Hope for Cairo?

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What can you say about Cairo, the largest city in Africa? It is loud, dirty, the traffic is atrocious and surprisingly we did not like it!

Our hotel, The Cairo Palace, was good although it did not look it from the outside. We hired a taxi for the day and went first to the Giza Pyramids. Terry was not impressed the first time he saw them and his mind did not change. We went between the pyramids on camel but it was not such a pleasant experience with Michelle screaming to get off when the camel climbed down a bank. The pyramids are stunning at first and at last you see something that you have seen so many photos of. However, there are no nice carvings and nothing to see inside even if you can afford the extra £12 to enter, having already paid £8 to enter the site. Because of the volcanic cloud problem there are few tourists and those who were there had come in organised groups. That being the case we were celebrities for the morning with lots of Egyptian people taking our photo and many were delighted when we posed with them. For Michelle it was a sight to see and it was not a wasted day.
The high price of gold has not just hit British TV and probably many others but also here, the people who live around the pyramids have started to dig down into the foundations of their houses looking for gold. Of course it is forbidden and now many have been prosecuted. Earlier this year a house fell down killing 6 people!

We next went to the Saqqara Pyramids which, although they were not in as good condition (they had not perfected pyramid buildings then), inside there were fabulous carvings, many still in their original colours.
Finally we went to Memphis which was a former capital of Egypt but this was a disappointment as there was only a small museum.

That night we had an Egyptian meal in a sort of modern Cairo transport cafe. Opposite us were an Egyptian couple who spoke a little English. After we asked them some advice on food, we ordered ours only to find that they had also ordered and paid for a meal for us! So full, and extremely tired, we went to bed.

Next day Monday, we walked to the museum to see the mask of Tutankhamun amongst other things. By the time we got there the crowds, who come by bus from Hurghada and Sharm el Sheikh etc. were starting to drift away to go to the pyramids. We, therefore, had a pleasant walk round for three hours finally reaching His mask. We both stood for several minutes staring in awe at it. It is one of, if not the, prettiest thing we have ever seen.

Before we had gone in we had chatted to a gift shop owner who invited us back after the museum for a drink. We had drinks each. Michelle had a headache and he proceeded to rub amber oil into her side temples and she felt better. Of course we did not want to buy anything but he refused all offers of any payment.

So what do we do with Cairo? Outside the tourist areas we saw, at the most, 10 ‘western’ tourists in 3 days. There are only two good reasons to come to Cairo; to see the pyramids and the museum. In 2014 the museum is moving to Giza alongside the pyramids so there will be no tourists at all in the middle of Cairo. The traffic will not be solved until there are car parks. Parking is atrocious, cars park on the road usually 3 or 4 deep on one side and 1 on the other, this makes the traffic jams worse. Where there are yellow lines Egyptians just stop and put their bonnets up pretending to have broken down. Police walk up and money changes hands. This tells you the problems. There is no hope for Cairo, without the US propping up their economy it will collapse. It is such a shame for these friendly people.

We sometimes think of where we would least like to live of all places we have been; well, in a league of 1 to 10 Cairo comes in the top one. We were happy to leave.

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Photos

Khan el Kohleli
After the hassle in the market (however it is spelt) we needed a settling drink

Comments

[chris]

what can one say...............!
This place has long been one of my lifetime "want to see". Now i don't know..... Seems like you enjoyed yourself though. At least it wasn't raining like here. Enjoy the rest of your stay. See you when you get home. Love chris.XX