Goodbye Egypt

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One always begins to forgive a place as soon as it's left behind. - Charles Dickens

Yep, definitely not a tour person.

Yesterday I got up early to head off to the Pyramids with Kathy and Kate, two other lovely women staying at my hotel. In addition to the pyramids at Giza, we visited Saqqara and Memphis. As the pictures attest, it was a pretty successful trip, but we all could have spent much longer at the pyramids if we'd known how little was in store for us elsewhere. This time our guide was female - what a change! - who nevertheless tried her best to lead us astray in terms of camel rides and papyrus shops.

Today I visited Islamic Cairo, which is really just the older part of town, so to speak, and not any more or less Islamic than the rest of Cairo. I managed to get to both of the mosques I wanted to see on foot - no small accomplishment in this part of the world - and after meandering though the bazaar at Khan Al-Khalili I treated myself to a mint tea at Fishawi's Coffeehouse, which claims to have been open continuously for the past 200 years, with the exception of mornings during Ramadan. In addition to filling out some really elusive postcards - everything takes longer in Egypt! - I was entertained by the continual stream of hawkers entering the shop. Wallets! Cushions! Silver jewelry! Nothing - just give me money!

I have so much more I could say about this lively, stressful, dirty city but I really need to get some sleep before my flight at 3:00 tomorrow morning, so I think I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Next stop: Morocco.

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So I've been waiting downstairs for 45 minutes for my taxi to the airport. It's after 1:15 in the morning but no one is concerned but me. The taxi arrives and I finally get going, in a run-down old car that smells as though the exhaust pipe is turned inward, where the kindly older driver waves away my futile attempts to get the seatbelt to work while strategically pumping the gas pedal to keep the jalopy functioning. As we speed on down the center of the two-lane road with no headlights, the driver hands me the handle so that I can try to roll up the window, and I consider, along with the possibility that any moment we will be hurtling to our death from the overpass, that this is Egypt: people face obstacles optimistically and obstinately cling to the past in the face of poverty and almost certain failure, under circumstances of precariousness and unpredictability that would realistically reduce others to tears. There is so much more to see here yet I can't envision myself returning. Still, I've turned the corner of my trip and am halfway home. Hopefully things will be easier from here on out.

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Photos

Camels
The camel riders were pretty insistent for baksheesh (tips) and the camels didn't apppear very satisfied either.

Spinx at Giza
Not as large as you might imagine...and no, it wasn't the French who took off its nose...

The Pyramids at Giza et moi
It was windy that day!

Ramses II
The attraction at Memphis

Detail of Mosque Ibn Tulun in Islamic Cairo
Some nifty wood carving at the mosque.

Comments

[Dad]

Did you climb a pyramid?
I'm glad you got to see the pyramids. I'd like to do that sometime. The names of places sound familiar from a series of mystery books Mom and I read. They were about an archiologist family from England working in Egypt each winter around 1900-1920. Hope your flight to Casa Blanca is good. Love, Dad

[Amanda]

Great pics! I love the 'obligatory' camel pics. LOL! And the police camels. :) It sounds like Egypt is just exhausting you, but I know you're having the time of your life. I hope Morocco is as wonderful as you've imagined!