Adventures in Africa: Cairo, Egypt

Yesterday morning we came across the Nile from Giza into Cairo itself. It is our last night in Egypt, and we wanted to stay in the old city. We picked the beautifully restored Gamaleya Boutique Hotel, which is a truly special place. 

Our Uber couldn't get through the crowds and traffic of the tiny street, so we ended up walking the last several hundred metres. Once we checked in, we were brought to our bedroom on the top floor.

Gamalaye is owned by an Egyptian-Canadian doctor, Dr. Ibrahim Kassissia, who lives and works in Montreal, but whose grandfather once owned this house. He bought it several years ago when it was in terrible shape and completely restored it. 

On the ground floor Dr. Kassissia runs an artisan cooperative, where master artisans are practicing and teaching copper work, filigree, tapestry, and so on. 

While vibrant and bustling, Cairo's old city is evidently suffering from a lot of challenges--pollution, traffic, poverty, etc.--and apparently the ancient arts are dying. Dr. Kassissia is attempting to reverse this by having apprentices, including young women, work with the masters. 

After a bit of relaxing, we headed back outside. Here are some photos from the block or two around the hotel. The decorations are in anticipation of Ramadan starting in a few days.

We did not spend much time exploring the old city just yet, however, because we had tickets for the Egyptian Museum, so we headed there next. There are several major museums in Cairo nowadays, but the Egyptian Museum is the "classic" one at Tahrir Square. 

Our Uber dropped us at the square in front of the museum, and we found a nice restaurant nearby to eat lunch. 

The museum itself lives up to its fame. It is full off mummies, statues, treasures, and other artifacts--to the point where the sheer number is overwhelming. 

The contents of Tutankhamun's tomb are here still (I understand they are likely to be moved to the new musuem over by the pyramids), and are far more stunning to see in person than any photo could ever suggest. Unfortunately, you are not allowed to photograph them. I was especially impressed with King Tut's famous mask.

As we left the museum it was late afternoon and our next stop was the Nile river for a sunset felluca cruise! We bought this tour online for about $30 USD each, which is likely too much, but seemed convenient. We arranged to be picked up at the museum and we were driven down to the dock. These fellucas are the traditional style of Nile sailboat, and there are many of them on the river. 

We spent a lovely relaxed hour out on the water--it is remarkable how quiet and peaceful it can be on the river given how loud and crowded and polluted it is in the city all around. This video captures some of the tranquility.

I suppose a sailboat at sunset is inherently romantic, but all the more when you are on the Nile river, perhaps the first river you remember ever learning about!

Less romantic, but still interesting was the (very slow) drive from the river back to the old city. Now it was rush hour (maybe a ridiculous concept in Cairo since traffic just seems awful at all times) and we were moving at nearly a literal snail's pace for much of the drive. Some video gives just a sense of the noise and bumper-to-bumper-with-pedestrians-sprinkled-in traffic, although at this point we were in fact moving.

At other points we were not moving at all, or barely, and at least once we made contact with another vehicle, although at such low "speed" that it was of no consequence. Here are some other pictures I took from the car:

Back at the hotel, I met Dr. Kassissia for the first time and had a nice exchange--he was pleased to have Canadians join him, and of course I was interested to meet the creator of the incredible place! Dr. Kassissia introduced us to Mariam, one of the copperwork students. Mariam demonstrated some of her work to us. 

But because Mariam is trying to learn English, Dr. Kassissia had her take us a for a little walk and show us some of the old city and where we could get dinner and such. So, Mariam, and a young man evidently very interested in Mariam, took us out and around and for some dinner. It was now dark, so not an ideal time for photographs, but it was a fun way to spend the evening. 

We fly to London late this afternoon, but we began our day with breakfast with Dr. Kassissia and some other guests--another great experience! We also learned that with our arrival Dr. Kassissia had vacated our room and moved into one of his dorm rooms! After breakfast Dr. Kassissia took us and another couple of guests around the corner to see a former, many-century old reservoir which is more-or-less just behind the hotel. Mariam came along, too, and then Dr Kassissia asked her to keep the tour going, so Mariam led us another couple of blocks to Bayt al-Suhaymi, a 400 year old home that has been persevered as a museum. This was just one of the many impressive rooms:

We spent much of the rest of the morning at one of the old city's lovely tea shops. 

After that it was lunch and then off to the airport. 

Certainly it was a great few days in Egypt: I imagine I will remember the Nile, the old city, and certainly the pyramids forever, and Dr. Kassissia's hospitality and Mariam's youthful artistic passion were wonderful to experience. However, I also have to say that, despite all it has going for it, Cairo is the worst city I have ever visited. Its traffic and pollution are well known, and they are bad, but if anything these might have actually been better than I expected. But what really got under my craw was the shameless culture of deceit, grift, and harassment, at least directed at tourists. As readers of my blog know, I have traveled all over the world, and it is not as if I have not been exposed to elements of this many times over; but I am sad to say that I have never encountered anything as bad as I experienced over three days in Cairo. I do not share these unfortunate reflections lightly: I am typically inclined to be open-minded and generous in my assessment of places, especially given how little time I actually spend any one place. But I have been unable to come to any better assessment of Cairo than this. To further emphasize how bad it was: prior to visiting Cairo I assumed I would return to Egypt, perhaps more than once, to visit places like Luxor, Lake Aswan, etc.; now, I am not sure I would ever go back.