Cairo, Saqqara And The Pyramids
It’s obvious as soon as we wake up that it’s quieter, Cairo’s volume levels have been ever so slightly reduced. It’s Friday morning, the working week here is Sunday to Thursday and today is of course the weekly day of prayer. Traffic is lighter and the streets are quieter, though as we were to discover later in the day, the respite is to be short lived.
Absorbing ourselves into Cairo life has meant abstaining from alcohol – much as we enjoy bars, beers and nights out, we have been determined to do things the local way as much as possible. In truth, it’s pretty easy to do here, with the only easy access to drink being inside the bigger hotels, although apparently there are some hidden downtown bars too if you want to go looking. We have done neither, with coffee and mint tea becoming our staples.
Egyptians adore coffee. Traditional coffee houses, dimly lit and still mostly a male preserve, are in nearly every street, but regardless of whether you choose one of those, or a set of streetside plastic chairs, or a more contemporary establishment, the coffee is always excellent.
Watching over the city from Cairo’s highest point is the ancient citadel, an imposing castle built by Salah Al-Din from 1176 and the seat of Government for nearly 700 years. What really dominates the citadel skyline though is the Mosque Of Mohammad Ali, a mammoth structure based on Istanbul’s Blue Mosque. As well as this giant mosque, the citadel also houses a number of museums, one of which – the Military Museum – does little other than demonstrate just how much of its recent time Egypt has spent fighting one enemy or another. National pride holds the whip hand over tragedy, it seems.
Friday prayer time dawns as we stand outside the mighty mosque. From up here on the hill, the multitude of calls to prayer wail across the city, so evocative, and now it once again becomes the haunting, spine tingling sound of Asia rather than what it is downtown, where it is just another layer of decibels on the city soundscape.
In a way, the citadel is a microcosm of contemporary Cairo: a smart marbled courtyard with cafe, gardens and gleaming military hardware rubbing shoulders with the crumbling buildings of history. The entire city seems to bear the same contrast, large areas of poverty and cramped conditions sandwiched between five star hotels by the Nile and the outer leafy suburbs. There are many clashes here, but there’s no getting away from how the majority live and how unevenly wealth is distributed.
Halfway back to downtown is Ibn Tulun. In this so-called “city of a thousand mosques”, Ibn Tulun lays claim to be the oldest, but given its emptiness and partial decay, the only good reason to visit, we find, is to take in the views by climbing the steep spiral staircase of the minaret.
Walking between the citadel and Ibn Tulun takes us through an even more densely populated district of Cairo which will be difficult to describe. We hesitate to use the word “slums” in case it’s offensive, but how else can we describe these cramped, dirty lanes where it is hard to distinguish between derelict buildings and people’s homes, where sometimes there is no such distinction.
We are eyed quizzically as we pass through, smiles and frowns in equal measure, children’s grubby hands outstretched as they beg for food or money. Older women garbed in traditional black cackle and point, older men mouth a single word which is probably not a compliment. These cramped lanes are thronged with people, maybe more than normal, it being Friday and all.
Once prayer time has passed, and we have made our way back down the hill, the streets and squares have become filled with families, kerbstones have become seating areas and parking lots have spawned flea markets. Dads play dominoes, little girls chase each other and squeal. Generations and communities mix on their day of rest and we wonder whether Cairo is like this every Friday.
And so to the Pyramids, without which no visit to Cairo is complete. On advice, we engage a guide for the full day in order to get the best experience and take in as much as possible, starting the day at Saqqara, around 45 minutes south of the city. The pyramids at Saqqara pre-date those of Giza by some 200 years and are thus the oldest of all of Egypt’s standing pyramids.
Our guide Mohamed (lots of them are called Mohamed) talks us through the absorbing history of the dynasties in a way which is informative and endearing throughout; he is extremely good. From Saqqara we head to Memphis, ancient capital of Egypt and home to a colossal statue of Rameses II unearthed in 1820 by Italian archeologist Giovanni Caviglia, still displayed just where it was discovered.
Arriving at Giza and looking up at the three main pyramids is one of those pinch-yourself moments which we’ve been lucky enough to have experienced before: an iconic sight which we have known and recognised since childhood. To stand here and look is awesome enough, to wander around the site and learn such history and detail from Mohamed is very special.
We won’t bore you with too many facts, but just to wonder at how 2.3 million blocks of stone each weighing between 3 and 8 tons could be used in construction of something so large, nearly 5,000 years ago, is a little mind blowing. And that’s just the Great Pyramid alone. If you feel inclined, Google “intercept theorem” to have a quick look at the advanced mathematics required just to conceive of the construction.
Climbing into the Great Pyramid is an adventure in its own right: our advice is, if you are unfit, can’t bend double, can’t climb, are claustrophobic or fazed by steep descents then don’t attempt it! There are in fact six standing pyramids at Giza, the three King’s pyramids (Khufu the Great Pyramid, Khafre and Menkaure) and three smaller Queen’s pyramids, as well as the identifiable remains of several other collapsed ones.
Almost five thousand years of history is before our eyes. It’s humbling in the extreme just to close those eyes and absorb for a moment exactly where it is that we are standing.
Beneath the pyramids lies the Sphinx, nowadays gazing straight towards the cities of Giza and Cairo, originally a statement of power (the lion) and wisdom (the human) which declared to the world that Khafre was a supreme leader. It is not, however, universally accepted by scholars that Khafre was responsible for this giant creation. The sphinx, unlike any part of the pyramids, was carved from the bedrock and therefore needed significantly less transportation of material.
The traffic chaos which is Cairo is one of many conversations we have with Mohamed, who jokingly says there is a law which states that if there is a piece of spare road, you must drive on to it, just to complete the gridlock. Rather pleasingly, he also tells us that by eating koshary at Abou Tarek, we not only tasted the best koshary in all of Egypt, but also had an essential Cairo experience which most visitors miss out on. We feel rather good about that!
Doing the whole Saqqara/Memphis/Giza trip carries entry fees which are reasonably expensive in comparison to other costs here but not exorbitant by any means; doing the tour with a guide for the day adds further cost. Is it worth it? Absolutely worth every single penny, and more. Especially with a guide like Mohamed.
31 Comments
normareadtalktalknet
Fascinating.. you transport us right there with your penmanship and such great pics to go with it .. really enjoyed this blog
Phil & Michaela
Thank you Norma!
Alison
Truly awesome moments here! To be amongst all that history. How safe did you feel walking along those lanes with people pointing at you? My dear husband and maybe me couldn’t do the alcohol free thing, only so much mint tea you can have without slipping a shot of rum in to make a mojito 😁
Phil & Michaela
In the back streets, reasonably safe but we were on our guard, and we both said that we wouldn’t walk through alone. Ha ha know what you mean re alcohol, but apart from the bars in international hotels it really isn’t easy to find – there’s no alcohol in the shops of course. And the next few places we’re heading are probably even more devout Muslim than Cairo, so it could be quite some time before we get a fix!
Alison
Well take care, hope you brushed up on your tai Kwan do then
Lookoom
I like the light presentation, it is tempting to overload with historical facts in this kind of sites. My guide was also called Mohamed and was married to a Breton woman. In a tourist jungle, I agree that a guide saves a lot of time and limits the risk of scams.
Phil & Michaela
Thank you – well we try to base our posts on experience and a feel for a place rather than fill it with things that are available elsewhere on the web. Not saying it’s better, just that it’s the style we aim for. And yes Cairo borders on brutal at times!
Andrew Petcher
I admire you for doing this. North Africa is firmly off my bucket list since my last visit in 2013. Dreadful experience.
Phil & Michaela
I remember that you liked Marrakech though. We like to push the comfort zone a bit when travelling, but we have to say that even for seasoned travellers like us, Cairo is a bit of a challenge!
Andrew Petcher
We liked Marrakech and Essaouira but found Fes a bit hostile.
Phil & Michaela
Fes is on our wish list, in fact we were due there in 2020 had the pandemic not arrived. We’ve loved our two visits to Morocco.
Monkey's Tale
Thanks for this great tour of one of my dream vacation spots. The city is as hectic and contrasting as I expected. It doesn’t look like the pyramids were very busy with tourists, maybe because of Covid? Great post! Maggie
Phil & Michaela
Thanks Maggie. Things are picking up here post-COVID but still an awful lot quieter than it would normally be. Yes Cairo is a push on the comfort zone boundary, that’s for sure…but travellers like you guys would take it in your stride, I bet!
Toonsarah
We went to the pyramids of course, including Saqqara, and with a guide (not as good however as your Mohamed). We also explored a bit on our own but stuck to the area by the Nile – I’m not sure we would have braved those back streets. We had a guide too for a visit to the Christian quarter which had a similar but less run-down vibe, judging from your pictures. The citadel completely eluded us, unfortunately – the views look worthwhile even if the military history wouldn’t be to my taste (it rarely is, anywhere!)
Phil & Michaela
The Christian quarter will be in our next post as it happens! “Living” downtown has certainly been an experience, Sarah.
Toonsarah
I bet it has! I have to confess we were in one of those modern hotels by the Nile 😀
wetanddustyroads
I found their coffee so STRONG – maybe a bit too strong (though Berto loved it). That’s why our trip to Cairo is incomplete – we did not have the opportunity to witness the pyramids … wow, your photo’s are just stunning. (Btw, Mohamed was our chef on the Red Sea and our taxi driver in Hurghada – two different people with the same name … yes, it seems Mohamed is a very popular name indeed). Thanks for sharing this wonderful post!
Phil & Michaela
Oh that’s such a shame that circumstances made you miss the big one – you have to come back! Yep, I love a strong coffee, Michaela, like you, can’t stomach it. A question about Hurghada because we’ll be heading to the Red Sea later…where did you stay? We don’t want to be stuck out of town in a “resort” and would rather be close to town, but at the same time we do want to be in easy reach of beaches. We’re researching now so any advice would be much appreciated
wetanddustyroads
We never got the chance to stay in a hotel in Hurghada. We went straight from the airport to our Liveaboard yacht that was anchored at the harbour, that was waiting to take us on our week long trip on the Red Sea. We have booked a weekend at the Marriott Beach Resort hotel after our scuba dive trip (only because it was so close to where our yacht was anchored), but never got around to it … instead we had to fly out of Egypt in a record time to be back home before the (first) lockdown in March 2020 started.
The only thing I vaguely remember seeing from the yacht, was that the hotel looked really nice and that there was a nice beach nearby. It wasn’t that far from the town centre … but then, our taxi driver were quite a “maniac” on the road and maybe it just felt like we were close to town 😁.
Phil & Michaela
Ha ha ok thank you! Research continues….
Latitude Adjustment: A Tale of Two Wanderers
Fantastic post! Love the pretend to be normal shirt!
Phil & Michaela
Ha ha cheers guys, I have an even better one which you would also appreciate. I’ll try and make sure I wear it for a photo shoot!
Gilda Baxter
Wow amazing!! Totally agree that having a guide for this part of your tour is worth it. Loving your photos and descriptions.
Jyothi
Awesome Michaela and Phil!! Wow.. what a wonderful tour it is!!! Thanks for sharing!
WanderingCanadians
Visiting the pyramids sounds like such a memorable experience. Sounds like you had a very knowledgeable guide.
grandmisadventures
stunning pictures of the pyramids and the Sphinx! And I love the architecture of those mosques. My co-worker who is from Cairo happened to walk by and saw your pictures and it made her homesick.
Phil & Michaela
Thank you…homesick must mean the photos conveyed the correct image I guess
grandmisadventures
it did, she said you brought out the best of the city in your photos
Phil & Michaela
That’s a compliment which we really appreciate, thank you (and your colleague) so much!
rkrontheroad
Appreciate your tour inside the pyramids, so mysterious… My son and I planned to visit Cairo, but that year the Arab Spring hit, and we have never gotten back that way. I tutored an Iraqi woman in English a few years ago, and they had birds. I’m wondering if that’s a common pet in the Middle East?
Phil & Michaela
Yes I think it is – apparently that impromptu bird market is there every week straight after Friday prayers. However we haven’t seen a single caged bird on a balcony like you see in the Mediterranean.