We obviously didn't have a chance to get online while in Cairo...
Tuesday we headed to the airport around 1:30am and took off around 3:30am, arriving in Cairo around 6:30am Cairo time. As for our experience with Egypt Air, it was just fine, but no Air France :o) The breadfast they served had an enourmous egg and a beef hotdog, along with other miscellaneous food; the flight attendants were pretty much all big burly men. Kay had arranged for Expedia hospitality (an Egyptian man named Mustoufa) to greet us there and take us to our hotel, the Hilton Cairo World Trade Center Residence. Mustoufa also set us up for our tour the next day.
We had a great shuttle from the airport to the hotel where we were able to get our first glance at the city as well as the Nile. There were so many buildings that looked run down and dirty! Laundry hung out of windows, dirt streaked buildings, some buildings were even leaning far to one side...There were also many beautiful buildings - we actually saw a few Christian churches (one that was absolutely HUGE) as well as mosques.
We took a short walk once we checked into the hotel and went looking for food/drinks/pharmaceuticals. I was a little shocked at first at how dirty things were; there was a lot of trash strewn around and just dirt and dust everywhere. It was a very sharp contrast from the shiny, new Dubai we had left just hours earlier.
Once we had stocked up on provisions (including Coke and Pepsi in glass bottles - my favorite! - and soda cans with the old pull tabs - which Kenton had to show me how to work because I swear I don't remember them), we went back to the hotel and slept for a few hours before going to the Arcadia Mall and eating in a cafe - Trianon. Of course, we did shop a little afterwards...
That night we took a boat ride on the Nile and had the whole boat to ourselves. It really was a beautiful experience although the boat had some generator troubles so the man taking us on the ride wasn't able to turn on the lights. This caused a passing police officer to yell something at him that we couldn't understand. We ended up cutting our ride short in order to get off in front of our hotel and avoid another cab ride...more about that later.....
We ate at the hotel restaurant/lounge that evening and sampled some local wine (tasted more like water) and beer (the Stella local was our favorite).
A few quick thoughts:
There is a strong police presence in Cairo. Most of the time they seemed to pretty much stand around watching traffic more than actually directing it or stopping anyone. They are however fairly heavily armed.
There are around 15 million people who live in Cairo. This does not count the millions that come in as tourists, workers, etc. You can imagine how crowded that makes things. And the TRAFFIC....wow. You have to experience it to believe it.
I think there are actual lane markings on the streets, but I'm not certain because NO ONE adheres to them if they are there. Sometimes the traffic is 3 lanes wide, sometimes 5 or 6 - in the same area! They pretty much just drive however and wherever they feel like it, trusting that no one will make a sudden move. Pedestrians will just walk out in front of fast moving traffic, stopping in between lanes, then continue to cross. Drivers will actually accelerate even with pedestrians in front of them. Horns are used creatively and apparently with meaning for short vs. long blasts etc. in order to communicate direction and so on.
Tuesday we headed to the airport around 1:30am and took off around 3:30am, arriving in Cairo around 6:30am Cairo time. As for our experience with Egypt Air, it was just fine, but no Air France :o) The breadfast they served had an enourmous egg and a beef hotdog, along with other miscellaneous food; the flight attendants were pretty much all big burly men. Kay had arranged for Expedia hospitality (an Egyptian man named Mustoufa) to greet us there and take us to our hotel, the Hilton Cairo World Trade Center Residence. Mustoufa also set us up for our tour the next day.
We had a great shuttle from the airport to the hotel where we were able to get our first glance at the city as well as the Nile. There were so many buildings that looked run down and dirty! Laundry hung out of windows, dirt streaked buildings, some buildings were even leaning far to one side...There were also many beautiful buildings - we actually saw a few Christian churches (one that was absolutely HUGE) as well as mosques.
We took a short walk once we checked into the hotel and went looking for food/drinks/pharmaceuticals. I was a little shocked at first at how dirty things were; there was a lot of trash strewn around and just dirt and dust everywhere. It was a very sharp contrast from the shiny, new Dubai we had left just hours earlier.
Once we had stocked up on provisions (including Coke and Pepsi in glass bottles - my favorite! - and soda cans with the old pull tabs - which Kenton had to show me how to work because I swear I don't remember them), we went back to the hotel and slept for a few hours before going to the Arcadia Mall and eating in a cafe - Trianon. Of course, we did shop a little afterwards...
That night we took a boat ride on the Nile and had the whole boat to ourselves. It really was a beautiful experience although the boat had some generator troubles so the man taking us on the ride wasn't able to turn on the lights. This caused a passing police officer to yell something at him that we couldn't understand. We ended up cutting our ride short in order to get off in front of our hotel and avoid another cab ride...more about that later.....
We ate at the hotel restaurant/lounge that evening and sampled some local wine (tasted more like water) and beer (the Stella local was our favorite).
A few quick thoughts:
There is a strong police presence in Cairo. Most of the time they seemed to pretty much stand around watching traffic more than actually directing it or stopping anyone. They are however fairly heavily armed.
There are around 15 million people who live in Cairo. This does not count the millions that come in as tourists, workers, etc. You can imagine how crowded that makes things. And the TRAFFIC....wow. You have to experience it to believe it.
I think there are actual lane markings on the streets, but I'm not certain because NO ONE adheres to them if they are there. Sometimes the traffic is 3 lanes wide, sometimes 5 or 6 - in the same area! They pretty much just drive however and wherever they feel like it, trusting that no one will make a sudden move. Pedestrians will just walk out in front of fast moving traffic, stopping in between lanes, then continue to cross. Drivers will actually accelerate even with pedestrians in front of them. Horns are used creatively and apparently with meaning for short vs. long blasts etc. in order to communicate direction and so on.
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