| Page Views: 871 Last Visit to Cairo: January, 2005 | amazing cairo by catherineneill - last update: Jun 5, 2007 |
I am always really excited before a holiday, but this time i am scared. I had heard so many bad things from friends, people duped, accosted etc. I read on the foreign office website that Sinai was on high terrorist alert, my mother was begging me not to go (please understand the northern irish fear of the outside!!) But after bombings on tourist buses in 1997 the police have cracked down and it is a lot safer. I was also worried about killing my travel companion!
The police rode camels around the pyramids, the sook was great, it was unbelievable. You cannot capture the atmosphere on camera. Cairo has over 16 million people, and our tour guide happily told us all the facts - it is the most populous area in africa, and 7th most populous in the world. |
More than the pyramids Yes, of course there are the pyramids and spinx, but cairo has so much more to offer. Modelled on Paris with wide boulevards ,modern cairo is on the east of the nile and you can see any of the top of the range international hotels, including the nile Hiltons and the heraton. There are also plenty of restaurants and a good atmosphere. Sharia Tahrir and Liberation square are very busy areas and here you will find all the big western fast foodchains, the bureaucratic government area and the american university are all in this area. we basically found it to be like any big city, except a lot more chaos! and exhaust fumes. Remember, 17 million people live here, something i cannot even imagine coming from a country of 1.5 million!Modern cairo includes the islands you can see.
Garden city (corniche el nile) is a nice area with lots of big houses and a few up scale shops. here you can see the embassies on tree lined avenues.
The one thing that struck me the whole time in cairo was the poverty everywere. Buildings are unfinished, people are living in them and there are no rooves or windows. It seems like everyone is living on top of one another. It was the most amazing thing i have ever seen, but it was sad too.
My Favourite part was Khan el Khali. Going into the sook was quite an adventure. My tips show how to speak to the traders in arabic. The bag shops had really good copies! The atmosphere was unbelievable, we were advised to stick to the main street and not stray, but we ended up on a side street looking for a spoon. A man closed his shop and took us along backstreets and THROUGH houses until we had a pied-piper style following. we eventually found a spoon, and we got to see bits of cairo tourists never see!
old cairo was amazing. it is the one city to which i really want to go back one day. Masr al qadima is what the egyptians call old cairo. It stretches to coptic cairo where you can see the 5 remaining christian churches, the coptic museum and synagogue. It also has the oldest mosque in egypt. |  | | modern cairo, just like any big city? |
|
| | city of the dead (Qarafa) by all my faveourite part of all my holidays EVER. if you do this go with a listed tour guide. DO NOT GO ALONE. city of the dead is made of 4 or 5 cemetries and people live here in the tombs. Cairo has a chronic housing shortage. it was amazing, i cant describe it at all. It was an important burial ground for the mamluks from 1250ad. You can see people hanging their washing between gravestones! There were even shops. It was so eerie, we hardly saw any people about but there were signs of life around. |
> Add to your Custom Travel Guide [What's This?]
| Pros: | "fantastic, fantastic and fantastic" | | Cons: | "busy busy - keep that wallet and camera close" | | In A Nutshell: | "pyramids are 1/100th of what you can do and see" |
catherineneill's Cairo Travel Tips
 Comments for catherineneill about Cairo | | | | |
RickinDutch Sun Apr 16, 2006 00:00 UTC
Birthday greetings from Alaska! | MalenaN Thu Jan 5, 2006 08:12 UTC
Cairo is a busy, but lovely city! Next time I would like to visit the city of the dead. | Saladinos Wed Dec 28, 2005 09:19 UTC
hi catherine. Nice cairo pages but I am sure you have so much more to say about your cairo visit. Any plans to come back again? Happy new year. Cheers |
|
|
email me
add as friend
