Egypt in one week

Because of my experiences with Middle Eastern dance and music, Egypt, even more so than the other countries we have visited, has been a land of my dreams. I remember going to Expo 86 as a teen and being enamored with the Egyptian exhibit. The romance has never paled.

Our fight from Kenya touched down briefly in Sudan before depositing us in Cairo. Somehow by flying North, we gained an hour, making it 10:30 pm. Entering the country was easy- 15$ for a visa stamp and filling out three forms. We had booked a hotel that included a free airport pick up. The driver was supposed to be waiting at arrivals holding a sign with our names, but we didn't see him. Our first con (fresh meat) was attempted by talking to a guy who had an official badge, telling us he was an official airport greeter. We told him about our missing pick up and asked him about a pay phone. He offered to call on his cel phone. He called the hotel for us and the hotel stated that they didn't have our reservation. We hadn't paid in advance, but had sent more than a few correspondences, stating our booked dates and arrival times. I took the phone and talked to reception, thinking this guy might be lying to us. Nothing. The guy with the phone tried to sell us a hotel room for a ‘great rate’ of LE400 ($60) a night- ours only cost $25, with breakfast! He then tried to sell us a taxi ride to our hotel (they did say they had room). I had lost trust with him so we were in the process of securing another ride when Heath luckily spotted our driver, outside in the throng of taxi touts, waving our names. He was late and apologized saying he had a hard time navigating the crowd at the doorway.

In under an hour we were downtown, on a wide awake Cairo street full of street vendors selling clothes, families with small children eating ice cream, people walking, talking, laughing, shopping. The clothing and shoe shops were open and brightly lit. The shoe selection was insane- strappy and glittery platform sandals to basic flats. The vendors had their racks right on the road, condensing two lane traffic into one. Our historic room was larger, cleaner and more beautiful than I'd have expected for the money we were paying. The 5^th floor balcony looked down on the busy street.

Raven's dream come true with the amount of shoe possibilities

Our room included breakfast, and we were fed a substantial one with rolls, butter, jam, cheese, a hard boiled egg and Turkish coffee. We walked around the old Islamic quarter on our first day, taking in the street markets, historic buildings and ambiance. Traffic is busy. If you want to cross the road, you can't hesitate. Like India it goes nonstop.

The second day we hired a car to take us to the pyramids. We went to three different sites outside the city including the nearest, but not the oldest, Giza. We were able to go inside two of them. We also kicked down and rented horses and a camel to get around Giza. The metropolis of Cairo just ends in desert. Boom. Suddenly you are off the road and sights of asphalt and apartments, then you can see endless desert. Sand blows everywhere.

Day three saw us walking to the museum. The first floor was a yard sale mix of ancient Egyptian stone carvings. We had no idea of what we were looking at as most of it was unlabelled and our guidebook was out of date and didn't correspond to what we were looking at. The second floor was much more incredible -a wealth of items removed from the pyramids and tombs; gold jewelry, sarcophagi, mummies and more. We didn't pay the extra ticket to go in to the mummy room. We had reached saturation by then, and tired of the “Extra fees to see the good stuff”. Why not just include it in the overall ticket price?

random shop of wares

That night I wanted to see an Egyptain folkloric group perform live music with dancers performing the Sufi dance – similar to the whirling dervish, but with more colourful costumes. Heath and Raven were tired after our pyramid day, so I jumped solo into a taxi for the 8pm show. Our guidebook said to arrive one hour early to secure a seat. The taxi driver wasn’t exactly sure where I was going, and dropped me off near enough. I started walking towards one building to get directions and realized it was the mosque of the neighbourhood. There was prayer happening at the time, and after being told I had lots of time “It doesn’t start until eight” by the caretaker, I was ushered inside, told to take off my shoes and was led up to the minaret. Luckily I had been wearing a scarf around my neck and was able to cover my head respectfully for the tour. I had small apprehension of being led through a dark mosque alone, with a man I didn’t know, but sometimes you just have to trust, and take the opportunity that shows itself to you. I am glad I did as there was a stunning view of the city at twilight. From the top he showed me where exactly I was to go for the show. After some baksheesh and my shoes back on, I carried on my way. Many of the seats in the show were full by now, but being alone enabled me to secure a most awesome single seat right at the middle front of the cultural center.

The music was awesome, the performers talented. Super tight tabla. My favourite was the zils player. He had such character. The performers were all male, dancers and musicians alike. Sufi dancers turn and turn and turn. At one time there were three of them whirling around the stage. They wear skirts which accentuates the spin, as well as acting like props, as they can raise them to cover their upper bodies, or take them off, spinning them above their heads before folding them neatly and giving them to a band member to keep, never stopping their twirling.

When we went to Alexandria, we had connected with a couple guys through couchsurfers. Islam was to meet us at the bus station. Unfortunately, after our 3hour bus ride on a super comfortable highway bus, we arrived at the wrong station- way out of town. When we called him (borrowing yet another stranger’s phone), he said he’d meet us. When we called him an hour later he said he was running late, and would be another half an hour. He was another hour after that. This has been the only problem we have experienced surfing- waiting long times for people to meet us. I think we expected him by car, but when he arrived, he walked us through the station and into a micro bus for half an hour, then onto another micro bus for another half an hour, before getting close to his house. He lives in an apartment and kindly gave up his room for us. We were exhausted, but had a late night socializing with the flat mates. It seemed rude to escape to bed, but all we wanted was to sleep.  

The next morning we woke and Islam took us by bus to a cafe by the sea. The Mediterranean Sea is a beautiful blue green. We marveled at the little fishies living in the rocky shallows that we were overlooking, then realized they were feeding off of whatever nutrients were coming out of a small drain-spout. Men were fishing in the traditional small boat net way, just off shore.

Next we walked to the new Alexandria library. The old one was famous for the amount of manuscripts held in ancient times. The ruler had made a law stating that any written material that came by ship was to be seized and copied and held in the ancient library. Unfortunately, that library had been destroyed a few times over in the past. This one was ultra-modern. We went to the small Egyptian Greco museum inside, which displayed a sarcophagus, statues and other various relics from the area. There was a map of the coastline of ancient Alexandria superimposed over the current coastline. The sea level has risen drastically since ancient times and most of the ruins are either well under the city or underwater. An underwater museum is being considered. What a feat that would be.

The same day we took cabs to the Pompeii Pillar, the catacombs and the ancient Amphitheatre. What a surprise to realize cabs only cost 5LE while we have been paying 20LE or more, in Cairo, without a local guide! We sure are getting tired of paying more than our fair share. Last stop for the day we attempted to go to the fort, but it was closed, so we had gelato instead. Islam’s friends met us so we picked up dinner at Gads and walked to a sheesha café. We all sat around a small table and socialized, drank lemon juice and a couple of the guys smoked the sheesha. We left for home reasonably early.

The next morning Heath and I ran down to the sea to take a quick dip in the Mediterranean Sea. We didn’t have enough time to go to a cleaner beach. We paid LE 4 to get onto the beach, then got suckered into paying a bit more for table chair and umbrella that we didn’t really need as we weren’t staying. I think we thought it was part of the package with paying to get onto the beach to begin with. The water was colder than we expected. The guys walking along the shallows with a big net to collect all the garbage hadn’t finished the job, as we still swam in plastic bags and other assorted debris.

After bathing and changing at the flat, Islam gave us directions to the closest bus depot. We then took a mini bus along the shore, then walked till we found a coffee and breakfast spot. I walked to the station to get the beta on buses. I didn’t find any of the big comfortable ones, so inquired as to trains. We were in luck; one was to leave at noon, same price as the bus. I booked us 3 second class seats. The journey was perfect, and we arrived to Ramses station, walking distance from our hotel. Time to get our big bags out of the storage room and re-pack for England, get last minute ticket details sorted, etc. We did manage to sneak in a last dinner cruise on the Nile Maxim. There were a few cruises with entertainment to choose from, but we went with one that was a little bit pricier, so we’d ensure good food and entertainment. We were not let down by either. They had a salad bar with actual leaf lettuce and even a spinach salad. I must have gone back 4 times. Raven and I split a main course, and she had the desert. The first entertainment after the ‘muzac’ lounge lizard style player was a full Egyptian band, with tablas, accordion, recorder, singer. They played for both of the following acts. First up was the sufi dancer. I am really glad Heath and Raven got a chance to see this more traditional style, with its roots in religion. The third act was dancer Leila. I would guess she is from the States, most of the girls that dance for the upscale crowds are western, not Egyptian. She was highly charismatic and polished. She danced three shortish sets, a gorgeous costume for each one. True Egyptian cabaret style. She always danced on the little stage, unlike our restaurant dancers who dance among the tables for gathering tips in her hip belt. The dancer here gets paid well enough so she doesn’t have to troll for tips. Most of the tables were set in a semicircle everyone has a good view. Because we hadn’t reserved a table ours didn’t have the best view, but we moved closer to enjoy the dancers.