| Submitted by: Patrick Tarnay, United States |
| Submission Date: 04 February 2005 |
|
 |
|
We sleep until 11:00am. I head down stairs and tell the manager that we cannot afford another night. He then lowers the rate to 65LE which I agree upon. Its actually nice to be back in downtown Cairo, after the hawkers of Luxor. We are constantly stared at in Cairo, but there are no street hawkers to hassle us.
The Citadel is this afternoon's destination. The Citadel is a 900 year old Muslim fortress. Its 100ft walls were built to protect its mosques from the Crusaders. It's main attraction is the Mohammed Ali Mosque, the only mosque we've been allowed to enter (shoes off). It's exterior and interior are unbelievable. Comparable to Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The fortress sits on a hill which allows great photo opportunities and 360 degree views of Cairo. Entrance was 20LE each, the same price as ancient Egyptian attractions. They have to charge the same for Muslim history, of course!
Next stop is the Gayer-Anderson Museum (a large house), made famous by 'The Spy Who Loved Me'. Our guide book misleads us by claiming the museum is virtually across the street from the Citadel. Unfortunately it is at least two miles down the narrow 'Sharia Ibn-Tulun', a run-down street full of children, wild roosters, and a guy taking a leak in full public view. This wild walk would prove to be gratifying once we reached our destination. Having just a crude city map we found our way with no need for help or U-turns.
The museum's 20LE entrance allows Linda in, I decline the expensive fee. I wait in a corridor underneath a bridge connecting two separate sections of the home. I begin to snap a few photos of the beautiful Ibn-Tulun Mosque, the museum's next door neighbor. A few German tourists see my shot angles and begin shooting away themselves. While the Germans take their photos I hear Linda calling my name from the bridge above, and her guide joining in. 'Patwaa', 'Patwaa', the guide yells, not able to pronounce 'Patrick'. I could hear Linda laughing at her guide's pronunciation. A 5LE tip given in private to Linda's guide puts a large smile on his face. He spoke zero English!
We grab a 10LE taxi back to downtown. A 20LE phone card allows me to call home to Linda's mom for an update of our dogs and another call to my parents.
Tonight's dinner was at the Nile Hilton's shopping mall. The downstairs plaza offers 5 or 6 ethnic counters to choose from. Nice atmosphere, terrible Greek gyro, great Greek salad, good Thai curry, and 2 very expensive small cokes = 60LE. We then head to the Hilton's rooftop bar for more ridiculously overpriced drinks and beautiful Nile view.
|
Sleep until 10:00am, decide to hit 'Texas Chicken' for American fast food. We walk into an empty place with 3 employees. Of the 3, there is a young man that welcomes us and two young women that decide to start 'tonguing' each other for our amusement. We immediately depart, trying to figure what the hell was going on. We still have no clue as to what that was about. They definitely wanted to startle us. Very, very strange!!! We settle on the local McDonald's, once again.
We then head south, down Talaat Harb street to reach the American Express travel agency to try and purchase a 1 day tour to Saqqara. The next 2 hours in this neighborhood would become an adventure.
South Talaat Harb street is full of travel agencies. Stops to look at our guide book maps turned out to be terrible decisions. We were pounced upon by 'helpful' locals trying to drag us into their travel agencies and perfume shops.
The second offer was from a 30 year old well dressed local. Discovering we're from the U.S. he says 'what's uuuuup?'. I suddenly realize that this is the guy from the 'Felfella restaurant' that showed me the photo of Jimmy Carter. I don't admit my recollection. He tells us he just finished his afternoon prayers which includes a prayer to help people like ourselves. To no surprise we end up at a perfume shop. 'No, but shokran' we proclaim. He then says 'No shokran, you leave now!'. No problem, thanks for nothing! A career tourist hustler giving a bad name to his religion.
About 50 yards before our final travel agency destination, we're approached by the 3rd 'helper'. 'No thank you', as we point out our destination directly across the street. He walks along with us as we cross the street. Linda joking tells him 'you might take us to a perfume shop'. His jaw almost hit the ground!
'No, I have a flower shop', he says.
'No thank you, we leave Egypt tomorrow', I respond
'No problem, I sell flower scents in bottles' he says.
After two dirty looks, we duck into the MISR Travel Agency to find that they don't offer the one day tour we're looking for. We head to another AMEX agency at the Nile Hilton and settle upon their Saqqara ½ day excursion $52 US.
This neighborhood along Talaat-Harb street completely drained our energy and simply aggravated our perception of Egypt's tourism. 95% of the Cairo locals went out of their way to assist us in getting to our destination. Helping us clearly made them extremely happy and then off they went. The other 5% basically prey on the tourists to receive commissions on whatever shop they can get the people into. Once again, we're constantly bombarded by friendly smiles and 'welcome to Egypt' as we travel the streets & subways of Cairo. Many ambivalent feelings.
From the Hilton we head to the town of Zamalek for pizza at 'Maison Thomas'. Excellent large pizza, shitty salad, and two dinky cokes = 50LE. No bathroom facilities, so we have to wash our hands in their kitchen. We probably walked 6-7 miles today, so we buy a few oranges and a few beers on the way home, for an early night to bed.
|
6:30am wake up call, 2 ½ hours after the most brutal 4:00am prayer call. We've been able to sleep through the 4:00am calls, but this prayer seemed to come from the devil rather than 'Allah'. The same monotonous scream every five seconds for at least 5 minutes straight. Imagine somebody yelling into a bullhorn outside your bedroom window at 4:00am in the morning.
We head to the subway for pick-up at the Hilton and an odd incident. As we hop on the subway, we notice an albino Egyptian man getting a lot of stares. Suddenly, Linda and I notice all eyes begin to turn towards us. The new freak show has arrived!!! Flashing a friendly face for the onlookers, I turn toward the albino. He has joined his friends with the now familiar Egyptian stare. The locals have 'curious' stares. These aren't snooty stares, just a chance for them to see something they rarely see. Of the eight days in Cairo, we rode the subway at least 6 times per day. The only foreigner we saw was a Caucasian woman in business clothes. Other than her, we saw zero foreigners, not even a backpacking tourist on this subway.
At the Nile Hilton we're put into a mini-van with two British women, a strange looking American man, and a French couple. We have a driver and a great English speaking guide named 'Abel'. He wastes no time busting out the ancient Egyptian jokes. 'Ramses II had 150 children which began the population problem you see here in Cairo's traffic.' And 'Ramses II lived to be 90 years old which is amazing considering he had 70 wives.'
First stop was Southern Memphis, one of the city centers of Ancient Egypt. A small tourist site with a few stone pieces where Ramses II had written his name over the previous Pharaohs' names. The second largest sphinx is here, but pales in comparison to the Great Sphinx. The centerpiece of this site is the gigantic statue of Ramses II that would have stood at least 75 feet tall. Unfortunately it has since fallen and is only intact from the kneecap and up. I regret leaving my camera in the van.
Abel was well versed in Egyptology. He presented us with a few mysteries of Egyptian feats. For example, a 350 ton obelisk at the Temple of Hatshepsut has writing on it explaining its transport down the Nile by boat. This is almost inconceivable. He then explains that the mystery can only be solved by the Egyptians' devotion to their kings & queens. He follows this up by saying that Europe no longer builds elaborate cathedrals due to the decline in belief.
Next stop is Saqqara, home of the first pyramid ever erected 6,000 years ago, Zoser's Step Pyramid. Attempts to refurbish a once standing wall around the pyramid was not very impressive, only about 10% is genuine. A French architect by the name of Jean-Phillipe Laure has spent over 75 years of his life on this project. Sadly he is now 97 years old and the completion will not be seen in his lifetime.
Abel tell us of the Step Pyramid's architect, Imhotep, perhaps the founder of chemistry. Abel was kind enough to snap a few photos of us with the huge pyramid in the background. Fabulous site with that same indescribable feeling we got at Giza.
While Abel allowed us to roam the grounds of the pyramid's surroundings, we struck up conversation of tourism in Egypt with him. Admitting our frustrations of the hawkers in Luxor, Abel tells us that Egypt has major tourism problems. He himself sees no hope for change in the country's attitude toward tourism. He mentioned that only 3 million tourists visit Egypt each year, and that Spain by itself enjoys 20 million per year. I didn't dare mention our home town's 30 million/year intake because Abel was very sad while explaining his statistics.
Next stop was the nearby Pyramid of Teti, now a large mound of rubble. Unlike the pyramids of Giza, this pyramid is covered with hyrogliphs and drawings inside. King Teti's sarcophagus still remains inside his underground burial chamber. Snap a few shots then head to his next door neighbor.
The tomb of King Kagemni was the highlight of the Saqqara tombs. With no other tourists or groups around, Abel was able to explain the ornate drawings on the tombs' walls with no interruptions. Abel walked us through at least five rooms, explaining each detailed drawing. The portrait of pulling a calf across the Nile which made the calf's mother follow along with her herd. A man force feeding swans while another swan tried to bite the feeder. A hippo biting an alligator that had a hold of another hippo's leg. Men dragging heavy loads on sleighs while one man pours oil in front of the sleigh. This gives evidence that rollers were not used to transport heavy objects such as pyramid stones, since rollers would be worthless in the desert sand. Abel earned his 20LE tip at this site alone.
Last stop is an obligatory Egyptian tour stop, an expensive rug factory. Small children hard at work. The factory's guide tells us that the children are orphans that are given homes and 6 hours of education with 2 hours of daily rug weaving. Their fingers are clearly overworked with effects that will undoubtedly catch up to them later in their lives. A tour of their massive gallery reveals extremely expensive rug works ($700 - $120,000 US). |
|
| Copyright © - "Patrick Tarnay" |
|
 |
| Other travelogues by the same author: |
|
|
|
