Day 9: Return to Cairo Ramses station in Cairo had not changed in the time since I had left there six days previously. The place was still as busy as ever and crowded with people rushing backwards and forwards, and all them with a purpose and going somewhere. I just wondered how our stations would have coped with this twenty-four seven rush hour mentality. Struggling through the crowds outside in the bus station area looking for the entrance to the metro, I finally made up my mind where I would stay for the last two days of this trip. I had lived at a very reasonable price for the last week or so, and with plenty of money still in my pocket I decided that it was time to unwind and treat myself to a little luxury. The guidebook said, " For the price, the Victoria's air con, three star standard, well kept rooms are an absolute steal, all with immaculate bathrooms and breakfast included. It's got to be Cairo's best accommodation bargain And if the hotel is a little out of the way, the Ataba metro station is just a couple of minutes walk away, and then it's just two stops to Midan Tahrir" This was good enough for me, and even better was the fact that this hotel was less than five minutes walk from the station. Thankfully the guidebook was not wrong as the hotel was indeed a very nice place, and at only 18 dollars a night it was definitely a steal. This was a proper hotel that admittedly was slightly off the main drag and, possibly out of the way a little, but it had a real doorman who opened the main door for you to pass through the x-ray security system. There was a proper reception desk, a large well laid out dining room and it even had it's own cocktail bar. This would do very nicely thank you I thought, especially when the man behind the desk told me it was only 18 dollars a night, a saving already as the book had said it was between 20 and 25! The room I was given on the first floor had a large double bed with freshly starched white cotton sheets and big fluffy pillows; it was clean and had a certain charm, with a bathroom my wife would have been proud of. I only wished I had stayed here when I first arrived in Cairo, I certainly would not have had to spend half an hour swatting mosquito's before going to bed. The decision I had to make now was whether or not I should grab a couple of hours sleep before heading out onto the streets again. I reached a compromise with myself, I took a shower and changed my clothes in order to wake myself up fully, and then I headed off for the Egyptian museum. This museum house over one hundred thousand artefacts from almost every period of Egyptian history, which means that if you were to only spend one minute looking at each one, it would take you over nine months to see them all! I didn't plan on staying that long. It was just gone 8.45 when I reached Sadat station within easy walking distance of the museum. People were already queuing to get in when I arrived, but it did not take too long to purchase a ticket and proceed through the three security checks into the museum. Once inside I soon became a little disappointed as I found that the lighting in the museum was very poor, with even the natural daylight that came through the windows was not being enough to lift the gloomy feel of this place. A lot of the artefacts on display were in broken and grubby looking display cases, some with barely legible hand written sticker labels to explain what was inside them. And the whole place itself was in need of some kind of modernisation, if only to make it a little more user friendly as the exhibits seem to follow no real pattern. That's not to say it is not worth a visit, as it surely is for anybody with the slightest interest in Egypt's past, and maybe I was just suffering from a little bit of Egyptian overload at this point. The one exception to all of this was the Tutankhamun exhibition, which although very crowded was still a pleasant experience. Two hours was about enough time for me walking around this large and musty smelling old museum that caters only for those interested in Egypt's Pharonic past. I saw the four young American lads while I was there, they obviously like me thought it best to see as much as they could, and no doubt would catch up on their sleep later. I was now feeling rather hungry not having had any breakfast yet, and as is always the case when you want it, nowhere that sold hot food was open. I went to the local bakers shop and bought myself half a kilo of assorted fig biscuits and a can of drink. These I ate as I sat on a low wall opposite the Arab League building, before heading off again in the direction of Coptic Cairo. Mar Girgis was the station on the metro, which served this part of Cairo, with the main compound that is known as Coptic Cairo being right outside the station exit. Coptic Cairo is so called by foreigners because this is the area where you will find the very heart and soul of the Egyptian Christian movement, not to mention Arab men with strange sounding names like Peter, John, Martin, Paul and so on. It can be strange when an Arab man introduces himself with a name you would more usually associate as being of Western origin. You are expecting him to announce his name as Abdullah or something. The proper Egyptian name for this area is Masr al-Qadima, which is the oldest part of modern day Cairo to be found anywhere in the sprawling city. As far back as the time of the Roman fortress on the site in second century AD, the area was known as Babylon-in-Egypt. Christianity predates the Islamic religion in Egypt and it is here that the Christian religion was first to take a foothold, with approx twenty churches at one time occupying an area of just one square kilometre. There are only a few churches still standing today in this area that resembles somewhat the old parts of Jerusalem, with it's tight little narrow cobble stone alleyways and high surrounding walls. The oldest synagogue in Egypt can be found here in Coptic Cairo, this still stands on its original site from the time of around 70 AD when the Jews fled to here from Jerusalem. Among the other attractions you will find in this area is the Hanging church, so called because the church was built on top of the water gate of Roman Babylon. The church, which is still in use today, is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. There were some guides on hand to take the interested tourist around the rather small and depressingly dark interior of the church, I declined and walked around on my own for a few minutes taking in some of the detail, which dates back as far as the 9th century. In front of the alter you can find thirteen slender pillars that are said to represent Christ and the twelve disciples, with one of the pillars symbolically being slightly darker than the others to represent Judas. Just a short way along the road was the Coptic museum, which unfortunately was undergoing some repairs when I visited, so I was unable to enter. Just behind the museum are the two remaining Roman towers, which once formed part of the Western gate entrance to the Babylon fortress. Back on the Sharia Mar Girgis Stands the Greek orthodox monastery and the church of St George, who was once a very popular Middle Eastern saint, and is in fact now the patron saint of England. The story goes that St George was originally a Palestinian conscripted into the Roman army, who was executed in 300 Ad after he tore up the Emperors document, which forbid the practising of the Christian faith. The words Mar Girgis actually mean St George when translated into English. Another place I looked at was the crypt below the church of St Sergius, which it is claimed was one of the places that the holy family rested when they fled from King Herrod. I walked around this small area of Coptic Cairo taking in the sights for the best part of two hours, which I felt was plenty to take it all in at a nice leisurely pace. But I dare say those more interested than me; in this fusion of the Coptic religion could easily make a full day of it. I very nearly gave in to impulse and bought a lampshade in one of the local shops here, but after much deliberation I decided against it, as it was made of various coloured elements of glass, and I thought apart from it being fragile, it was a little too large and heavy. The shopkeeper was more than a little disappointed with my decision, even going so far as to follow me down the street and offered to drop the price another couple of times. It was hard to get through to him that it was not the price that was putting me off! I returned to my "luxury hotel" around three in the afternoon, lay down on the bed and switched on the TV. The BBC world service was showing one of Michael Pallins adventure as I remember, but that's all I remember until I came around from my fatigue-induced sleep just after six! Watching the news headlines I felt that I could have been at home, but I wasn't, I was a couple of thousand miles from home and feeling hungry, so would have to go and find my own food rather than have my wife serve up a dinner to me. I gave in to the temptation and ate some more of the fig biscuits to stave off the hunger for a little while. Using the room phone I made a call to Raffat the man I had met on the train going down to Aswan. He told me that he had stayed on with his parents for another couple of days, and would not be back in Cairo until the next day. Making the most of my new luxury surroundings I took another hot shower before venturing out onto the streets again, this time heading to the Kahn al-Khalili market area about half a mile away. The estimate is around seventeen million people live in Cairo, and I think that at least half of them must have had the same idea as me tonight! I can tell you this much, I have never seen so many people crammed into such a small area, as those I encountered in the market area. And this is from someone who has travelled in places like India and China where there are more than enough people. In fact the sheer number of people cramming into the market streets was quite intimidating, and I'm not too proud to tell you that I felt more than a little scared of being trampled under foot should the crowd surge for any reason. This thought was further enforced when at the top end of one of the market streets, which thankfully had a little more space, I was on the sidewalk when the crowds did start to surge. The police were making a raid on the market areas illegal street traders, all of who had grabbed what they were selling and were now fighting their way deep into the crowds to avoid apprehension, and were now causing a fair bit of panic. I was really glad that I had been on the sidewalk at the time, especially as just seconds before I had been fighting my way through that very same crowd, a crowd that was now forming a very frightening solid mass with people trying to run in every direction. One thing was for sure; I was not going to go back the same way I had come, even if I could remember the way. Instead I kept walking towards the end of the market area that had become a lot less populated with the traders having fled. It was not too long before I was back on the metro system and heading for the busy, but not nearly as busy area of Midan Tahir, a place I knew I would be safe in. I did think about going to McDonalds, but I really hungry and wanted to eat something a little more filling than a air burger, and some French fries that if put back together as a potato would not make more than half a dozen real chips! Once back in Midan Tahir I had a quick look in the working mans Sheesha café, and also the surrounding area, I was hoping that I might bump into Ashrif the boy who had been my guide on the first day in Egypt. He was nowhere to be found, and was in all probability showing another tourist the sites of Cairo, or making another run to the duty free store on the other side of town with Mr Big. I for my part did not feel so much of a tourist anymore, I felt I knew my way around now, or at least enough to get where I wanted to be, and I even felt that people were not looking at me when I travelled on the metro. Could it be that I was starting to blend in, or was it that I now had a little more confidence and did not look that much like a confused tourist, who seem to be constantly having to check their maps every thirty seconds or so, just to make sure they were going the right way? Whatever it was, it was certainly working in my favour, and I was very thankful for that. With not a single request to tell someone the time, or visit the shop of someone's brother it was a pleasure to stroll around the area. I spent nearly as much tonight on my evening meal as I was spending on my luxury hotel for a night, but hey, what the hell! I was nearing the end of my stay and had the money to spend. I even splashed out on a couple of beers to go with tonight's evening meal that consisted of an assortment of dishes in the upmarket tourist orientated Fellfela restaurant. The food was really good, but in all honesty, it was no better than most of the food I had eaten anywhere else in the country so far. The only thing here was that it was served by well-dressed waiters, on nice plates with nice cutlery, and set out on top of clean tablecloths, in nicer surroundings than most of the other restaurants I had been eating in. Oh yes, it also cost about twice as much, but hey what the hell I was splashing out, I was probably getting a little excited about going home the day after next. I took my time over the meal, soaking up the ambience of the place and making sure I got my moneys worth I suppose! I think the waiter wanted me to go as he kept asking me if I wanted anything else a long time after I'd finished eating! I finally left around ten thirty and made my way back to the Victoria hotel on the metro. I took another refreshing shower once back in my room, then set the Alarm on Mickey before stretching out on the bed that was the size of a football field, or at least it felt that way when compared to those I had been sleeping in recently. |