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The early part of the bazaar,Cairo
At this point the alleyway was wide and relatively free of people.Worse was to come!!Thursday 14th May
Lost in Cairo
At last a city that has got the better of us,for now.More about that later.
The beds in our room as the best we have experienced to date.Wide,kingsize singles,and soft and comfortable mattress.Sleep came quickly after our early morning arrival and we didn’t wake until 8am.With breakfast not starting until 8.30am we were able to enjoy taking our time and showering under a shower that is attached to the wall.What bliss!!
Breakfast was on the terrace on the roof of the 4 story hotel.As forecast the weather was brilliantly fine but with a warm breeze.We sought a table under an umbrella and dined on roll with butter and jam and coffee.Not as filling as Athens but adequate for now.
We decided not to try too much today and just take a wander downtown to find the American Express office as we needed to cash a couple of travellers cheques and top up on the Egyptian pounds.
The manager on the reception desk gave us the hotel card which had a small map of the area surrounding the hotel because Egypt is not included in our Lonely Planet book so we are short on a map
From an overbridge after the bazaar
We were out of the bazaar and taking a breatheron an overbridge still 30 mins from McD's!! to help us plan our day.He indicated where to walk to head in the direction of Tahirr Sq where the Amex office is located in the Nile Sheraton Hotel.There was the usual”turn right,take a left etc etc”.What he didn’t tell us was that there was an extensive market we had to get through and that the crowds would be dense.!!!
So we headed off with a brisk step using what passed for a pavement where we could and the side of the road when the pavement disappeared because of cars,motorcycles,stalls and rubbish,heaps of it!!The first obstacle was a checkpoint together with armed soldiers,sub machine guns and all.We were required to walk through a metal detector that made a buzzing noise as we went through and we both were expected that we would be patted down.However not to be and we were waved through.Seems the square leading to the bazaar was one to be protected.
The narrow main alley through the bazaar started out relatively easy to walk through with some order and the vendors not all screaming to try and attract your attention.There was almost everything you could imagine for sale.Where there were mens underpants it was a huge array
Aged looking Coke sign,Tahrir Sq,Cairo
The sign is well overdue for renovation !! Note the McD's sign behind.This was to become a point we would focus on when we were disorientated in this part of town. on a table and so it went on,socks,bras,shirts,dresses etc etc etc.We have never seen so much stock and that includes the Grand Bazaar in Instanbul.There were small electronics,materials,suiting,nuts and bolts etc etc.The one thing not in quite so much abundance was fresh fruit.
As we ventured through the alley way appeared to narrow but in fact it was because the people throng became denser.Our pace slowed considerably and we were actually quite pleased to reach a street with vehicle traffic because we could make better progress.That is after ducking and diving on and off the pavement to make progress.
We passed through one of the landmarks the hotel reception told us about,the man riding the horse.So we had a good idea we were on the right track.Progress had quickened a bit but not so that we were ever going to make the square we were aiming for in 20mins.
After nearly an hour we were ready for a top up of food and liquid and a Macdonalds sign came into sight !! Our saviour!!We followed the sign to the smallest Macdonalds we have ever been into and ordered fries and large Fantas!!We have often said Macdonalds will always come to your aid when you need refreshing and so it was that we left there with our batteries recharged.
It was only a short walk from McD’s to the square.We had two Amex addresses and the one at the new town centre of Heliopolis which would be what we thought was a Metro ride from the centre of town sounded more promising than the Amex in the Nile Hilton.
However with only a couple of hours to go before the commercial businesses closed for the weekend on Friday(tomorrow) we thought we better try the Nile Hilton office first because it was just ahead of us in the square.We passed through more security checkpoints to get inside the hotel.What a transformation from the chaos and the traffic in the streets.There was a huge reception area with luxurious chairs in the expansive waiting area and shops around the waiting area.It was just calm!!!
We were directed to the Amex office and we were able to cash the travellers cheques we wanted to and ended up withEGP1110 for US200.Your money goes a long way in Egypt!!
The toilets looked clean and had a lady in attendance so Gretchen thought this would be the only place she would be using the loo outside of our hotel.Not that we had passed any public loos on our trek to the square.Not that there was a real need as the dry heat meant there was no waste to pass!!
We rested up in the atrium area pretending we were guest and recharged the batteries deciding where to go next.We thought we might try the Metro and head out to the new town area of Heliopolis.So it was down the steps to the subway and the ticket office.No we were told the subway didn’t go to Heliopolis.
So with that idea not working we opted for the Egyptian Museum,supposedly one of the worlds best with a huge amount of artefacts,mummies etc etc.we entered through the main entrance with men with battle helmets on crouching behind blast screens with automatic weapons in hand.we weren’t sure whether we felt secure or not as it has been main tourist spots that been the scene of terrorists attacks in Cairo in the past.we decided we would be fine once we were inside the building.
After being hassled a bit for a guide and having to go back to the ticket office because we were carrying cameras that weren’t allowed inside we got going on the circuit of the museum.
The exhibits and the attached explanations all needed a bit of upgrading to make them more interesting although when we got into Tutakamens jewellery room it good more interesting and better displayed.We made good progress through the museum taking in items that dated back to 3000BC and before.All a bit awe inspiring and difficult to take in fully in an afternoon.
Once we had finished in the museum we had to make a decision about and early dinner and then find our way back to the hotel.Now we hadn’t passed anything that either of us were prepared to take on by way of a restaurant except McD’s.So it was back to McD’s and a Big Mac(what else and upsized all round) and a MacRoyale for Gretchen also upsized.What chickens we were but honestly there had been nowhere we had seen or passed that we could see ourselves sitting down and ordering off the menu.
We had found our way back to McD’s from the square with some difficulty but the journey hopme from there was to turn out to be the first time we had to say we were LOST !!We started out retracing our steps from earlier in the day when we called into McD’s for fries and a drink and made good progress amongst the crowds preparing for their holy day of Friday.
We went across an overpass that we also crossed earlier on the way into town.However we became disorientated and as we discovered later headed in completely the opposite direction to our hotel going up what we thought was the alley the bazaar was in.At one stage a mosque which looked familiar was ahead of us and we thought we had reached the first square from the morning.Not so and we ended up down some real back alley amongst where the locals lived with kids kicking a ball around and local men looking weirdly at a couple of white people they probably don’t usually see in their part of town.We were well LOST !!
So it was back to retrace our steps and with darkness approaching we admitted defeat and hailed a taxi!!The driver didn’t really speak English but the hotel card was in Arabic as well and so he said he would take us there after we negotiated down the fare by EGP10 to EGP20.We didn’t have a clue how far it was but we were happy to get the price down and we would at least get home!!
Sure enough he got us home in what was a decent taxi ride of some distance and we tipped him EGP5 which he seemed pleased by.You can never tell quite how much to tip here!!
We collapsed into our room and turned on the TV with over 300 channels to choose from and breathed a sigh of relief as well as consuming 1500ml of water and a nice hot coffee!!
For the first time in our extensive travels we had to admit we were lost.But then on reflection this city is like no other we have been to recently and the absence of a map of any kind doesn’t make it easy to find your way around.
We have decided Cairo is not unlike cities in India,where we holidayed 12 years ago,with no real pattern to it and people existing in both business and personal lives in third world conditions.It is interesting think that both India and Egypt as communities go back thousands of years.Somewhere along the way the cities have grown too big to sustain the people who want to live and work in them.Will cities in NZ look like this in a few thousand years????
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Leebee
non-member comment
And you wonder why Rin and I are worried about you! How many more days before you hit the English speaking developed world? Stay out of dark alleys!