Cairo

I arrived at length at Cairo, mother of cities and seat of Pharaoh the tyrant, boundless in multitude of buildings, peerless in beauty and splendor, the meeting-place of comer and goer, the halting-place of feeble and mighty, whose throngs surge as waves of sea.


-Ibn Battuta, 14th Century globetrotter





Flying into Cairo, I was surprised by the vast desert that surronded the huge city. It was a bit shocking to be back on the road again, after a week in England, but was thrilled to see Toriann waiting for me outside of customs. We made our way to a taxi and somehow picked the one taxi driver that had a bone to pick with the security gaurd. After we threw our luggage in trunk, the security gaurd was practically in the car beating on the our driver. The driver was not phased though and drove away, leaving the gaurd, yelling, in the dust. Welcome to Egypt. :)


Honestly, I was so nervous to travel into Egypt. After the hectic, always hasseling, invading your space, crazy traffic of India, I thought Egypt would be even worse. And then two days before we were supposed to arrive, there was the bombing in the tourist market. But, so far, and not to jinx anything, Egypt has been a pleasant surprise. The men can still be assertive and foward, you still feel as if you are always being ripped off and everyone has a shop or expedition that they insist you must visit, but overall, our experience in Cairo was safe, pleasant and incredibly rich with amazing experiences.


Our first full day in Cairo, we arranged a private driver to take us to the great pyramids of Giza. We were driven straight to the 'Office of horse and camel to pyramids trip', where we met Mahmoud, a friendly Egyptian man who after much haggeling led us onto the pyramid grounds on Moses and MickeyMouse, our camels for the day. We spent about 3 hours wandering the huge area that surronds the 9 pyramids. There are 3 main pyramids, built for 3 pharaohs from the 4th dynasty-Cheops, Chephren, and Mycerinus. The three were a son-grandson trio who ruled in the 26th century BCE. The surronding six smaller pyramids were built for the wives and children of the pharoahs, and all 9 of the pyramids contain its own funery complex. When one of the rulers died, the mummified body was brought across the Nile by boat and placed to rest in the scared center of the pyramid. After taking in the immenseness of the pyramids, we climbed off Moses and Mickey, and entered into the largest of the pyrmids. It was largely disapointing, way too hot and claustraphobic, and steep. The small tunnel down into the pyramid led you to a small room, and then another tunnel back up into another small room. The rooms were all empty and although it was cool to be inside, that was about it. Everything from the pyramids had been removed and was now in the Egypt museum.


Next we rode to the nearby Sphinx. The Sphinx was so much smaller than I imagined, even though it is 80 mt long and 22 mt high. He looks pretty friendly, even with his missing nose and ear (which are in the British museum). The identity of the Sphinx is still debated, but Egyptian folklore says that he is half-human, half-tiger who protects the pyramids from theives....however, if that is his purpose, he seems to have done a pretty average job.


After completing our tour of the pyramids, we realized that riding a camel was not the most comfortable thing in the world, and realized we were both sore and stiff. But, no time to rest, we headed off with our driver to our next destination-Saqqara.


Saqqara is the home of the famous Step Pyramid of Zoser I. Built in 2630 BCE, it is the worlds oldest funerary momument and the inspiration for the pyramids. It was designed by the innovative architect Imhotep, who was not satisfied with a simple rectaungular design, but instead went with a stacked, layered look. The pyramid seemed to be under a lot of construction and about half of it was blocked off. Toriann and I decided to hike around to the back to take a look though and once out of sight of the gaurds was invited into the blocked off area by a local 'guide' He rushed us past the fence and down the stairs into the base of the pyramid (which is certainly not open for visitors!!) He then led us to see the statue of King Zoser I, hidden from visitor as well by construction barricades and a large stone with a small peep hole. It was amazing to see, so happy to break the rules, which we normally never do :), and see another side of Saqqara.


After Saqqara, we made our way back to the pyramids for a late lunch and then another camel ride to the top of a sandy hill to watch the sunset over the pyramids. It was a bit painful to get back on the camel, but we mastered the crazy camel gallop. Mahmoud, our friendly host, provided us with tea, sheesha, and a marriage propousal for Toriann, including 17 camels, 2 horses and 2 kilos of fruits. It was tempting for T, but since he already had 3 wives, she decided to say no...(she would rather have the first wife position). juuust kidding.


The next day we spent enjoying Cairo and the Egyptian museum. We had amazing coffee at one of Cairos famous coffee shops before spending a solid 3 or 4 hours in the museum. The museum is immense, one of the worlds greatest collection of artifacts, although the display is very average. According to Lonely Planet, the museum holds over 100k artifacts and if you spent 1 minute looking at each display, it would take you over nine months to work your way through the museum. Toriann and I loved the Tutankhaumans room and the jewelry rooms.


Our afternoon in Cairo was spent wondering around Islamic Cairo, visiting the Wikala mosques and the great bazaar of Khan al-Khalili.


Exhausted from walking so much of the city, we had a quick dinner at our favorite Fafafel place and headed to the train station for our overnight train to the south of Egypt-first stop Aswan.