“But what then? What had he really gained by all this trouble? What had he brought back from this long and weary journey? Nothing, say you? Perhaps so;…Truly, would you not for less than that go around the world?”
― Jules Verne, Around the World in Eighty Days
Go-Date: Day 58, Thursday. March 21
Lesson Learned: Cairo is a difficult place to visit. You are a captive in your hotel, unless you are very adventurous. Threatening? No, quite the opposite. The Egyptian people are very friendly, kind of like a card shark is to a sucker at a high-stakes poker table in Las Vegas.
OK, that may be harsh….but, outside the doors of your hotel you are fair game to the locals. Hail a cab, and they don’t understand a word you say, but will agree to take you there. Wherever there is. It can be a game to work that out, but they see it as fun and profitable. If you try to follow your route from point A to point B you will think you are being taken for a ride (maybe you are), but it may be that in this insane Cairo traffic they are taking the most efficient route, even if its 10 kilometers longer. Seriously, traffic here is insane.
Most streets are unwalkable, unless you know the unwritten code of how to dodge cars, scooters, Tuk-Tuks, and other pedestrians. Crossing the street is a challenge for the physically fit. My suggestion is to find a woman in a burka, grab hold of her hem and move across the street as she does. This is not a sure-fire solution, but it increases your odds of survival.
You won’t find a cute sidewalk café like in Paris, but you will find an Egyptian huka bar full of old dudes smoking (the bubbling sound is unmistakable), fussing, and staring at all outsiders. Places you want to stop and eat are hidden. They are there, you just have to look for them. Some of the best places look like a burned out crack house from the outside, but are a dark, clean, lovely place inside with amazing food. We suck at finding this hidden pearls.
It’s a city with a frentic pulse, strangely friendly people, and a flavor I’ve never tasted before. Maybe its an acquired taste, but we found it challenging, and difficult to navigate alone. Our style of travel is to shuck guides and drivers and explore. We didn’t find Cairo to be amenable to that. Most Europeans go point-to-point with a cab or driver. I haven’t met anyone that just went out and explored the streets more than a few blocks from the hotel. Also, when on foot you really do realize just how huge this city is. You could walk all day and never leave Cairo proper. My suggestion is to pick your sights, get a driver, see them, and move along. This city is huge, spread out, and to my mind not walkable.
Rack em and Stack em Antiquities
The best way to describe the Egyptian Museum is that they have so many treasures here they don’t know what to do with them. The vast, beautiful, tired 100 year-old building and grounds are overflowing with artifacts and rare treasures that if a fraction of them were shared in other museums they would be the star attraction. They’re all beautiful, fascinating, and overwhelming to the first-time visitor.
Everyone that comes here wants to see items from the tomb of Tut Ankh Amoun. The boy king died age just 19 and was buried with a conspicuous amount of treasure, most of which are on display. Knowing that he ruled for only 6 years, can you imagine how much treasure was looted from the tomb of Ramses II that ruled for 66 years?
On display is his solid gold mask, decorated with turquoise, lapis and coral, also his gold mummy belt, cases and other jewelry. These priceless items are in a separate room of the museum and no photography is allowed which sucks, since this is the biggest reason you came. His artifacts do take your breath away.
There is a brand new museum nearing completion in Giza close to the pyramids, and across the street from the Four Seasons Hotel. All the King Tut artifacts will be moved to this site and a lot of the treasures that are in storage today. Keep in mind that there are 750,000 artifacts on display in the museum, so its more of a storehouse than a typical museum.
It’s a beautiful building, but it could use about a 50 million-dollar upgrade. Mostly in air conditioning, lighting, better protection for the artifacts, and non-glare glass on the storage cases. It sucks to try to take a picture of an amazing artifact and have glare on your picture. Egypt truly has too many treasures to display in the manner they deserve. If you were not prepared or looking, you would walk right past the statues that appear on the Egyptian Pound 100 and 200 pound notes. These are antiquities worth seeing. As it is, many of the treasures are stacked on top of each other and often covered in plastic as repairs go on. The lighting sucks, and rooms wander off in crazy directions. You need an Ikea-like map to guide you so that you make sure you see everything of value.
This is a MUST SEE location. I may whine (and I’m prone to that) but the museum is sensory-numbing. I mean that there are so many magnificent pieces you become desensitized to them. Pick a dozen, any dozen and take them to another city and those pieces would be the star attraction.
I don’t care a lot for Cairo ( I don’t dislike it, either) but you should come in town and see the pyramids, the Egyptian Museum, Old Cairo, Memphis and Saqqara, the Citadel, and Garbage City, and then get the hell out of Dodge.
This city has amazing sights.