Sunday and Monday in Cairo

Here I am, just about 24 hours after leaving Phoenix, finally getting into my bed in Cairo. This is a crazy city, even at midnight. The traffic is busy, busy, busy, and you have to know where you’re going to even think about driving here. Let alone read the traffic signs in Arabic

This is going to be a very short post just to say that I arrived after a long day of travel. I have to say, after experiencing premium economy level for the first time, on the flight from Phoenix to London, that I will never fly regular coach again on a trip that long. Premium economy is the BOMB! After having dinner and a couple of complementary vinos, I was able to fall asleep, and not wake up again until it was almost time to land in London.

There was a bit of an adventure finding my way around Heathrow airport, but I did find my gate in time to catch the Cairo flight. More about that later.

The Nile Towers hotel is really nice. My room is on the 30th floor facing the Nile and I’m going to try to post a picture I took of Cairo at night from my balcony.

Anyway, I have showered and am ready to call it a night. We’ll have breakfast in the morning, followed by a meeting with our guide, and our first tour tomorrow, Monday, at a museum here in Cairo

UPDATE MONDAY MORNING

From the hotel, what’s that in the distance?

BREAKFAST BY THE NILE

I’m sure that this will become routine after a few days, but the breakfast sitting by the Nile here in the hotel is very nice, though there are some food items that I don’t recognize. That being said, there are plenty of delicious treats for me to munch on.

It looks breezy and chilly outside, here by the river, but I think our tour today is mostly inside. Should I have brought a warmer jacket? Too late Let’s see what happens.

Have tried to upload a couple of photos, but having some technical difficulties. I’ll keep trying, but if I can’t get it to work, this will be one BORING blog.

MONDAY EVENING AFTER A LONG DAY

Well, we sure crammed a lot into our first day in Egypt, especially since almost no one get to bed before 1:30 this morning. Most were able to get breakfast, and then we gathered in the lobby to meet our guide, Mayer. It turns that I think we got the biggest bus in Cairo to haul the twenty of us around and fight our way thru absolutely unbelievable city traffic.

Our first stop was at the relatively new National Museum of Egyptian Civilization. As it turns out, this is the final, final resting place of many of the earliest Kings, or Pharaohs, of the ancient dynasties of Egypt. At one time they were located in different locations, including the well-known Egyptian Museum, but in a huge ceremony of pomp and circumstance, were moved to this location only a couple of years ago. Upstairs is a huge display of some of the artifacts from early Egyptian civilizations, including one of the oldest skeletons ever found. It is of a man who lived thirty-five THOUSAND years ago.

The highlight of this location though, is located down a sloping entrance to the basement: the sarcophagi and actual mummies of many great Pharaohs that were originally buried and then discovered in the Valley of the Kings, near Luxor. Each is displayed in its own room that includes a large golden plate with a description for that particular mummy, the years of the respective reign, and highlights and accomplishments of that person. Both the sarcophagus and the mummy are on display. Out of respect for this being essentially a burial ground, no photos are allowed. Even the guides are not able to ply their trade in that area, because quiet is observed, and the are plenty of guards to make sure the rules are followed. You might be able to find professional photos on the museum website. I’m going to add more museum shots below.

After leaving the museum, we headed for one of the main market areas of the city, where we again fought our way thru heavy traffic, but were able to see the people at work and on the move, shopping, eating, and doing their everyday errands. I’ll post a bunch of photos below of this truly amazing place.

We ate lunch in an Egyptian restaurant along one of the side streets. I chose a kind of an Egyptian beef pizza (thought it was gonna be a sandwich) with fries and a Pepsi - too much food; though it tasted really good, I couldn't even finish it. With a 12 per cent service charge and a ten per cent tip, the cost came to 170 Egyptian pounds, about $5.60 USD.

(Sorry, I’ll have to start being aware of how I take my photos.)

After lunch, we continued working our way thru the street market, one of the oldest bazaars in Cairo. So many shops here, selling every kind of souvenir that you can imagine, and other goods as well. Mayer stopped to speak with a vendor who was selling scarves, and ended up vouching for the price of 200 Egyptian pounds for each (about $6.60). So I bought this really nice one, both because I liked the look, and because the day had turned a little chilly by this time. It really made a difference for me on the rest of our walk.

We ended our walking tour at a corner at the end of the bazaar, waiting for our big bus to make its way thru the traffic to pick us up and return to our hotel. As we waited, the next call to prayer erupted from a nearby mosque. It was absolutely amazing: the voice of the Imman calling the faithful to prayers, the sounds of cars and motorcycles and busses negotiating their way into the flow of traffic, people bustling from there to here and back, and even a police siren try to move the traffic along. The perfect definition of cacophony. As our guide Mayer so deftly said it, “Cairo would die if it was quiet.”

Tomorrow is a big day visiting the pyramids with an early start. A little sunshine would be nice.

Almost everyone I talked to about this blog said basically that they wanted to see pictures and more pictures and not so many Jay-words, so at the end of each entry, I will try to post additional caption-less photos from the day. Any that you click on will show full-screen.

Thanks for following!

More Museum photos: