirs available elsewhere and they also have a section for locals – selling clothing, linens, toys, etc.
The place is gigantic and looks kind of a maze. You go through very narrow pedestrian walkways. Sometimes motorcycles and tok tok’s get inside the market and start honing desperately for people to move. Very noisy!
However, this was not the real problem. The odyssey was trying to go back to our hotel at night. For some reason Egypt has been one of the very few places in which the internet connection is extremely poor. We had no way of requesting an Uber taxi and the market is very far away from the subway station. People actually need to take public transportation to the metro. Without very many options we decided to test our luck and took a taxi on the street. A police officer helped us to set the price before hand, to avoid the hassle. The good news is that this taxi driver had classical music full volume. I love Classical! I got to relax and enjoyed the ride.
The next day was the last. The Citadel was our stop. Once again the challenge was how to get there. I am not going to lie, it was not easy. The metro doesn’t really get close. We ended up taking taxi, tok tok, and walking uphill to get to the entrance.
It was worth it. With various museums (half were closed for remodeling) and mosques, you can get easily entertained for a few hours. As it stands of the hill, you also get very impressive city views. The museums are not the best, but they are on the way. The downside is that you have, as always, to pay for bathroom service and there are no places to have lunch around.
Once we finished we tried to find an american food chain – we were having some digestive issues. Turns out Mc Donalds is one of the most popular places around Cairo. Crazy busy, couldn’t find a table to sit until the manager started asking people that were just siting down but not eating to leave!
The rest of the day was very enjoyable. We just went around the famous old city gates, a few museums and visited the Cairo Tower at the perfect time: for sunset. Uncovered at the top, you go around feeling a refreshing breeze while enjoying the wonderful views of Cairo at night. Certainly, an unforgettable experience that sealed the magical evening!
Wookitu 