Dear Readers,
The travelogue below describes in detail the 4 days I spent in one of the most historical places in this world, Egypt. Grab a cuppa tea or coffee and read this with a relaxed mind..Happy travelling!
CAIRO-PART 1
1755 hrs.Dusk was setting in as I reached this massive city on the 18th of January 2005. The first feeling that I got from the railway station was that it resembled Chennai Central station SO much!! Similar kind of lights and platforms and what not..Since I had lots to do and limited time, I decided to start off right away, and so, bag in hand, I hired a cab to see the Cairo Tower in the suburb island of Zamalek in Cairo. Bargaining is the rule of the street in Egypt, just like it was in Bangkok. No matter where your going or what your buying, you can always bargain yourself into a better deal if your patient and persistent enough. Hence after settling an amount with the cab driver, I reached this massive 120 meter high tower, beautifully built in 1960. It was not a monument, but nevertheless, when I went to the top floor and looked over, I was floored. Stunning views of entire Cairo were on offer, and the timing was perfect. The street lights and the receeding rays of natural light as twilight set in made my first impression of Cairo superb, I just couldnt wait to see more. The Nile, serene in its calmness and beauty, extended in front of me, as pleasure cruise liners made their way slowly along the waters, happy people enjoying on its surface...
Back on the road, one more cab, more bargaining, fifteen minutes of a drive, and I was in front of Sun Hotel, my cute little budget accomodation for two nights in Cairo. When I mean budget, I mean it costs peanuts. Of course, peanuts cost far less, but trust me, it was cheap, around US$ 4 per night for a double room, without bath.
Now I dont know what I did right here, but my hotel was BANG in the middle of the action, in a place called Midan Tahrir. This place houses the famous Egyptian Museum (yes, the place with the mummies and King Tutankhamuns tomb and what not, but more on that later) and has the American University of Cairo nearby and it as such, one of the ’’happening’’ places in Cairo.Delighted with my luck, I checked into my room, and got our of the place, heading straight to Khan-E-Khalilil, one of the most famous market places in Cairo. It was 8 pm by now, and the best thing was to explore the markets at this time..Cairo as such is Mosque City, there are soooo many mosques thats its hard to understand why they have so many. For instance, in some places, hardly 5 metres separate two massive mosques! Khan E Khalili houses some of the oldest and finest mosques in Egypt, some of the names of which are Al-Azhar Mosque and Islamic University (founded 970 A.D and it is also the worlds oldest university) and Saeed Hassan mosque. I explored this market, found out relative prices of souvenirs and stuff, prayed, and jus soaked in the sights n sounds as massive loads of tourists from all over the world flocked the place for shopping. The next day was Eid, so even the local egyptians were out on full force, enjoying the preparations for the big day ahead. Dinner was sheesh kabab, kofta, hummus(not the eating thing, but a new drink!) n somethin else. I thought the bill would be quite a bit, but when I saw it, was amazed! cost me just around 15 Egyptian Pounds (LE), thats around 8 dirhams(Dirhams is the currency in the UAE)! I was stuffed. At 2 am, with Khan E Khalilli resembling a carnival of sorts, I reluctantly decided to head back to my room, since the next day the Eid prayer was apparently gonna be at 0630 and I needed to be there!
With a violent jerk, I woke at 0600, After a hot shower (thank goodness for the hot water, it was around 7-8 degrees man!!), I headed for the 1st mosque to be built in Egypt. Called the Amr-bin-al-aas mosque(642 A.D), this was situated in the area of Futsat, somewhere close to Coptic Cairo (or Christian area of Cairo), also called Babylon in history or Old cairo. This mosque was MASSIVELY big...it was not special in anyway, no special architecture of anything like that, but itwas just simple and big and being in there with atleast 20000 people made me feel a part of them. I could swear that I was the only Indian in there, and im sure that was true..hehe..
First route for the day was the Coptic area (houses all the churches, cathedrals etc of the Christian history of Cairo) which was right next to the mosque. Since it was too early at 730am for these places to open, I had no choice but to see it from outside only. Then I boarded the Metro Rail of Cairo for the first time to a station called Sayedda Zainab, which would connect me to the Islamic section of Cairo. The Cairo Metro is punctual and comfortable, just like the Bangkok Metro, but it is not as clean, and the facilities are also not the same. There are no elevators to the station underground like in Bangkok, you only have stairs, and the announcements are few and rare and mostly in Arabic. But nevertheless, the metro serves its purpose, which is to transport people fast and for cheap!! A long trip would cost around .75 LE (Egyptian pound) or 75 piastres.
I wanted to see the Ibn Tulun mosque (976 A.D), which is of of the biggest and oldest mosques in Cairo, and has some stunning architecture. In the quest for that I started walking from the station…it was a long walk, with locals directing me to the destination as I passed roads streamed with blood as slaughtering of cows and goats was going on in full swing after the eid prayers. Curious westerners, armed with cameras were ready to take pics of this usual ritual for Muslims, and I just walked past them with a smile. After walk of around 1.5 kms I reached the area called Islamic Cairo. This is the area were mosques have been built every 5 metres or so..there are lots of madrassas as well… each and every mosque is a monument..some are soo ruined that prayers are not conducted, it is just for viewing, the other sturdier ones still conduct prayers. Ibn Tulun mosque was massive, more like a fort than a mosque. It is totally open mosque, with a roofless courtyard in the center and sheltered prayer areas in all four sides.
PART TWO OF CAIRO IS IN EGYPT-General section! Check it out!