Home » Egypt » Cycle to the Summit Part 8 - Cairo

Cairo is big, noisy and dirty but we leave it with many fond memories; the city where we met Owy, the forth member of our team, the fun times that we spent at the Dahab Hotel and the great people that we met there, the pyramids, the sights and smells of the Khan al-Khalili market, visits to the Sudanese consulate, the honking of horns, the vibrant market stalls beneath the flyovers and much much more.

Cycle to the Summit Part 8 - Cairo

Toby Hammond
2006-06-25 19:06:04

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to back down. After much hooting of horns and shouting, the van conceded defeat and reversed through the sea of people. It was difficult to work out how far we walked but when we returned to the hotel we all collapsed into bed, exhausted from the adventure.

Egyptian Museum
Seeing the sights of Cairo does takes its toll on energy levels and on the afternoon we went to the Egyptian Museum we were all wilting. We paid the tourist price of 20 LE (10 times the price for Egyptians) and wandered round the sarcophagi, artworks and relics from ancient Egypt for several hours before museum fatigue got the better of Toby who was found asleep next to a statue of Ramses II.

The Pyramids

A visit to Cairo would not be complete without a trip to the Pyramids. We spent one day at the main pyramids at Giza and then took a trip from the hotel to the lesser-known step pyramid at Saqqara.
Having fended off the many hustlers trying to entice us onto a camel or horse, we saw the pyramids appear out of the early morning mist. The three large pyramids and six smaller ones are much more spectacular in reality and as the mist cleared we could look back to the sprawl of Cairo. We met Omar and his camel, Moses as we wandered around the pyramids and over the sand, and since he seemed knowledgeable about their history and spoke good English, we asked him to act as our guide. Omar was 27 and depended on the income that he made from tourists taking camel rides to support his wife and two young children. He had worked at the pyramids since he was 10, leaving only to complete army service. Through him, (and others) we realised the extreme effect that September 11th has had on tourism in Egypt and perhaps this makes it easier to understand why hustlers are so persistent. It makes it more difficult to lose your temper with someone who nags you for the tenth time about why you should chose them over the trader next door as they are seemingly competing to survive. ...