#Egypt - Cairo

At the Grand Egyptian Museum

We have a new guide today, Mustafa, who will be with us for the next couple days.   While extremely well informed, he’s not nearly as astute at reading the room as Hosnee was — but then, I imagine most aren’t ;).   We started the day experiencing Cairo traffic once more, on our way to the GEM (Grand Egyptian Museum).   

Welcome greeter at the GEM

This museum houses some of the most spectacular Egyptian artefacts, including the entirety of what was found in Tut’s tomb.  Having been in the tomb, it’s incredible to me that it all fit!   Certainly its current location is significantly more spacious.

Part way up the Grand Staircase

Shortly after entering, you come to the grand staircase.  If you follow it from bottom to top you follow the path of man, king, connection to the gods, burial, and then - outside the museum - a great view of the pyramids for the afterlife.   Also looking up, because of how the lighting is, the burial section is mostly in shadow / hard to see from the distance.   Very cool design detail that would be easy to miss. 

View at the top of the staircase

Our guide didn’t always focus on the things we most wanted to know, but he is extremely knowledgeable and had some great info to share.  Again, spoiled w our private tour.

As in the tombs, some fo the colours are still spectacular

He gave us a guided tour of the staircase and some of the less-well-known components, then directions for how to navigate the museum and what we would find where, before leaving us to our own adventures.   We could easily have spent significantly more time there, but also did feel we got to see everything we want to see in the time allotted.  So deeming that a win ;)

So we made our way through the two rooms of stuff connected to Tut’s burial.  Super fascinating and lots of odds and ends of day-to-day life (at least for the rich) that was fascinating to see.   How some things change, and others stay the same.   Combs, bowls, furniture, clothing….  All things we still use today.   

So many incredible artefacts;
any one of which you could spend an incredible amount of time with

Then it was into the actual Tut exhibit which was as spectacular as you’d expect it to be.   Even Chris - who is never willing to wait in line for anything - was willing to wait in line for a clear view of the funerary mask.  I was incredibly impressed by the two women with a collection of many very-young children between them on a school trip with how much control they had over the group and how well behaved said group was.  It also made the line move very quickly since the whole group went through as one ;)   Win.

So many things are disappointing in person;
Like so much of Egypt, this was BETTER than expected.

We bumped into some of the people we’d met on the cruise, continuing their tour as well — the tours definitely hit up the same places in mostly the same order.   After the Tut exhibit, we wandered over to see the Khufu Ship - a 4,500 year old boat found buried next to the Great Pyramid of Giza.   It was extremely well displayed - you could walk around it at multiple levels for a variety of views. 

In another - seemingly purpose-built - building at the GEM

After that we grabbed sandwiches at the museum shop, browsed the museum gift shop briefly, and then we were off to visit the Citadel of Saladin - which we got to see, but were disappointed we didn’t really get to explore, and the Mosque of Mohammad Ali (aka the Great Alabaster Mosque) which is within the Citadel’s walls.   

Outside the Mosque

We did remove our shoes and go in the mosque which was interesting to see and hear about, but felt intrusive since one of the 5 daily prayers was in progress and it seemed disrespectful to be there.   The women were praying in one corner, the men in another, and all the rest of the space was open.  

Outside the mosque

We weren’t there for very long, and after took a few shots of the view of Cairo before heading back to town.  Our guide assured us our hotel is in the good part of town and gave us directions both for how to find what we wanted (essentials: beer, coke, and toothpaste).   

In Cairo, every space is utilized

He got out and led us across the street to show us how to navigate the Cairo traffic as pedestrians.  That was much appreciated.  Chris might’ve figured it out on his own, but I likely would’ve been stranded on the other side of the street ;).   However, locals also play that game on the highway — we were not about to try that; we just stuck to the local streets.

On the border of quiet and chaos

He assured us we would be safe to wander/explore this area.   It does not feel touristy at all in that pretty well everyone seems to be locals going about their lives, but also the vast majority of the signs have English translations and so far anywhere we’ve gone in has had at least one person we could communicate with.  Today we walked past at least one Embassy and a Rolex shop (like actual shop, not dude on the street) as well as multiple other high end shops that suggest while it feels “real” it’s probably still the toned down version.

I enjoyed all the random shops - so many food options
Lots of people picking up items on their way wherever

We also went and found a place for dinner - more affordable and more interesting than anything in the hotel.    Twice Chris has gotten amazing lemon / mint drinks that look nothing like each other but both taste amazing.   I could give up my coke habit if we had these at home - esp in extreme heat.

Lemon & mint for the win

One of the things I loved while wandering around was the number of booksellers.   So many, with books in a collection of languages — and sometimes random other stuff (need a typewriter???) — but very cool that there’s apparently enough of a market for it that there were multiple book stalls.   This might be my favourite part about Cairo.

Seriously, book stalls everywhere

The noise and chaos, on-the-other-hand….   It’s an experience, but not necessarily one I expect I’ll need to return to.

Pyramids through the smog; we'll see them closer tomorrow!