Cairo - Mildly Organized Chaos

Cairo has been on our travel list for quite some time. Paul did study abroad at the American University in Cairo way back in 2002, and visited again a few times in 2008, but hasn't been back since, and David has never been. With David in-between jobs, the timing was right to visit this giant city on the Nile.

After traveling with friends in Spain and Greece, David flew to Cairo from Athens, and Paul flew from Atlanta. We met at the airport and were greeted with relatively rare Cairo showers. When it rains in Cairo, everything gets dirty because the air pollution is so bad. It's a bit counter-intuitive to see cars that are dirty because it has been raining. After some delay waiting for David's bag, we took the hour long car ride to our hotel downtown. Upon arrival at Hotel Amin we found out that they were overbooked and they wanted us to stay at their sister hotel a few blocks away. They offered to drive us and we reluctantly agreed, full well knowing this was probably a bum deal. We arrived shortly thereafter at the City View Hotel, which was quite shabby but right on Tahrir Square. After checking in, we went out for a stroll and to get some food. We walked around Tahrir Square and walked across the Nile River where Paul starred in a group of Egyptian guys's facebook live video with the cameo line "I love Egypt!"

View at night from the Kasr el Nil bridge.

One of the party boats that cruises the Nile.

Talat Harb Square, in the part of downtown laid out in the late 19th century in European style.

There's lots of shopping in downtown.

Weekend kitty lives for the weekends, Sir.

From here, we went to a restaurant called Felfela, which we'd seen on some tourist shows and that Paul had visited when he lived here. This place is pretty unique, with lots of cages filled with birds and plants and trees throughout the restaurant. It serves decent examples of various Egyptian staples. We had ful eskandria (beans with onion), kabob, kofte (a type of grilled meat), bread, Mulukhiyah (a green slimy soup made from leaves), and stuffed vegetables. The restaurant has a large variety of food, but nothing was particularly outstanding. Come for the ambiance and a sampling of food but don't expect to be blown away. On the way back to the AirBnB we stopped by a super popular bakery called El Abd Pastry. We braved the crowds and got a couple little cakes and a mixed box of honey and nut treats. We'd highly recommend this place!

Trying some traditional Egyptian food for our first meal in Cairo.

The next morning, we had breakfast in the hotel overlooking Tahrir Square then made our way to the Egyptian Museum at 9AM opening, before the throngs of tourists on buses arrived. The museum houses a massive collection of Egyptian antiquities, but isn't in the best condition. Many of the displays are outdated, some cases of objects have been jarred, shifting objects inside, and most of the artifacts lack descriptions of any kind in any language. Watch out for wet spots from the leaky roof! Entry also involves proceeding through three separate sets of metal detectors. But the treasures within are incredible. Highlights of the museum include the phenomenal funerary mask and sarcophagi of King Tut, which are truly dazzling to behold (no pictures allowed). There's also a large collection of mummies, a good bit of Graeco-Roman Egyptian artifacts and funerary masks as well as a collection of Akenaten statues and artifacts.

The view from our first hotel included the Egyptian Museum (the pink building).

Funerary masks from Tanis. I don't think we were allowed to take this picture... oops.

David admiring the a golden mask from Tanis.

More funerary masks. So much gold!

A Fayoum portrait, a new style of mummy that started in the Greco-Roman era.

There's room after room of treasures in the museum.

This was carved from wood, an interesting contrast to the golden masks.

The central hall of the museum.

Hieroglyphs from a coffin lid.

The "Meidum geese," a tomb painting from 2500BC.

The 4600 year old statue of Rahotep and Nofret.

The iconography during Akhenaten's reign (1352-1336BC) was quite different. 

Akhenaten, the "heretic pharaoh." After his death, many of his statues were destroyed, and depictions of pharaohs returned to the traditional style.

Museum selfie. Everybody's doing it.

Getting to the museum early is a great game plan. We went immediately to the King Tut exhibit to avoid crowds. By the late morning, the place started to get packed with large tour groups. After spending about three hours in the museum, we headed back to the hotel to switch over to our original booked hotel. They offered for us to stay there, but we opted for our original booking, and they reluctantly walked us over and gave us a room at Hotel Amin, which is a good bit nicer than City View. We got upgraded to a triple room, with plenty of space to spread out. The hotel also has a rooftop with a great view across the city.

By now we were both hungry and wanted some lunch. Paul had a hankering for Kushari, which is an Egyptian meal that's basically a mix of rice, noodles, lentils and fried onions along with a tomato paste and some vinegar. It's basically a low-cost carb explosion and is really delicious. Make sure to try the warm spicy sauce - but not too much! We went to Koshary al-Tahrir, which was Paul's favorite, just a couple blocks from the American University. While we were eating, a Chinese family came in with their guide, and a woman put her head about a foot from David's food, squinting at it. She must have liked what she saw, because they stayed and ate! As soon as she turned away, her Egyptian guide came up and quietly apologized to us. So random!

Koshary - the food of the people!

Mmm. Koshary.

After lunch, we decided to visit Coptic Cairo. It's really easy to get here using Cairo's metro system from the city center. The metro is pretty reliable, clean and efficient, albeit a bit run down and it can get very crowded. It's also very cheap, with a ticket costing about $0.20 depending on how far you're going. The main trouble for tourists would be figuring out how to buy a ticket. You have to go up to a window and tell them what stop you're going to, and god help you if you don't have exact change.

The Copts are a group of people that lived in Egypt starting from the fall of Rome. They are Christian, and somewhat tied to the Byzantine/Orthodox branch of Christianity. There's still a sizable minority of Christians in Egypt (around 10%), most of whom are Copts. There are a number of Coptic churches and monasteries across Egypt.

We started at the Coptic Museum, which is directly across the street from the Mar Girgis train station. It's in a beautifully decorated building with elaborately carved ceilings and window screens. It houses Coptic art and artifacts, including the oldest book of psalms on earth. The arid environment of Egypt allowed a lot of these artifacts to survive intact. After the museum we went next door to the Hanging Church, which is built above the walls of ancient Roman Babylon. Most of the original street level of Coptic Cairo is well below current ground level, and located within the Roman walls. We also wandered around the Greek orthodox church of Saint George, the Greek cemetery, the church of St Sergius and Bacchus, and the Ben Ezra Synagogue. There's a lot to see in a small area, but you can do it all in a couple hours.

The Greek Orthodox church.

The entrance to the splendid Coptic Museum.

One of the lavish ceilings in the museum.

The "hanging church."

A mosaic along the entryway to the church.

Sleepy mosaic.

Part of the Greek cemetery.

Interior of the church of St. Sergius.

After visting the churches and synagogue, we walked to a craft market (Souq al-Fustat) and then on to the first mosque of the trip, the Mosque of Amr Ibn al As. At the market, Paul purchased a couple of books that a bookbinder will monogram on the spines. We'll pick those up (hopefully) next week. As for the mosque, Amr Ibn al As is the oldest in Africa, dating to 641 originally, with major rebuilding across the centuries (including 1179, 1796 and 1875). The mosque features a very large central courtyard and is a calm respite from the noisy streets. It was incredible to visit the oldest church, mosque, and synagogue in Cairo in one afternoon.

The simple exterior of the Mosque of Amr Ibn el As.

The interior is a peaceful respite.

The central courtyard, still wet from the rain.

More of the interior.

We took the metro back to our hotel area in downtown and decided to queue up for dinner at a small restaurant called Fasahat Somaya. This small restaurant, one of the few with a female head chef, features home cooked Egyptian fare. It's only open from 5-7PM and closes when the food runs out. It has a limited menu each day depending on what's available. We tried one of each thing - roast beef, Moroccan chicken, rice, a salad and potatoes gratin. It was good to have a chance to try this type of traditional cuisine, which is harder to find in restaurants around town. Definitely worth trying.

Chicken, beef, salad, potatoes, rice... yum!

After dinner, we returned to our hotel and watched the sun set on the roof patio, listening to the call to prayer. Cairo is a really massive city and the noise is overwhelming at times. Between the call echoing throughout town, the honking and sirens it's impossible to imagine what people do here for a moment's rest! 

We chilled back in our room for a few minutes before taking an Uber to Khan el Khalili. This is the large market/souq at the edge of Cairo's medieval quarter. It's often packed with both tourists and locals. Here there are countless vendors selling everything from tacky tourist knick-knacks to rugs, appliances, lamps, you name it. The streets are narrow and winding so no cars are present, a welcome respite. We wandered from Midan Hussein and through the market for a bit, and walked down part of the nearby Bayn al Qasrayn, which is a semi-pedestrian strolling street that's very lively in the evening. It was the heart of medieval Cairo, and is lined with grand buildings. This evening it was busy, with families with kids eating cotton candy and running between the legs of their parents shopping or strolling for fun. There are tons of shisha places here, the Egyptian replacement for a bar, where people were watching soccer and drinking tea. Overall, not a bad place to spend an evening. 

A lamp shop in Khan el Khalili.

The sprawling market has medieval gates and buildings throughout.

Lots of people enjoying the cool evening.

Many of the streets in the area have sheesha (hookah) bars.

Kim Jong Un? No, it's Umm Kulthum!

Before heading back to the hotel we decided to visit a rooftop bar at Hotel Odeon Palace for a brief libation. There was no one here, but we managed to get a couple drinks (a local beer) and chat about plans for the upcoming day and about what we liked and didn't like about Cairo.

Like we mentioned, Paul has been to Egypt several times, and lived here for study abroad back in the early 2000s. Paul loves Cairo and embraces it in all its chaotic glory. It has rewarding layers of history and an intense energy. The grand Islamic monuments of Cairo are often overlooked by tourists who focus on the Pharoanic sites (which are amazing in their own right). Not to mention the spectacular Nile River, the friendly people, and the favorable exchange rate. It has a lot of real issues - it's dirty, loud, and can be taxing. The government oppression is real, and there are massive problems with corruption. But it's an amazing place to visit.

This is David's first time in the Middle East. Here's some of David's first impressions: first, Cairo is really bustling! There are people everywhere, tons of traffic and an insane amount of noise. It's really an exciting place. All that traffic creates a somewhat terrifying experience crossing the street. There are almost no traffic lights... you basically just close your eyes and walk into traffic. This takes some getting used to. Sometimes people will stop you and try to keep you safe. While they may seriously think they're doing you a favor, it will be at the expense of then having to listen to them tell you about their store nearby that you simply must visit since their cousin/sister/friend also lives in America and s/he would want you to see it.

Second, Egyptians or possibly other middle eastern tourists, aren't much for following rules in museums. we can't tell you the number of people we saw touching things at a museum. Despite tons of signs, it seems no one cares here. Another thing about museums is that you have to pay extra money to take photos, which is kinda lame.

Third, thankfully Uber is a thing here now! It makes the process of getting transportation much easier than haggling with a taxi over cost and then him keeping your change because he "doesn't have small bills." While this may seem like a lie, it generally seems to be true. There is a shortage of small bills and Paul is elated every time he's able to make change and pocket some 5 or 10 pound bills. His time in Cairo in the 00's is really bubbling back to the surface. As a side note it's worth pointing out that Ubers tend to be about $1-$2, almost never have a working seat-belt and can be pretty terrifying on their own accord. Better than walking though!

We have one more full day in Cairo before heading down to Luxor. Then, we'll be back in Cairo where Thomas will join us to do Pyramids and other random fun things!