This is my second trip to Cairo, my first being 33 years ago as a college student. On that trip, it was my first time out of the country, not including short trips into Canada. For that matter, it was my first time on an airplane. It was a bit of a shock to someone who had not traveled much. The chaos, the dirt, traffic, the incessant requests for you to buy something, and the haggling involved were overwhelming to me then. I remember leaving Egypt thinking, “good riddance”, and that I would not be back. I was wondering what I had gotten myself into. By the end of that 5 month semester program, though, I was used to travel in developing countries, and the difficulties their citizens faced, and had already greatly mellowed in my views of Egypt. Thus, when we started planning for this trip, Egypt was one of the must-see destinations for me.
We were in Cairo from the 1st of November until the 4th, when we took the night train to Aswan. 33 years later, Cairo still seems the same. The only thing that has changed, is that they have a subway system now. It is not extensive, but it is a great start. The traffic, though, seems no better despite that. It is often faster to do an hour walk to get somewhere than to take a taxi, though walking involves a great deal of bravery and being quick on your feet. It is Darwinian theory at work. The city planners have given no thought to how pedestrians should be moved. You can be walking on a nice, wide sidewalk that suddenly comes to an end at a busy street, or highway, and no allowance is made to get pedestrians across the street. You simply start walking across multiple lanes of traffic, all while cars are honking, and if the traffic allows, moving at high speeds. The one word that describes it best is chaos. And being in a car just makes the chaos seem more intimate. Safety is not only a foreign concept, it is treated with contempt. On a least three occasions, taxi drivers told me not to put my seat belt on. On two of those occasions, they seemed angry when I ignored their request. Perhaps they felt that I was jinxing them, or they felt I was insulting their driving skills. Most of the time, though, that was not an issue, as the majority of taxis had seat belts that could not be found, or they were broken. And once you got moving, you found that while the street may be painted for two lanes of traffic, that there were at least three lanes of cars. Traffic signs and lights are treated as mere suggestions, mostly to be ignored.
Despite the traffic issues, getting around Cairo is definitely worthwhile. There are so many great sites to see, with the pyramids and sphinx naturally being the greatest ones. They are truly one of the seven wonders of the world, ancient or modern. You know they are big, but you cannot imagine how big. The thought of building them, particularly with the building methods back then, is amazing. No wonder some people claim they were built by aliens. There is much to be said, though, for perseverance and organization. I only wish I had been able to see them when they had the covering of gleaming, white limestone when they were built 4,500 years ago. We spent the day wandering around the pyramids, and it still wasn’t enough time to take it all in.
One of the more entertaining things that happened at the pyramids was being swamped by school kids. They not only wanted to talk to us; I think it was to practice their English, but they also wanted to have their pictures taken with us. They stood in a line to have them taken, one at a time. I found it very amusing, though Bjorn didn’t like it because it was too much attention.
We also got a lot of attention from people trying to sell things; soda, camel rides, books about the pyramids, shirts, papyrus paintings, and more. It was non-stop. People even wanted to sell their services as guides, despite not knowing much about the pyramids, and not being able to speak good English. They would not take “no” for an answer. Margit, though, has the best technique for getting rid of them. Just ignore them. Don’t speak and don’t look at them. I have a harder time doing that, and suffer the consequences.
We also went to the Egyptian Museum where they have all of the tomb artifacts. It is an incredible place, with one amazing thing after another, and you get to be face to face with them. Even the famous gold mask from King Tut’s burial coffin. What was also amazing is how poorly everything is taken care of. The windows look like they have never been washed. In fact, I didn’t originally realize they were windows until I looked at them for awhile. And the floors were not much better. Signage was nearly non-existent. I don’t know if it was because of neglect, or if it is an effort to get the tourists to hire a guide. We did, and it was worthwhile, though we did not have her for the whole museum. Still, because of the outstanding pieces they were working with, it has to be one of the world’s greatest museums.
I also took a walking tour of what is called, “Islamic Cairo”. It is a long street that has been fixed up as a pedestrian walk that winds it’s way past many beautiful, old Islamic mosques, palaces, mausoleums, and markets. The kids were not up for another walking tour, and needed some down time, so I did the walk by myself. Many of the buildings were over 1,000 years old, but had been restored to their original beauty. One of the guidebooks mentioned there was some controversy about it because it was a “sanitized” view of Cairo. I looked at it as a “cleaned up” view of Cairo, and while not the norm, I wish there was more of that. It was an area I had not previously visited, and it was wonderful walk, well worth it.
Mitch
11/11/2010
long4adventure