Cairo, Egypt

We arrived in Cairo, Egypt at around 1AM to find the streets packed full of people. Now with a population of 2o million, I suppose that this might often be the case. However, what we didn’t realize is that it was Eid al-Adha, a Muslim holiday "the festival of sacrifice." Which explains why we had such a difficult time finding a hotel room! This is the view from our window. Downtown Cairo is a very dilapidated, dirty city!

The next day we headed for the famous Egyptian Museum. After standing in four different lines and going through metal detectors we made it in. What takes most people half a day to see took the Eisenbrauns a little over an hour. We are not museum people...however, it was fascinating...mummies, the treasures of Tutankhamun, jewelry, statues, death masks etc. all packed into an old dusty building that is literally bursting at the seams.

Cairo does have some beautiful old buildings. We spent a lot of our time wandering the streets of downtown...causing quite a scene. It is almost like the people of Cairo have never seen a tourist before (to be fair, the only ones we saw were in buses). We also sampled some delicious Egyptian foods...chicken shwarma, kushari (a mix of noodles, rice, black lentils and dried onions served with a fiery tomato sauce and garlic vinegar) and felafel.
The Pyramids of Giza. Does this not look like a movie set??? Crazy! The pyramids are smack in the middle of the congested city of Giza. We had a driver (thank goodness) who helped us buy our ticket and get through this mayhem. The locals were literally getting "smashed" trying to get through the gate. When the pyramid "officials" saw us we got right in. We both felt a little guilty about the preferential treatment.
Up close the pyramids look more like a pile of rubble....but impressively large! They are guarded, and have a "do not climb" sign.
We got out in the nick of time, as the locals came in droves to see the pyramids during their holiday. We also got hassled for horse, camel and cart rides. Very distracting as the animals were in VERY poor shape...which was hard for us to see.
Our drive home through the suburbs. Garbage piles on both sides of the canal. We watched a young girl walk out and dump the family garbage can over the side of the bridge and into the water below. Very disheartening.
We noticed that VERY few buildings were "finished." We have since heard two theories. One is that the family keeps "growing"....so if the son marries, they can add a level for him and his family. The other is that if the building is not finished they don't have to pay the taxes on it.
Coptic Cairo is the heartland of Egypt's indigenous Christian community. This is the Hanging Church, as it is built on top of the Water Gate of Roman Babylon. There is also a synagogue within the high stone walls, which explained the metal detectors and guards in full riot gear. On to Alexandria!