Cairo. Sand, car horns, Nile and pyramids.

'Morocco.

Jordan.

Or Egypt.'

'Say what?!?' was my Mum's reaction.

'Morocco. Jordan. Or Egypt' I replied slowly this time without blinking.

With my Mum it's important you do not blink  when you want things to be done your way.

Blinking is the sign of weakness.

'Dear God. Now I'm sure you are crazy. 

When will you go and have normal holiday. 

Like normal girls do. 

You are joking, I know.'

No. I was not joking.

And I just love it when she pulls out this comparison with the normal people.

Hehe.

Arabic countries.

I have always found them appealing.

Oman, Yemen.
UAE.Qatar.

There is just something about it that is so different and it occupies my attention.

Even today still.

2006. it was.

Almost ten years ago.

And after planning, checking web sites calling some people - it was decided.

Egypt!

I had to do some compromising this time.

People I was with wanted to go to one of the Sharm al-Sheikh resorts and I was up for any place by the Red Sea.

As long as I go to Cairo and Luxor.

We ended up visiting Cairo, Alexandria, Hurghada and Luxor.

And we have missed seeing Abu Simbel.

It does not matter - one more reason to go visit Egypt again.
After I visit Yemen and Socotra of course.
:)

Cairo.

Population 16 mil?

They say that during the day all these people from the surrounding areas plus tourists add another 5-8 mil. people.

Not that I believed that information.

But if you go on the streets of Cairo during the day - you might think that this is true.

There are many things to see in Cairo: Egyptian museum, Giza necropolis, Islamic/Coptic/Jewish Cairo, Khan el-Kalili market...

I highly suggest you go and see them all.

And do use a taxi.

But the one you randomly caught at the street.

And do heckle for this ride.

I did.

And it was the most exciting (and noisiest) taxi ride I ever had.

Cars talk in Egypt.

By pressing the horn in the certain way you let others know where you are heading.

You do not need to know how to read to get your licence.

And traffic lights and signs mean crap here.

Cairo is very noisy city.

Millions of colorful cars with christmas lights on.

 

Streets are rather hectic and dirty.

All means of traffic are used.

You see people riding donkeys, chasing sheep and on the other hand you see luxurious cars.

Truth to be told, horse wagons like this one were to be seen in my country up untill few years ago.

In Egypt, I saw children going to school lined up in the back of the truck.

They were standing up, waving and smiling to the people driving by.

I loved streets of Cairo.
So different than what I am used to.

Managed to snap some shots while I was on the bus towards the hotel.

My first view of the Nile.

No crocodiles in it I'm afraid.

Lots of  tall, but unfinished buildings.

Apparently you do not have to have windows, or ceiling if you can not afford them and can manage without them.

For real.

It barely rains, ever.

And it is almost never really cold.
Some parts of the city are covered in garbage.
Literally.
Everywhere you look.
And between buildings - piles of sand.

We had a woman with us who lived in Cairo for 20 years.

She was a reporter for Tanjug.

One of those characters full of themselves.

She hated the Arabs.

And talked about the Egyptian tradition and customs in a way that she was mocking it.

But she was a real encyclopedia when it comes to Egypt.

I was absorbing every word.

The thing that I found uncomfortable in Cairo was all the military with riffles.
Wherever you go.

You had them at the airport, on the streets, in front of the hotel and by your side at the bus.

But after two days you stop paying attention.

On the third day I even managed to sum up a little group, and we went for a walk that evening.

By ourselves, no security.

And we had really nice time.

Cairo is like two worlds in one.

You have these streets covered in garbage and sand.

Kids playing with bicycle tires.

And then you approach the river and you have green parks, business district, famous hotels.

Looks nice there, by the river, especially in the evening.

Take a boat-top look.

 The Nile is very important for the people of Egypt.

It provides them not only food but is also the center of social interactions.

While wealthy Egyptians and their  international business partners spend their evenings in one of the many splendid looking restaurants or cruising the Nile enjoying the night views of Cairo,

most of Cairenes spend their evenings listening to the music, fishing and sitting on one of the many bridges over Nile.

I loved that.

Crowded bridges over the Nile.

We took a boat ride one evening.

While my friends were enjoying dinner and belly dancers, I  went outside on the boat, found a deck chair and lied back.

Enjoying night lights of Cairo.

People on small boats.

People socializing on the bridges and next to the river.

They bring food and tea.

Everyone brings music.

Gets quite noisy.

My hotel was settled in one very dirty and noisy part of Cairo.

Take a look.

Car horns all day.

And most of the night.

It was funny seeing all those grumpy faces at the breakfast in the morning.

Come on people!

View in front of the hotel.

But when you move the dusty curtains at the window, this is what you get.

You could almost touch them.

In the night they looked like this.

Laser show.

My camera was really bad ...

Night walk in the hood.

I remember kids approaching us at this walk.

People curiously watching us walking around.

I found it amazing that the butcher shops put the meat outside.

And cats were everywhere.

Of course.

One morning we went to see the sites.

I highly recommend pyramids first, then the museum, mosques, churches and in the end coffee and some shopping at Khan el-Kalili market.

Meaning you start really early in the morning.

Khan el-Kalili.

Tiny streets packed with stores.

More in depth you go it gets dirtier and weirder items you can buy.

And if you ask for directions towards the main square they always tell you 'Go left'.

'Left you should go'.

'Yes,left.'

I went left twice, then decided to try and remember how I got to where I was.

Before I took left.

Such a funny place this market.

You have to be really focused there.

Or you get lost easily.

I kind of did.

Mum was right.

Approaching Khan el-Kalili.

On the web they present this market like this.

It actually looked like this.

And I was really fascinated with The City of the Dead then.

It was forbidden for the tourists ten years ago.

Two German backpackers went in one night and they were nowhere to be found.

They probably went to Kongo or Tanzania.

But the word was they vanished in The City of the Dead.

Not that I had a wish to go there.

I was not fascinated with the fact that people live in this cemetery.

Poor people would use any kind of shelter for their families.

I have seen it happening many times.

I was striked that no one actually knew how many live there.

And these people had no rights as other Cairenes .

No ID of any kind - meaning no social care, no health care, not a right to vote or work.

On the other hand - they do try to have almost normal life (trading, crafting etc.)

We passed it several times during our staying in Cairo.

This is how it looks from the high way.

Now I read that tourists visit it, 

and it is listed as one of the attractions of Cairo.

Here are some photos of this lost city that I stumbled upon over the net today.

 

Variety is what this city offers you.

I must admit some parts of it look italian. To me they do.

And you can find nice stores.

Few people from my group heckled for some great tiles and small peaces of furniture.

I like big cities.

Especially if they are old and not so sterile looking.

And a bit odd.

That is why I liked Cairo very much.

 And so did my friends.

They said that staying in Cairo was the highlight of this journey.

And we stayed there four days.

Not enough time to see all it offers,

but if you organize well you can see much in four days.

What I liked the most about it was the fact that it is both so simple and yet so complicated.

And at 4:30 a.m., it finally gets quiet.

But not for long.

...........