Cairo Day 2

Day two in Cairo we had to rise fairly early as our guide wanted to check us out of our hotel before our tour began so that we could go straight to the airport after today's tour. That meant a 5.00 am rise in order that we could have coffee and shower, pack our suitcases, have breakfast, call a porter and check out in time for our guide to meet us at 7.30 am.  I am not good at living out of a suitcase and prefer the ease of a cruise, but our hotel is lovely and the rooms are large and spacious so how can I complain....

Flower Arrangement in the hotel lobby

The first port of call for today's tour was to the citadel of Salah el Din that is a medieval Islamic fort.  It is located on Mokattam hill near the centre of Cairo and was once famous for its fresh breezes and grand views of the city.  Not so these days though.  Cairo, with a population of over 20,000,000 has a heavy haze that hangs over the city.  This is probably a combination of vehicle pollution and dust coming in from the city.  I, personally, would like to see the Egyptian Government put some $$$$’s towards cleaning the city of the rubbish that lines the streets and river banks and to perhaps clean some of the magnificent buildings.

You can just see the Giza Pyramids in the foreground (through the haze)

The magnificent Mohammed Ali Mosque is situated in the citadel and it is a grand mosque and very similar to the Blue Mosque in Istanbul that we visited a few years ago. We spent some time here with our guide and discussed with him the Muslim thoughts on life and death.  It was a beautiful place to discuss this.

After the Mosque we made our way to the Egyptian Museum.  At this point I have to mention our bus driver who we nicknamed Morgan Freeman because he looked and spoke just like him!  He was an extremely good driver and believe you me it is not an easy task to negotiate your way through the Cairo streets that are very similar to driving in Mumbai!

So, let’s talk about the Egyptian Museum for a moment.  It is an extensive collection of more than 120,000 items of ancient Egyptian antiquities.  It houses the worlds largest collection of Pharaonic items including the Gold Mask of Tutankhamen (that you are not allowed to photograph). This museum is being replaced by a brand new one that will open next year god willing and from the way our guide spoke it will be worth a trip back to Cairo to look at it.
As it is, it would take weeks to look at everything inside the existing museum so our few short hours only gave us enough time to skim.  Thank goodness again for our guide Mohamed who was able to take us to all the important things and gave us time on our own to go back and explore.

After the Egyptian Museum our guide took us to a great restaurant for lunch where we were served many courses including falafel, dolmades, mixed grill selection, salad and finally a delicious baked dessert.  It was so good and cost around $40US for three.  Our guide informed us that food is subsidised in Egypt so all meals are very reasonably priced.

Sadly, after lunch we said our goodbyes to Mohamed who we now considered a friend and were taken to the airport by another Mohamed to board our one hour flight to Luxor. The flight was uneventful and we left and landed on time arriving to Luxor around 6.00 pm.  We were taken to our hotel The Winter Palace and our jaw dropped as we entered this magnificent building that was built by King Farouk.  It is gobsmackling awesome and I am looking forward to our two night stay.