January 7 through 11, 2023
Cairo, Egypt was not at all what I expected. I assumed since it is a major world capital, it would be fairly modern with solid infrastructure. Not quite 😕. We wound up staying in a really nice 5-star hotel right at the airport (I can't say enough good things about the fact that we never had to take a taxi to or from the airport). Everything was very affordable/cheap, either due to the low standard of living or the strong dollar 🤷.
We took a 2-day tour of Cairo and its highlights, including the pyramids, the Sphinx, Sakkara (another pyramid area), the Egyptian history museum, the Nile, the Citadel, and the markets. We also went to a papyrus factory where they showed us how it's made and then "encouraged" us to buy some (of course we had to help their economy 😀) and to an essential oils factory (I resisted buying anything there, partly because I don't use them and partly because we are limited on carrying liquids - but I did really like the vanilla-smelling ones). All along the tour, the traffic was horrendous, the driving was terrifying, and the pollution was dense. I put all my trust in our driver and tour guide (it was a private tour for just us) and we somehow survived 😥. I think Art would have been better off closing his eyes; he was clearly more anxious than I was.
Our tour guide Hassem offered advice on avoiding the aggressive sellers at the markets (we learned how to say "no thanks" in Arabic), although I only trusted our guide about 80% 😐. We did buy some souvenirs but it always feels weird bargaining when you think the first price they offered was pretty low to start with. However, bargaining is almost required culturally. The food was pretty good (more lamb, Mediterranean salads, hummus, falafel) but I'm starting to hit my limit on this type of cuisine. I think I enjoy falafel about 3-4 times a year and I've definitely had it way more than that in the past month. But it really is much tastier in this part of the world than it is in Claremont 😋.
We rode camels 🐪 by the pyramids (so fun) and our local guide was eager to get us good photos, so we now have the obligatory photos of us touching the top of the pyramids (etc.). He wasn't a bad photographer but he sure was aggressive when it came time for his tip. We managed to give what we thought was fair, but those interactions are one of my least favorite things about tourism 😑.
While we were stuck in traffic, we passed the time by learning some Arabic numbers and letters from the license plates. I think we're nearly fluent now 😂. Funny aside: our tour guide constantly asked us "how is our tour today?" and Art decided he was saying "how is Artoor today?" so he would answer "I'm doing great"; not sure our guide ever really understood the joke 😆.
I also treated myself to a manicure/pedicure (long long overdue) at the hotel, which was 1/3 the cost it would have been in Tel Aviv. It was pretty good and I liked the nail technician enough to ignore her helpful comments on my hairy body parts 😏.
My overall sense is that you can see Cairo in a more upscale way (like a full Nile river cruise) but we wound up with a more "authentic" experience. I'd love to say we didn't get sick, but then on the day we returned Art got some major intestinal thing, so... he's almost on the mend. I think he only drank the water once (!) but it actually might have been something he ate at the hotel (who knows 🤷).
We did learn a ton about Egyptian history and geography (I had no idea the pyramids are so close to downtown, and that the Nile actually runs all the way down to Uganda, and that so much of Egypt is desert), and I want to commend the government for putting together a well-organized history museum. It's likely we'll never be back (unless Art gets a show in Luxor...) so I'm glad we got a reasonable overview on this trip.
Deena and Art
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