The bus from Dahab arrived in the outer suburbs of Cairo at 4:30am in the morning. Jo, Ros and I unsuccessfully tried to negotiate down a taxi driver’s quote to a hostel and ended up just accepting his price. We found the African hostel where the girls had organised to leave our bags for the day, accepted a kind offer of tea and were off on our way just after sunrise. First stop – Giza.

The plan was to make the most of our early arrival and beat the crowds to the Giza Pyramids – and we were pretty successful, arriving just after opening. The pyramids were exactly how I imagined they would be. Towering over the people walking about below. From the base of the pyramids it is difficult to appreciate the scale of these huge stone relics. The area was of course full of touts selling camel rides, merchandise and cool drinks for inflated prices. I shunned the camel rides, preferring to explore the area at my own pace.

The Sphinx was a short stroll down the hill – only a few hundred meters from the buildings and houses that encroach on the ruins. The Sphinx is a lot smaller and less impressive in reality, especially when compared to the grand scale of the pyramids. It is suffering badly from decay of the stone work and erosion.

Tickets to see inside the pyramid were sold out thanks to tour operators and scalpers, so after a while of wandering the desert we decided to head onwards to our next destination, the Egyptian museum.

Having had very little sleep on the bus the previous night, someone floated the fantastic idea of having a nap at the museum – and we did exactly that, having a nap on the lawn of the museum for an hour while surrounded by tourists coming and going.

The Egyptian Museum is a very impressive place. Hundreds of mummies and their sarcophaguses are on display, as well as rooms upon rooms of ancient pottery, jewellery and art. By far the most impressive exhibition was Tutankhamen’s sarcophagus and burial chamber. Sadly though, no photos from the museum because cameras are not allowed.

After lunch I said my goodbyes to the girls who had been my travelling companions for the past few days and went off to collect my bags and find my hostel.

Now I haven’t talked about Cairo much – mainly because up until this point I was visiting tourist attractions rather than experiencing the city. Cairo is one of those cities you either hate or love. Everything is covered in a layer of dust (including you at the end of the day), crossing the street is a technical skill and everyone you talk to is potentially going to rip you off. Having said all that – I love this city. The people are out of their way friendly, the street food is cheap and tasty and the city has a distinct character that you could only get when 18 million people live in a city they have basically built in the middle of the desert. Every where you go people stop you to welcome you to the city and ask where you are from and kids coming running up wanting to have their photo taken.

I met plenty of cool people at my hostel too. There was a retired photography lecturer from QCA in Brisbane who I really enjoyed talking to. He was Egyptian, been a photographer for over 40 years and showed me some great places in downtown Cairo. I also met a German girl Kristina who invited me along to watch sunset with a few of her local friends. She had been living in Cairo for 2 months and knew some expat Arabic students and a group of local Egyptians too.

Watching the sun set over Cairo with the pyramids faintly visible in the distance was great, and I stayed there for hours chatting to the group of people.

I set aside a day for wandering thru the backstreets of Cairo to see the real life of the locals. I was walking in the direction of the citadel in Islamic Cairo, but with no real motivation to get there. I was invited for tea with shop owners and taken to a mosque hidden down some alleyways. The small Market streets were full of life and lots of people buying bread, spices and meat from the butchers shops and stalls.

I eventually made it to the citadel – after twice being told it was closed – but opted out based on the entrance fee and the fact I was due to meet an American girl Rachael I had met the night before.

Rachael lived in one of the houses two hundred meters from the Sphinx in Giza, an she has invited me to go horse riding in the desert near the Pyramids.

Rachael literally live on top of a stable and went riding everyday. It was a pretty good experience, but highlighted how rusty I was on a horse. Also, anyone thinking of galloping thru the desert on a horse – don’t take 3kg of camera with you. My camera was bouncing around and regularly made solid contact with my elbow resulting in a rather painful bruise. Still, it was nice to be out there and there was a nice view of the pyramids along the way. Unfortunately the horses aren’t treated the best, and there were a few in the desert that hadn’t been able to make it home.

Rachael’s house had an amazing view of the pyramids, and I made the most of it by taking some of the best sunset photos I have ever taken. Apparently Cairo doesn’t see many clouds, so it was extra special that they hung around for sunset.

After sunset we headed back into the city to meet up with the group from the night before in another park over looking the city. Al-Azhar was a beautiful park, which like most other grasses parks in the city had an entrance fee. This was followed by drinks and sheesha in a city cafe before calling it a (very long) day.

I had a fantastic time in Cairo – much better than I could had expected. Partly due to the character if the city, but mostly because of the people I met and the places I wouldn’t have visited otherwise. Still, I only scraped the surface of the city, with heaps still left to do and see. Cairo, Egypt and the Middle East are definitely on my list of places to return to.

This post is tagged Cairo, Egypt