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Published: April 25th 2011
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It has been twelve years since I last set foot in Egypt and, *cough*, sixteen since I lived in Cairo. Those years represent a significant chunk of my 37 years on this planet, yet somehow as soon as I stepped into the chaos of Cairo’s streets this past week I felt immediately at home. It was as if I had left only yesterday; all was so utterly familiar.
Admittedly, Cairo was not always the easiest of cities in which to live. It was – and is – a maddening place with its street-choking traffic jams, its noise (including the incessant honking horns of said traffic jams), and its often thickly polluted air (again, that dang traffic). Then there’s the constant attention of hucksters trying to con a pound or two out of an unsuspecting khawaga* - “Welcome to Egypt! Hey, you look like Egyptian man!”
But Cairo is also a place that is hard not to love. It gets deep under your skin.
I adore its elegant, but now crumbling, 19th century buildings; its countless coffeehouses spilling into the street, packed with men smoking apple-flavored shisha, sipping mint tea, and playing backgammon; its gregarious people, always ready to
joke and chat. Its mind-boggling long history seems to tumble all around you, blurring in fascinating ways: the Pharaonic, Greco-Roman, Mamluk, Ottoman, British, and then, of course, all that has happened in the 20th and 21st centuries – they all jostle for attention. It is a city made for nostalgic souls…
Being the nostalgic sort myself, I decided to stay at the Windsor Hotel. While very much a part of that crumbling 19th century world of downtown Cairo, with its peeling walls, iffy hot water supply, and bathroom doors that won’t quite close, it was the perfect home-base for my triumphal return. I frequented the Windsor’s bar/lounge when I was studying at AUC, enjoying its ancient waiters in bowties, its faded yellow walls, and the antler chandeliers. Not surprisingly, the space had not changed one bit (I swear even some of the waiters were the same!). Danni**, my partner in crime on this visit, took the hand-operated elevator (the last one still in use in Cairo) up to our room on the fourth (really, sixth) floor...a fitting way to begin our explorations.
I dragged Danni along my nostalgia tour over the course of my four days in the
city. We made the grand circuit of Islamic Cairo on Day 1, climbing to the roof and up one of the minarets of the venerable Al-Azhar Mosque, one of the most important centers of Sunni Islam in the world, though originally founding by the Ismaili Fatimids (actually much of Islamic Cairo’s fabric was woven by the Fatamids, then successive Islamic dynasties added their own textures). We peered into the ghostly central yard of the Al-Hakim Mosque, rarely used for prayer as its benefactor was a tad crazy. We stopped for tea at Al-Fishawi’s, the oldest continually operating coffeehouse in Cairo, buried deep in the bustle of Khan al-Khalili. We wandered from Bab al-Futuh to Bab Zuweilah, through the Tent Makers Street, down to the Sultan Hassan Madrasa-Mosque and the midan in front of the Citadel. We finished things off by retreating into the calm, cool interior of the Ibn Tulun Mosque, perhaps my favorite mosque in this city of countless mosques. On days 2 and 3, we of course got our ancient Egypt fix with the Egyptian Museum and a pyramids excursion and also took a peek at what signs are left of the momentous events of Egypt’s recent revolution
– but these I will save for later entries. My final day was Sunday, Easter Sunday, so I thought it would be fitting to head down to Coptic Cairo to see if there were any Easter festivities. Oddly, there was little evidence of the holiday, but we did get to explore the gorgeous churches and synagogue that are lost in the tangle of the old city.
However, in many ways it was the small things I enjoyed most in my nostalgic wanderings. I hadn't realized just how much I missed the simple pleasures of whiling away an evening in a Cairene cafe until I was ensconced on the upper story of a cafe devoted to the great Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum, smoking a shisha and twirling a sprig of mint in my tea. I hadn't realized just how much I missed Cairene street fare - the koushari, the taamia, the fuul, the juices (sugar cane, tamarind, besides the usual). I hadn't realized how much I missed even such things as getting a straight razor shave by a barber in a hole in the wall barbershop. These experiences are what made, and make, Cairo Cairo for me.
I am
already nostalgic for my short visit.... So, when can I go back?
*For those who read my Khartoum blog, you should be familiar with this term – but here I’m using the Egyptian “g” instead of the Sudanese “j”. It also tends to read as "stupid tourist" in the Egyptian context.
**Danni, who is from my hometown in Indiana, is now working in Amman, Jordan. She rendezvoused with me for the Easter weekend. It seems I didn't scare her off of future travel with me!
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Cario always has special taste
Thank you for sharing those photos, I enjoyed them. You made me feel like I have to visit Cairo after the last revolution. I was hoping to see some photos from Maidan Altahreer (Tahree square) after the revolution! did they changed any thing to make it has the flavor of Al Thawra. How about safety on the street!! I'm glad that you have enjoyed your time there. I already start thinking of when I can go to visit!!!!