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Cairo is big: just how big you'll see on the drive in from the airport, which sometimes takes so long you'll think you're driving to Aswan. And what you see on the way into town, amazingly, is only half of it—Cairo's west-bank sister city, Giza, stretches to the Pyramids, miles from Downtown. But if you are the sort of person wh
Cairo is big: just how big you'll see on the drive in from the airport, which sometimes takes so long you'll think you're driving to Aswan. And what you see on the way into town, amazingly, is only half of it—Cairo's west-bank sister city, Giza, stretches to the Pyramid
Cairo is big: just how big you'll see on the drive in from the airport, which sometimes takes so long you'll think you'r
Cairo is big: just how big you'll see on the drive in from the airport, which sometimes takes so long you'll think you're driving to Aswan. And what you see on the way into town, amazingly, is only half of it—Cairo's west-bank sister city, Giza, stretches to the Pyramids, miles from Downtown. But if you are the sort of person who instinctively navigates by compass points, exploring Cairo will be a breeze because the Nile works like a giant north–south needle running through the center of the city. If not, you might find the city bewildering at first.
Taxi drivers generally know only major streets and landmarks, and often pedestrians are unsure of the name of the street they stand on—when they do know, it's as often by the old names as the postindependence ones—but they'll gladly steer you in the wrong direction in an effort to be helpful. Just go with the flow and try to think of every wrong turn as a chance for discovery.
Thankfully, too, you don't have to conquer all of Cairo to get the most out of it. Much of the city was built in the 1960s, and the new areas hold relatively little historical or cultural interest. The older districts, with the exception of Giza's pyramids, are all on the east bank and easily accessible by taxi or Metro. These districts become relatively straightforward targets for a day's exploration on foot.
Old Cairo, on the east bank a couple miles south of most of current-day Cairo, was the city's first district. Just north of it is Fustat, the site of the 7th-century Arab settlement. East of that is the Citadel. North of the Citadel is the medieval walled district of al-Qahira that gave the city its name. It is better known as Islamic Cairo. West of that is the colonial district. Known as Downtown, it is one of several—including Ma'adi, Garden City, Heliopolis, and Zamalek—laid out by Europeans in the 19th and 20th centuries. (The west-bank districts of Mohandiseen and Doqqi, by comparison, have only sprouted up since the revolution in 1952.) The most interesting sights are in the older districts; the newer ones have the highest concentrations of hotels, restaurants, and shops.
Local rulers had long overlooked the strategic value of the hill above the city, but, within a few years of his arrival in 1168, Salah al-Din al-Ayyub began creating defense plans with the Citadel at their center. He and his successors built an impenetrable bastion using the most advanced construction techniques of the age, and, for the next 700 years, Egypt was ruled from this hill. Nothing remains of the original complex except a part of the Ayyubid walls—33 feet (10 meters) tall and 10 feet (3 meters) thick—and the Bir Youssef (Youssef Well), which was dug 285 feet (87 meters) straight into solid rock to reach the water table and is still considered an engineering marvel.
In the 1330s, most of the Ayyubid buildings were replaced by Mamluk structures. After assuming power in 1805, Muhammad Ali had all the Mamluk buildings razed and the complex entirely rebuilt. Only the green-domed mosque and a fragment of the Qasr al-Ablaq (Striped Palace) remain.
For more than 150 years, the Mosque of Muhammad Ali has dominated the City's skyline. Although Ottoman law prohibited anyone but the sultan from building a mosque with more than one minaret, this mosque has two, one of the first indications that Muhammad Ali wouldn't remain submissive to Istanbul. Note the spacious courtyard's gilded clock tower, which was provided by King Louis Philippe in exchange for the obelisk that stands in Paris. It’s fair to say that the French got the better end of the bargain: the clock has never worked.
Behind Muhammad Ali stands the Mosque of al-Nasir Muhammad, a Mamluk work of art with beautifully crafted masonry, elegant proportions, and a minaret featuring ornate but refined details. Ottomans took much of the original interior decoration to Istanbul, but the space is nevertheless impressive. The courtyard's supporting columns were collected from various sources; several are pharaonic.
Across from al-Nasir's entrance is the National Police Museum, worth a quick visit to see the exhibition on Egypt's political assassinations and to enjoy the spectacular view from the courtyard. The enclosure directly below, gated by Bab al-Azab, is where Muhammad Ali wrested control from the Mamluk chiefs. (He invited them to a banquet and had them ambushed by a battalion, ending their dominion in Egypt and eliminating all internal opposition in a single stroke.) To the northwest of al-Nasir, the gate known as Bab al-Qulla opens to the Qusur al-Harem (Harem Palace), now the site of the National Military Museum, with somewhat interesting displays of uniforms and weaponry.
Farther west, the Carriage Museum, the dining hall of British officers stationed at the Citadel in the early 20th century, now houses eight conveyances used by Egypt's last royal dynasty (1805–1952). In the northwest part of the Citadel is the rarely visited Sulayman Pasha Mosque built in 1528. While its plan is entirely a product of Istanbul, the sparse stone decoration shows traces of Mamluk influence.
Before leaving the Citadel, pass by the Qasr al-Gawhara (Jewel Palace), where Muhammad Ali received guests. It's now a museum displaying the royal family's extravagance and preference for early 19th-century French style.
This huge neoclassical building, a Downtown landmark on the north end of Tahrir Square, was masterfully designed by French architect Marcel Dourgnon. It opened in 1902, making it one of the oldest archaeological museums in the Middle East—and one of the largest, with a collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts so vast that it would have taken nine months to complete a tour if you spent just one minute studying each item.
Although some of the museum's treasures have been moved to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization—and most of the Tutankhamun finds are now in Egypt's newest archaeological repository, the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza—the breadth here is still staggering. Galleries take you through millennia, from the Predynastic Period (6000 to 3100 BC) through the Greco-Roman Era (332 BC to 313 AD). The Tanis Treasure includes gold masks, jewelry, solid-silver coffins, and other artifacts dating from between 1076 and 945 BC. Don't miss the animal mummy rooms, especially if you have kids in tow, or the Fayyum portraits: done on wood, these very lifelike paintings put you face to face with one individual Roman-era Egyptian after another.
Designed by Egyptian architect Naoum Shebib and completed in 1961, the Cairo Tower soars 610 feet (187 meters), making it the tallest structure not only in Egypt but also North Africa. Its exterior exhibits pharaonic influences, as evidenced by latticework that is reminiscent of the lotus plant, and its observation deck affords an unprecedented, 360°-view of greater Cairo. Morning visits have their appeal, but sunsets from the tower are phenomenal.
This open-air living museum takes you on a fascinating voyage through history and is particularly good if you're traveling with children. Although it has dioramas and a museum with educational information and replicas of artifacts that were made using ancient techniques, it's the boat ride through the site that's the main draw. It transports you through a recreated ancient kingdom where actors dressed in period costume go about such day-to-day activities as sculpting statues, making pottery, or even embalming.
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