EXOTIC CAIRO
Cairo, Egypt, a city of 18 million, is an exotic mob scene of the old and the new — traditional and modern dress, donkeys and BMWs, shanties and expensive hotels — in an ever-changing kaleidoscopic pattern.
Newcomers pouring in from the countryside find themselves vying for limited space. The massive graveyard around the "must-see" Mosque of Qaitbey in northern Cairo is full of the living and the dead as masses of the homeless live among the mausoleums.
The city’s major source of income is the tourists, and the locals are friendly and the guides well-trained. You have a problem? The general response is, "No problem. We’ll take care of it."
Cairo looks unfinished: Steel construction rods stick out of the tops of buildings whose upper floors lack windows.
In some sections of town, few of the houses are painted, which adds to the feeling that they are still under construction. This facade comes under the heading of tax avoidance. People in Egypt don’t pay taxes on unfinished buildings, no matter how long they have been unfinished.
In many of the places I have been in recent years, I have been aware of bribes and general corruption.
For example, in Russia and Pakistan, police stop drivers for minor infractions and are given bribes so the hassle of going to court can be avoided. I didn’t see signs of that in Cairo. Neither was I aware of many beggars, although someone always seemed to be trying to sell me something.
Egypt doesn’t make it onto any of the lists of the most dangerous places in the world. Because of terrorist attacks in the late 1990s, however, there is a preoccupation with security in Cairo, as tourism accounts for one-fifth of the Egyptian economy. At the entrance to my hotel, there was a metal detector and several guards, and white-suited police are visible everywhere. Even McDonald’s had an armed guard.
CAIRO TRAFFIC
If the guide of our tourist group said something would take five minutes, she meant less than half an hour. If she said half an hour, it meant less than an hour and a half. It’s called Egyptian time. Getting places in Cairo takes time, and it’s not because drivers don’t drive fast — they do. It’s just that streets seem to run in some kind of pattern where there is much backtracking.
Traffic is heavy and dangerous. The city planners haven’t discovered the concept of lanes, and drivers are constantly switching back and forth wherever they see an opening. You might be in three lanes of traffic and a moment later traveling in five lanes. The driving is precise with bare inches between the sides of cars. Seeing how close you can come to rubbing together seems to be a macho thing here.
Any car older than five years has many dents, and even newer cars have the wavy lines that indicate that the metal has been pounded out. The taxis are old Fiats and Peugeots painted black and white like our police cars. Most of the taxi drivers have given up on having the dents knocked out, so they look like something out of a demolition derby. There are more Mercedes than you would expect, given the general poverty. It’s always an interesting contrast to see an expensive modern car sharing the road with a donkey cart.
MAGNIFICENT RELICS
If you’re into collecting the great sites of the world such as the Great Wall of China and the Taj Mahal, Egypt is a great place to extend your list. The pyramids create awe but also leave you with questions such as "How were people 4,500 years ago capable of creating such a marvel?"
The pyramids are on a high plateau, so you can see them while still surrounded by Cairo. To see them in splendid isolation, you need to go around to the side where groups of people stand taking photos, trying to ignore the friendly natives who are endeavoring to sell them stuff by setting up a personal relationship. There was always a hawker trying to shake my hand, wanting to know where I was from.
Cairo’s pyramids and sphinx two of the world’s top attractions
It is recommended that you overcome your claustrophobia and crawl into the center of one of the pyramids. The electricity was temporarily off when we visited, so we missed that experience.
A fair number of camel renters are not making a living there, given the paucity of tourists willing to ride one. Child hawkers push postcards and miniature copies of the pyramids, which seem to be in too large a supply — I saw no one buying them.
The Sphinx was smaller than I expected, and you are not allowed to get too close, but it provides some classic photo ops with the pyramids in the background. The light-and-sound show is recommended.
The Cairo Museum turned out to be one of the great museums of the world, even considering all of the archeological relics that have ended up in the major European museums. Many travelers reach the high point of their trip when seeing the loot from King Tut’s grave. Because he was such a minor king, his tomb went undiscovered until 1922, when Howard Carter opened it.
The display of objects from King Tut grave are also world wonders.
The 1,700 objects from his tomb fill about a fourth of the large second floor. On his body were found gold toe and finger covers and the famous golden mask created with his features. This was placed in a gold-covered casket, which was inside another and all placed in series of larger and larger boxes. He even had war chariots in case he ran into a war in his afterlife. The person who did the autopsy on his mummy said Tut probably died from being dragged behind a chariot after he fell off.
SOME SUGGESTIONS
The guides often have arrangements with specialty shops to get some of the profits from visitors they bring in. Our first guide in Cairo had an arrangement with a perfume palace. We were told we would be given the history and lore of perfume making, but it was a blatant sales pitch. The various dabs they put on me pushed me to the point of nausea.
Another guide took us to a papyrus museum that was also an opportunity for him to make extra money out of what we bought there. Not having learned our lesson, we also ended up at an alabaster factory that was one part factory and 12 parts sales room.
On the other hand, we looked forward to our visit to the famous bazaar area of Cairo that stretches for blocks, perhaps miles, through narrow passageways and alleys, occasionally breaking out into a street. The objects — jewelry, metal work, clothing, leather goods, alabaster — are beautiful and all to be bargained for. The salespeople have learned to set up friendly relationships quickly. I found an incised copper plate I liked and, after much furious bargaining, ended up with two for $50, less than half his asking price. Later the guide told me I had paid double what most locals would have paid.
A dinner cruise on the Nile is a part of the charm. The food is excellent, and if you take a boat with servers dressed in old Egyptian costumes, you get a bit of royal ambiance. You also will have a good view of modern Cairo, which has many impressive new buildings.
Once you get there, Egypt is an inexpensive vacation. The country is well-prepared for tourists, and language should be no problem. Because there is so much to see and getting around can be difficult for an outsider, I recommend going with an organized tour and taking the cruise from Aswan to Luxor.
A dinner cruise on the Nile is a must when you visit Cairo
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