Because it was so early we couldn’t get into the hotel so we decided to go for a walk to the North Bank to the Cairo Tower ….. We had seen this on The Amazing Race a couple of weeks before we left and it wasn’t far from the hotel so we headed off across the Nile on the Qasr El Nil Bridge. The challenge was getting across the road to actually get to the bridge – at 7am the traffic was already manic.
The Nile looked just amazing with the sun rising over it and a fairly heavy fog covering most of the city …… On Amazing Race the Tower looked pretty impressive – lots of polished granite and glistening metal – the reality however was a bit different and I suspect that the producers paid the local government a good sum of money to clean up all of the places they wanted to film.
Probably the best way to describe most, if not all of Cairo, is a work in progress. Everything seemed to be in stages of construction, reconstruction or demolition – or a combination of all 3! Anyhoo ….. after checking out the Tower – and being told in no uncertain terms by a number of security guards that the tower was not open to the public yet (duh since it was only about 8am) we trekked back to the hotel, realising on the way that the fog I mentioned earlier wasn’t actually fog at all – it was smog and even heavier than it had been earlier.
It was going on for 9 by the time we got back to the end of the bridge across from the hotel and about 9:30 by the time we actually got across the road to the hotel !
Traffic in Cairo is INSANE and we only eventually got to the hotel because a local was kind enough to grab us and run us across the road during a split second quiet spell. Crossing any road in Cairo is like playing a live version of Frogger ! The road outside the hotel was a one way, 5 lane road with no lane markings and 24 hours a day it’s bedlam. The few sets of traffic lights we saw we mostly for decoration – green for go fast, amber for go faster and red for floor it to get in front of the oncoming cars! Indicators? What indicators? If the driver wants to change lanes then that’s nobody’s business but his….. I say ‘his’ because I don’t recall ever seeing a woman driving.
Traffic in Cairo is INSANE and we only eventually got to the hotel because a local was kind enough to grab us and run us across the road during a split second quiet spell. Crossing any road in Cairo is like playing a live version of Frogger ! The road outside the hotel was a one way, 5 lane road with no lane markings and 24 hours a day it’s bedlam. The few sets of traffic lights we saw we mostly for decoration – green for go fast, amber for go faster and red for floor it to get in front of the oncoming cars! Indicators? What indicators? If the driver wants to change lanes then that’s nobody’s business but his….. I say ‘his’ because I don’t recall ever seeing a woman driving.
Taxis – are everywhere …. And if you are on foot then you must need a cab because they will cut across traffic, reverse through traffic and stop in the middle of traffic to call out to you (harass you).
Car horns – are constant! 24 hours a day
Smells – Hmmm …. This varies from exotic spices in areas close to the markets to a smell akin to an open sewer – that isn’t a totally accurate description but it’s a smell that makes you stop and ask “what’s THAT ?!” ….. In one of my first jobs as a kitchen hand I was told to clean out a grease trap which I don’t think had ever been cleaned before and I vividly remember it being the most rancid, revolting thing I had ever smelt and that was the memory that flashed into my head whenever I encountered the ‘what’s THAT?!’ smell in Cairo.
Aside from those two particular aromas which were present in certain areas of the city there was an overall smell of what I can only describe as fireworks – a smokey, gun powdery smell that was present anywhere you went.
Car horns – are constant! 24 hours a day
Smells – Hmmm …. This varies from exotic spices in areas close to the markets to a smell akin to an open sewer – that isn’t a totally accurate description but it’s a smell that makes you stop and ask “what’s THAT ?!” ….. In one of my first jobs as a kitchen hand I was told to clean out a grease trap which I don’t think had ever been cleaned before and I vividly remember it being the most rancid, revolting thing I had ever smelt and that was the memory that flashed into my head whenever I encountered the ‘what’s THAT?!’ smell in Cairo.
Aside from those two particular aromas which were present in certain areas of the city there was an overall smell of what I can only describe as fireworks – a smokey, gun powdery smell that was present anywhere you went.
Markets – The Il Khalili market is the biggest market in Cairo and a great place to just wander and take in the atmosphere … if you don’t like being harassed by stall holders (which I don’t) you might find it a bit challenging though – stall holders / shop keepers in Egypt can be VERY pushy and VERY persistent. You also need to be careful that you enter the markets at the right end of the street – which we didn’t. The street is incredibly long and starting at the other end you are in the locals market which is an experience all of its own. Not a bad experience, quite the opposite really but it does get a bit daunting when you realise that you are about the only non Egyptians to be seen.
Guns – There are armed police everywhere you look – armed with machine guns in some cases! Now, the gun thing is probably what I found the most confronting while we were there. It’s not just the police you see them with – whether the other people are security of some sort I don’t know but they were in plain clothes and in some pretty obscure places. The enormous riot vans which just sit parked around the city is a bit off putting also!!!
Food – This trip was all paid for in advance so all of our meals were covered either in the hotels or on the cruise and we never had the opportunity to try anything that might be classed as ‘traditional’ - the interpretation of western food was certainly interesting though! lol ….. Do try to avoid desserts if you can …. From what we saw (and tried) they left a lot to be desired and a dessert in Egypt seems to be anything that has mock cream added on top! Not being a fan of mock cream – in fact I hate it with a passion – meant there wasn’t a whole lot to choose from. Milk is a challenge and tended to always be the powdered variety and was always room temperature. There was always a variety of sliced meats which were all referred to as ‘ham’ of some description – beef ham, chicken ham, lamb ham which is odd since they don’t actually eat anything remotely associated with pigs. We never saw any ham ham though. One night on the cruise though they did put on a baked ham dinner which was referred to as ‘pork meat’ …..? I’m sure the chef was cursing us all.
On our first night we were taken to Giza to see the Sound and Light show at the Pyramids - this wasn't pre[planned but our guide suggested it to us so off we went ..... Giza is not a great distance from the heart of Cairo but it still took close to 2 hours to get there through Cairo's evening peak hour - from memory we crossed the Nile 5 or 6 times in an effort to avoid the gridlock but nothing worked.
The show had started by the time we finally arrived but walking up the stair to the seating area to be greeted by the Sphinx washed away any frustration. What an overwhelming sight ! The audio track that accompanies the show is pretty tacky but the lighting effects are very well done and it's definitely worth a look.
As tacky as the show might have been in places it didn't prepare us for the bagpipe band - dressed as Pharaohs - playing Scotland The Brave as the crowd left !So that was our first day introduction to Egypt ..... we were most certainly not in Kansas any more !! We had 3 days in Cairo before flying to Luxor to join the cruise to Aswan. The great part about the Cairo stay was having our own dedicated guide and driver - this is definitely not a place to try to find your own way around in if you are a first time traveller.
I'll leave Egypt there for today but more on this one next time.
Apologies if the formatting for this one is a bit out of whack - still getting the hang of adding pics !!
3 comments:
I'm still trying to get my head around the bagpipe players dressed as Pharaohs. WTF?
great to hear aspects of Egypt not associated with the pyramids, thanks!
Thanks. I'm enjoying your trip.
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