Cairo 2018

The story of my trip to Cairo is in three parts.

One is about being treated with such care and thoughtfulness by my youngest son.

Two is about how beautiful the place is in a myriad of ways.

Three is about a book and a swimming pool I will cover in another post.

 

My youngest son left home last August to work in Cairo and I had not seen him for 7 months.  I went for a long week-end which covered Mother’s Day and my birthday.

He organised for a ‘meet and greet’ to welcome us from the plane and take us through getting our visa and passport control.  It was extraordinary how VIPish it felt as this elderly, distinguished in a shabby sort of way, guy took us through all the business class channels in double quick time and drove us back to my son’s flat.  He did both entry and return.

Secondly my son booked a guide and a driver for two days.  I am used to guides, but not on a 1:1 basis.  It was a little like when we went to Cuba which was our last big holiday before FH left and we had a guide and driver for our family.  You learn so much because you can ask every little nerdy question you can think of and of course, they are unfailingly polite.  And our guide Naveen even came with us when we haggled on the market.

She is a fascinating, charming and engaging woman of a certain age who had resisted all proposals of marriage and had taken a degree in Egyptology and become a tour guide after watching Harrison Ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark.  I have learnt a lot about Egyptian culture from her although I will never remember all the Pharoahs and dynasties she does.

The first day we went to the Citadel, Coptic Cairo and the Egyptian Museum.  Tourism is just returning to Egypt, but it was not a busy time.  The plane both ways had lots of empty seats.  The weather was T shirt with a light breeze and very pleasant.

I came to Cairo before on a tour with my two sons about 15 years ago, and remember being stunned by the Tutankhamun collection at the Egyptian Museum and an even vaguer recollection of the Pyramids before we got an overnight train to Luxor.

I loved the Citadel for the view and Coptic Cairo for the churches.  It reminded me of Jerusalem.  The Egyptian Museum was even dustier and tattier and some of the Tutankhamun exhibits are currently on a world tour, but it is overwhelming, because everything bar the Rosetta Stone (which is in the British Museum) is original and the fact that they are in some ways poorly curated makes them more accessible.

On the second tour guide day we went out to the Pyramids and Islamic Cairo.  I realised the first time I came it was a whistle stop entry via the Sphinx whereas this time we went to all different parts of the site and saw the Solar Boat.

Although I studied History at university, I have never been a details person, but I feel history and am moved by it in an emotional way.  Those pyramids were built 2,600 years before Christ and much of their construction still remains a mystery.

 

When we went to Islamic Cairo in the afternoon, I fell in love with the ambiance of the place and the fantastic stone carvings and minarets on the exterior of the mosques.  They take your breath away.  We had lunch in the café named after the Nobel prize winning author Naguib Mahfouz.

I want to promote Cairo as up there with the Pragues, Berlins, and Bruges of this world – although the beer may not be as good.  There are amazing things to see.  The food is infinitely varied, always fresh produce and beautifully presented.  We loved the Lebanese restaurant on the City Square of Al Rehab that served piquant lemon mint on a bed of crushed ice and had a daytime view of 100% women smoking shisha pipes.

According to the Egyptian Mail I read on the plane, Egyptian men prefer Syrian women or any foreigner as they find Egyptian women peevish and Egyptian women prefer rich, old men.

There are all the ubers you need to get you anywhere and they are very cheap.  The driving is 50% crazy and 50% of the time the seat belts don’t work, but it provides work for a lot of men.

The population is 20.5 million and is likely to double within 35 years.  Go now before the desert is covered with landscaped, gated communities.  The people are so welcoming.  Good eye contact.  Lots of smiles.  We lost count of the number of ‘Good Mornings’ and ‘Welcome to Egypt’.