While watching “The English Patient” for n th today, I could not help my heart from fluttering at the sight of Ralph Fiennes' Count László Almásy, who is based on a true personality. Real life Count Almásy was a Hungarian aristocrat, motorist, desert explorer, pilot, scout leader and a sportsman. He was at the helm of an expedition group called the Zerzura Club, which was created to find the legendary Zerzura, "The Oasis of Little Birds". Zerzura, also known as the White City, has always been a mystery that has attracted archaeologists and explorers from all over the world. In Kitab al Kanuz (Book of Hidden Pearls - 15 th C Arabic manuscript), Zerzura is said to be a city in the Sahara full of treasures with a sleeping king and queen. The city is guarded by black giants who prevent anyone from going in and out. It has been rumored to have existed deep in the desert west of the Nile in Egypt or Libya. However, we will dive into the legends of Zerzura at a later date. Today I wanted to talk about the Egyptian city of Cairo which saw one of the greatest romances between Almásy and Katharine. The very romance that changed the course of the war at least in the fictional world.
Cairo is referred to as Umm al-Dunya (mother of the world) by the locals, and is believed to be the cradle of humanity by historians. The ancient civilization - advanced buildings, objects and way of life were far too advanced at that time, and archaeological evidence also suggests that the systems of ancient Cairo had technologies that were certainly ahead of the rest of the world. It is the only city in the world that still hosts one of the seven ancient wonders of the world - the Great Pyramid of Giza. The Giza Pyramid also stood out as one of the tallest man-made structures in the world for almost 3,000 years before the Eiffel Tower dethroned it. The fact that Cairo also contained the ancient city of Memphis in its geographical proximity emphasizes its importance in the ancient world. Modern Cairo, founded around 641 AD, stands next to the old with the modern, and east with west.
Cairo is located in the northeastern part of Egypt, and is the gateway to the Nile Delta, where the lower Nile stands out in the Rosetta and Damietta branches. This capital of Egypt is often referred to as "Mehr", the Arabic translation of the word Egypt. Cairo, often described as chaos at its best, can be both upsetting and beautiful at the same time. No wonder it is often called a city of contrasts - physical, visual and ethnic.
How to reach Cairo and best time to travel
The most popular time to visit Cairo is during the winter months, from November to March, when temperatures are moderate. The spring months of March to May are a little warmer, but are still pleasant for a visit. Summer is the time for scorching sun among deserts and is best avoided.
To travel to and around Cairo you can look at the following options
- By Air- Cairo International Airport. It is located about 12 kilometers northeast of Cairo city center. Buses for public transport to the city can be difficult to navigate, but there are many official taxi machines and now also Uber. You can also book a limousine or minibus to get directly to the hotel for a fixed fee
- By train - The main train station in the city is Ramses Station on Midan Ramses, which is conveniently connected to the metro system. Regular train services connect the city with most major cities, including Alexandria, Aswan and Luxor. By bus - Egypt has an extensive bus network that covers all major cities in the country. The main bus stations are at Midan Ramses and the newly built Cairo Gateway indoor station.
- By car - It is possible to rent a car and drive to Cairo, but it is not recommended for visitors. Local traffic laws can be confusing and enforceable with large fines. Local tolls can also be challenging, with many cars driving without lights at night without regard to traffic rules.
Accommodation in Cairo
Located in the heart of the modern city center of Cairo, Midan Tahrir is the district with the most large hotels, making it a great choice for luxury accommodation. Midan Ramses is centrally located by the airport, with an increasing number of hotels, and the downtown area is an alternative budget location. Other popular neighborhoods in Cairo are Islamic Cairo and Zamalek. While Islamic Cairo is a historic center with many medieval architecture and Turkish baths, Zamalek is an exclusive district on the Nile island of Gezira with great options for shopping, dining and accommodation.
All the usual methods of finding accommodation work in Egypt. Use Combined Hotels, Agoda, Booking.com or whatever you prefer. Hotels Combined is a comparison site, they check several booking sites for you at the same time. airbnb can also be a good option, especially in Cairo.
When it comes to food, Egyptian food is not very spicy, it is typical food from the Mediterranean / Middle East with influences from Rome, India and Africa. There are many vegetarian options and the prices are low. I came across this amazing blog on food in Egypt.
Another amazing job has been done by this person's blog here. Be sure to check it out.
Things to visit in Cairo
The best places to visit in Egypt include ancient sites, cities, museums, beaches, souks, fortresses and oases. Egypt is full of wonders and is an affordable destination with good food, diving and of course sights to see. It is a wonderful country to explore, with some of the world's greatest treasures.
- The Egyptian Museum in Cairo is huge and amazing. It is in the center of Cairo, on Tahir Square and a short walk from the Nile. It hosts the world's foremost collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts and the glittering treasures of Tutankhamun and other great pharaohs lying next to tombs, mummies, jewelry, bowls and toys for Egyptians whose names are lost to history. It is recommended to hire the services of a guide for a detailed tour, otherwise you may miss out on great highlights.
- The Great Pyramid of Giza - The last remaining wonder of the ancient world; for almost 4,000 years, the extraordinary shape, impeccable geometry, and sheer bulk of the Giza pyramids have invited the obvious questions:'How were we built, and why?' Built as massive tombs by order of the pharaohs, they were constructed by teams of workers tens of thousands strong. Today, they stand as an awe-inspiring tribute to the power, organization, and achievements of ancient Egypt. The Great Pyramid belonged to the pharaoh Kufu or Cheops, he ruled Egypt about four and a half thousand years ago.
- The Sphinx and the Khefren Pyramid - Khefren's pyramid is the one in the middle. It is smaller than his father, Cheop's tomb and its guard, the Great Sphinx, rest in front of it. The sphinx got Khefren's face, but the original statue may be before the pyramids
- Old Memphis is a taxi ride south of Giza and near the older pyramids mentioned below. There's not much to see there, but the Memphis sphinx and giant Rameses statues are great to see. Do not take a special tour, but visit if you are going to Saqqara.
- The Saqqara Step Pyramid is part of the morgue of Old Memphis, south of Giza. It represents early designs in pyramid construction, almost prototypes before Cheops' triumph. It is also known as the Pyramid of Djoser, when it was the tomb of Pharaoh Djoser.
- The Red Pyramid is the largest pyramid at Dahshur, south of Giza and was built for Pharaoh Snefru. He also built the Broken or Bent Pyramid, which is nearby.
- Cairo Old Bazaar -Khan el-Khalili Bazaar in Cairo. It is on the other side of the city center, towards the airport, so a nice walk from Giza. It can be called a medieval-style mall. This urban mass of shops - many arranged around small courtyards - makes everything from soap powder to semi-precious stones.
- Coptic Museum - This museum, founded in 1908, houses Coptic art from the earliest days of Christianity in Egypt to early Islam.
- Bab Zuweila Built in the 11th century, it was an execution site in the mammoth era, and today it is the only remaining southern gate to the medieval city of Al Qahira. The spirit of a healing weekend was (and still is) said to lie behind a towering wooden door, which prayers have occupied with nails and teeth as offerings over the centuries.
- Al-Azhar Mosque . One of the pillars of Islamic thought and the home of the world's oldest university.
- Citadel and the Mosque by Mohamed Ali Pasha , in Islamic Cairo. A large castle built by Salah Al-Din. Parts of the water pipes (Majra Al-Oyouon) are also still there, these pipes used to carry the water from the Nile to the citadel. Mohamed Ali is considered the founder of modern Egypt, the ancestor of the last king of Egypt, King Farouk.
Tales of Time
- About 5,000 years ago, Memphis - today mainly in ruins about 15 kilometers southwest of Cairo - was a thriving metropolis. 2,000 years ago, the Romans occupied a city on the site of present-day Cairo, called Babylon. This fortress, known as Babylon, was the core of the Roman and then the Byzantine city and is the oldest structure in the city today. It is also at the heart of the Coptic Orthodox community, which differed from the Roman and Byzantine churches of the late 4th century. Many of Cairo's oldest Coptic churches, including the Hanging Church, are located along the fortress walls in a part of the city known as Coptic Cairo.
- After the Muslim conquest in 640 AD. the conqueror Amr ibn As settled north of Babylon in an area known as al-Fustat (the "tent city"). Originally, a tent camp, Fustat, became a permanent settlement and the first capital of Islamic Egypt.
- Subsequent dynasties added royal suburbs to the increasingly prosperous commercial and industrial port city of Al-Fusṭāṭ. These suburbs included Al-ʿAskar, founded in 750 by the Umayyads, and Al-Qaṭāʾiʿ, founded in 870 by Aḥmad ibn Ṭūlūn. The remains of the tower of Trajan (130 AD) and the mosques of ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ (641–642) and Aḥmad ibn Ṭūlūn (878) can still be found in the southern part of the city.
- In 969, the Fatimids, belonging to the Shia sect, conquered Egypt from their base in Ifriqiya, and a new fortified city northeast of Fustat was established. The city was originally called Al-Manṣūriyyah, and received its current name, Al-Qāhirah ("The Victorious"), in 973 to celebrate the arrival of Fāṭimid Caliph al-Muʿizz, who made the city the capital of a dynasty that lasted for two centuries. Al-Qāhirah and Al-Fusṭāṭ coexisted until 1168, when the undeveloped city of Al-Fusṭāṭ was set on fire to protect Cairo from the Crusaders. The Crusaders were driven by a Sunni Muslim army from Syria, after which the victorious commander, Saladin, founded the Ayyūbid dynasty, and then controlled a large empire from Cairo.
- After Baybars I became the first Mamlūk Sultan with undisputed legitimacy in 1260, Cairo served as the capital of the Mamlūk Empire, which ruled Egypt, large parts of the Levant, and parts of the Fertile Crescent until 1517. Medieval Cairo reached its apogee during the Mamlūk era. By 1340, Cairo had become the largest city in Africa, Europe, and Asia Minor, with nearly half a million people living in an area five times the size of the original walled city of Fāṭimid. Al-Azhar University - a headquarters for Islamic learning - as well as most of the city's greatest architectural masterpieces were built during this period.
- Startup of 14 th C saw a decline in the importance of the city which was then plagued by the black death. In addition, the spice trade monopoly was broken after Vasco da Gama's journey from Portugal to India (1497-99), which undermined Cairo's economic performance. Eventually, political autonomy was lost to the Turks, who after 1517 reduced Cairo to a provincial capital in the Ottoman Empire. In 1798, when Napoleon and his troops arrived in Cairo, fewer than 300,000 XNUMX people lived in the city and its two port suburbs. Muhammad Ali, sent to Egypt under command of an Ottoman expeditionary force to oppose the French, had in 1805 succeeded in receiving appointments of viceroy and pasha in Egypt from the Ottoman government. During a government of more than 40 years, Muhammad Ali carried out a number of comprehensive programs, including reorganizing the administrative structure, improving irrigation systems, and introducing cotton, a commodity that Egypt would soon produce and trade on a large scale. Muhammad Ali founded the dynasty that ruled Egypt without interruption until 1952, when Egypt's last king, Farouk I, was forced to abdicate by a military uprising led by Gamal Abdel Nasser. With the abolition of the monarchy, Egypt became a republic led by a president. Cairo's Tahrir Square was the focal point of the 2011 Egyptian revolution against former President Hosni Mubarak. It was after this mass movement that Hosni was forced to withdraw. The second wave of resistance was also seen in 2019 where protesters called for President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to be removed from power. Mr. el-Sisi, who came to power in a military takeover in 2013, has cemented his grip through harsh repression that has silenced critics, restricted freedom of expression and ended any form of democratic politics. Even the mildest dissent has been met with harsh punishments and long prison sentences.