Pyramids and Souqs (Cairo ~ Egypt)

December 2019

What's not to love about Cairo? Actually pretty much everything! - and we have traveled through some truly awful big cities in our time like Dheli, Tehran, Lanzhou, Auckland...

However had a bit of a "down the rabbit hole" experience on our first night here. Looking through TripAdvisor found reference to a Greek restaurant not far from where we were staying. Went down to where is was supposed to be and couldn't find it, a local gentleman pointed up towards an unmarked doorway and some stairs, at the top of the stairs was a members only sign, stuck our head through the door to a large very empty dining room. We inquired about the restaurant and in response we were asked if we wanted to eat inside or outside. Outside we said and were led to a enclosed courtyard laid out like a Greek taverna. The first question the waiter asked when we were seated was "Two Stellas?".

Had a very relaxing and peaceful dinner.

However when we came to pay realised we had left all money in the hotel. "Not a problem, pay tomorrow" was the response. Suffice to say we dined here three of the four nights we stayed in Cairo.

Spent a day wandering around seeing some of the local sights until the noise and dirt got to us and we sought refuge in the hotel. The first stop was a Nilometer used for measuring and predicting the level the Nile would be. A high predicted level meant good harvest meant higher taxes.

From there we headed into the Souqs. On the way there saw this guy delivering bread and a bicycle.

Within the Souqs area there are some craftsmen making things they way they have for a very long time. Wooden buckets and barrels, engraved marble plaques, foods. One of the many sugar laden desserts here is made from strands of what looks like vermicelli but isn't. It's made by dribbling a batter mix onto a spinning hot plate so that by the time it's travelled three quarters the way around its cooked and a scraper will remove it and feed it onto another spinning plate.

There are, even today, still a few craftsmen whom make Fez in the traditional way.

And tent makers.

Parts of the Souq area are quite cool with the overhanging buildings and some amazing architecture however the hassle factor was quite high.

The primary reason for visiting Cairo is to head out to the Pyramids at Giza and Saqqara. Was going to see Memphis as well but ran out of energy.

The pyramids are great and I had a scramble around inside a couple of them - very constrictive/claustrophobic and slopey passage ways.

Sadly no organisational effort has been made to help tourists. Such as entry and exit signs on stairs, restricting numbers into a tomb designed for only a few people. Found it's a culture of do the minimum possible unless there is some bakeesh in it.

Personally the highlight for me was seeing the reconstructed funeral barge. The barge was originally deconstructed and stored in a pit covered by stones and sand. I imagine it was done along the lines of what better to ferry a dead Pharaoh to the afterlife than a "dead" barge.

From Giza we headed to Saqqara which holds a step Prymaid (ziggurat) and multiple tombs. Great paintings and carvings within the tombs. Our "guide" assured us that the colours on the walls were original but given that they have been exposed to sunlight and flash cameras for an extended period of time I have my doubts. Must admit that later on I found out that my scepticism was unfounded. The hieroglyphics and stone work is truly amazing.

Luckily for us we were in Cairo on a Sunday as that is when the museum has a nighttime opening session. What this meant was that the museum was damn near empty. Having seen the queues to get in during the day was really glad to visit at night.

Would have liked to get a photo to King Tutankhamun's golden mask but guards are very strict and anyone caught taking a photo of the mask, or without a permit in these rest of the museum, gets their memory card erased!

Getting to the museum is a tiny bit of a challenge as you need to cross a major road (three lanes of traffic running each way). There are some traffic lights which slow things down a tad but still a less than fun experience - even with the human shield technique.

Our last day in Cairo was spent doing a day trip out to the Wadi Al Hitan aka The Valley of the Whales. En-route we passed through one section that was littered with millions and millions of flat sea shells dating to when this area was under water around 40 million years ago.

The site contains hundreds of fossils of some of the earliest forms of whale, the archaeoceti. Spent a good couple of hours wandering around looking at fossils. In the on site museum they have two of the largest fossils on display. The largest weighs in at 25 tonnes.