Cairo

Our Cairo adventure started when the hotel there sent us a car and driver, which cost us about $50 for the 100 miles or so from Suez to downtown Cairo. Alot of cruisers took the local bus but we figured, what the hell, lets be comfortable!

One thing we haven't remarked upon is the massive military presence. As of April 2011 the army was firmly in charge and soldiers could be seen everywhere, as here with a tank. Just about every city block had an armored personnel carrier, or at least a truck, filled with troops. We didn't take too many pictures as it can be hazardous to your health to shoot pics of soldiers in a Middle Eastern country under martial law. In a way, we took some comfort from the idea that we'd at least be safe from being kidnapped or assaulted, assuming the army itself behaved.

As we got into Cairo, we started to see the Arab Street in action. Here the guy off to the right got mad at the guy in the white shirt because the latter honked at him. So, they stopped right in the middle of the freeway lane and started a frank discussion, stopping traffic for miles. We missed the 10-round finale.

Talk about asleep at the wheel. Cairo traffic is legendary.

This is the view outside our hotel room. The salmon-colored building is the famous Egyptian Museum, or infamous if you are a demonstrator. The building behind it belongs to Mubarak so they torched it. This is one happenin' place. Getting across this mess is an adventure in itself. Luckily, that didn't happen more than once!

This is Tahrir Square, just on the other side. The Square itself is not very big, more like a traffic circle. But demonstrators can fill the ample streets around it and access is easy via a major subway station.

At night, small demonstrations were common, as seen at right past the trees where a large group of young men are marching down the street, chanting slogans and blocking traffic. We were alerted to this by the cacophony of horns honking. We declined to go out at night. We were generally exhausted from sightseeing and chose to dine on the balcony and view the madness from a safe vantage point.

To some extent, the mood was one of mild anarchy. Here we see groups of people simply walking across dense traffic, as if daring the drivers to run over them. Cairo is often described as a place where you have to hire a cab just to cross the street, so this was a relatively low-risk way of defying the existing order.

We forgot to mention the Egyptian Museum. We don't have any pics because they don't allow it and X-ray your bags to make sure you're not packing a Kodak. We were very disappointed in the exhibits. The displays looked like they were last updated when the British were in charge, the labels were yellowed and it appeared they were done on a manual typewriter. Some exhibits were simply stacks of mummies in glass cases with no description whatsoever. Besides the fabulous King Tut artifacts and a few other items the place looks more like an antiquities warehouse than a museum.

One place we visited is called Old Cairo, complete with neon Mary. Egyptian Christians live (and die) their faith is ways the pampered West cannot imagine.

This is St George's, a Greek Orthodox church. The rotunda is built upon the remains of a tower that was part of the Roman Babylon Fortress. The fall of the Fortress signaled the Arab/Muslim conquest of Egypt.

Here we see a woman laying hands on an icon while being photographed. You could easily spot Christian women since they weren't bundled up in hijabs or burkas.

Just about every church had a spot where the Holy Family stopped or slept during their exile in Egypt. Here Capt Hub samples water from a well blessed by the baby Jesus. He hoped it tasted better in those days as it was just awful.

Back on the Muslim side, this is the monumental Muhammed Ali mosque in Cairo's Citadel. Ali, an Albanian, brought Ottoman rule to Egypt by ruthlessly wiping out the Mamluks. This is the only mosque we have ever visited. The interior is opulent but tacky. Our guide tried some heavy dawa (proselytizing) on us but we weren't interested. He was a good soul and full of accurate information on all counts.

The view from the Citadel, which was built to dominate the city. You can see the Nile peeking out toward the left, halfway up. The smog is part of the charm.

This is Khan Khalidi, Cairo's famous souk/bazaar. In the good old days you could buy African slaves alongside the spices. Now it's more of a tourist trap. The sellers are ravenous and will try anything to get you to buy. If you like bargaining, this is your haven!

Not everybody's a tourist. This woman is not as photogenic or accommodating as our lovely admiral. Sometimes it's good not to speak the language as she knew just a whole lot of words.

Like most souks, Khan Khalidi has areas devoted to particular products, in this case spices and other staples. We're not sure how the stuffed animals at the top enhance one's desire for foodstuffs, and were especially puzzled by the use of a dog in a Muslim shop.

The PETA people seem nowhere to be found. We're not sure what the tasteful rugs are made of. but when Mark Twain visited he said they used cats. We're sure they steer clear of canine carpeting. It seems they haven't figured out that foxes are related to dogs.

The one thing we were offered - free of charge! - by the shopkeepers was cats, any quantity.

This shop seemed to specialize in artifacts from the early Pier One dynasty. We were not sure whether some of this stuff was for touristas or local consumption. Actually, the lamps are interesting and wish we would have gleaned one or two.

Sometimes we encountered a tents situation. We thought these toys were really cute and regret not buying one, but it's hard to describe haggling with an Egyptian except that it's akin to root canal therapy or proctoscopy. After awhile we gave up trying to buy stuff as they would invariably ask 10 times the actual price of the item and act wounded if you only offered 5 times what it was worth. The whole process became quite an exercise in patience.

We certainly didn't want to guess the net worth of this place. A good name for it would be Nets to New.

A bad case of bread head. This guy must have wowed the charm school of 1978. Its spectacular that these guys don't have a cervical meltdown.

Everywhere you look, you see faded grandeur. Like many parts of the Middle East, Cairo sleeps in the past like an aged beauty queen.

We hope you enjoyed our little offbeat tour of Cairo. Please check out Luxor and the Pyramids before you leave Egypt...

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