Cairo is a very old, noisy, crowded, dirty, polluted city. That being said I am glad to be here experiencing it for myself. Me and DeWayne got her at different times yesterday with my flight from South Africa (Johanessburg) took 8-hours and in all from Rochester to Cairo (via NYC-JFK and Istanbul, Turkey) took DeWayne and total of 18-hours. Needless to say we were both exhausted from the traveling and after dinner crashed for the evening. We are staying at a local hotel called the Golden Tulip Flamenco on the little island of Zalemek on the Nile River. It is a hotel that one of DeWayne’s colleagues at HWS recommended as they stayed here several times and found it to be a good place. Its not the Hilton but its is nice. It is filled with a lot of tourist from all over the world. It is a pretty good deal at only $74.50/night for both of us that included a full breakfast buffet each morning. Breakfast was actually very good this morning.
Today we spent a day out touring the pyramids at Sakarra and Giza where the Sphynx is as well. On the recommendation of everything we read on line and of colleagues who have been here before we have hired a local licensed tour guide. Her name is Naglaa Samir and she and her husband work as a team. She is the guide and he is the driver. We also wanted our own personal tour guide and did not want to book a tour with an over crowded large tour company that would rush you through the sites and keep you on a tight schedule. This way we will get to also personalize our trip and do what we want to do. There is so much to see here so we have set a three day itinerary that will allow us two days in Cairo and one full day in Alexandria.
OMG they drive like maniacs here. There are no rules on the roads and most streets do not have stop signs so you just go when you can. Most of the cars on the roads are dented and banged up from what has to be a series of fender benders over the years like the ones we saw at several times throughout the day today. I am from NYC and I would not dear risk driving in this city. The roads are beyond congested and chaotic. The roads in a lot of places are not paved and are in disrepair. Pot holes are every where and you are also sharing the road with all sorts of other cars, trucks, and donkey pulled wagons (especially outside the city on the way to Sakarra). That being said our tour guide and driver got us around the city to our various destinations safely and back to our hotel. My closest reference point to this type of congested traffic was when I went to Bangkok, Thailand in 2004 for the International AIDS Conference. The congestion, pollution, and chaos there is exactly the same.
Our first stop today was at the Step Pyramid in Sakarra. The pyramid of course is famous for being the oldest in the world. It like most of the monuments here in Cairo are so old that most of them are under some form of restoration as is evidenced by the scaffolding around most of them. Tourism is of course a major industry here and boy have they figured out how to capitalize on it. You pay an entrance fee for each pyramid site (60LE, about 12 USD) and another fee to actually go down into the second large pyramid at Giza.
We had lunch today in Giza at nice restaurant from which we could see the pyramids. It was a set menu of humus, egg plant, and pita bread as an appetizer followed by a mixed grill dish (I just had chicken) with rice and frence fries. Dessert was a orange that was actually very good.
After lunch we then went to the pyramids at Giza. This is actually a complex of 9 pyramids (3 large ones and 6 smaller ones) and the Sphynx. The great pyramid is a site to behold as is the second pyramid of Pharoah Kufu. This is of course the last of the Seven World wonders to remain on that list of the originals. You have to walk out in the sand and of course today of all days while we were are at the site it was a bit windy and the sand was blowing all around. So we got to experience a bit of a sand storm as well today. I think I have managed to get all of the sand out of my hair finally but most likes not out of my sneakers. The Sphynx is actually not as big as it looks in pictures. It is still an amazing site to behold as well. Especially when you think about how long it has been.
The pictures speak for themselves. Tomorrow were set to visit the famous market area (shopping), the world famous Egyptian museum, and old Cairo where the Citadel is. Bye for now and thanks for reading my ramblings.
Sheldon
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