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 We began our adventure with a flight from San Diego to New York, where we stayed the night, and then boarded our non-stop flight from JFK to Cairo. We have never seen such a desolate landscape as Sahara approaching Cairo. In Cairo we met some of our fellow passengers and our Odysseys tour guide/Egyptologist, Ehab.
Then we encountered Cairo traffic.
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Traffic in Cairo has to be seen to be believed. The only rule is that there are no rules. People pay no attention to traffic signals, signs, or even lane markers. ["Why should we drive in three lanes when the road can hold five?"] There are almost no left turns--instead there are places where you can make U-turns to return to your destination. Does it work? Nope. Traffic jams in Cairo are constant and last for miles and miles.
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Want to cross the street? Just step off and keep walking, we were told. Drivers will not stop but they will avoid you. We were told. Or, Ehab suggested, find some locals (preferably a family with kids) and walk across the street with them. He did not say whether the parents would be willing to hold our hands as well as their kids'. Actually, the only time we had to cross major streets alone was when we went to the Egyptian Museum--and the advice worked!
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Of course, there were some challenges to driving in Caliro that you might perhaps not encounter in most Western cities. . .
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But above it all, Pat was tremendously impressed to see the river. "The Nile," she kept saying. "That's THE NILE there." |
Is it safe?
This is certainly the most common question we had, before and after the trip. And it is true that in 1997 there was an incident in Egypt in which tourists were attacked and killed. But Egypt depends on tourism money and has taken steps to ensure the the security of tourists.  Every hotel we stayed at had metal detectors. So did every museum and historic site. Most of the hotels also had bomb-sniffing dogs and every private car and taxi was searched before they could pull in. Tourist police were abundant. And, most noticeably, everywhere we went we were accompanied by a guard armed with an automatic weapon. They were really easy to identify because they were the only ones in business suits (the coats helped to hide the guns.)
So, yes, while we thought the precautions were a little overkill, we felt safe. Even more important, the guards were good at stopping traffic when the group needed to cross a street.
And when the sightseeing began, Cairo was a fascinating city.
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Our first visit was to the Citadel of the "old" [not old by Pat's historical standards] city. It was built by Saladin around 1176.
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The 19th-century Muhammad Ali Mosque is one of the showplaces of the city.
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There were lots of kids because it was a school holiday. But everywhere in the world, bored kids are bored kids and cell phones always rate over family outings.
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The inside of the mosque was beautiful with carvings and stained glass.
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The pulpit was not in use (although there were people there saying daily prayers), which gave some more obedient kids a chance to pose.
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Then we went to a market--the first of many many markets we would see.
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Some of the textiles were lovely but it was hard to admire them for long. If you so much as paused and glanced at them, the shopkeeper swooped in like a predatory hawk.
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We also went to see the old part of Cairo, with its narrow streets and heavy stone construction.
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The first-century AD Roman fortress survives only in pieces and was mostly rebuilt over the years. The Romans were the first to bring water (an aqueduct) to the area of Old Cairo.
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| The Hanging Church (so called because it hangs over the remains of the Roman aqueduct system) is a Coptic (Christian) church. Like many of the various eastern Orthodox denominations, Copts take great pride in the beauty of their icons. |
>> Memphis and Giza
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