Cairo street scenes

Thursday, September 3o
Today we said goodbye to the ship and its crew and took the flight from Luxor back to Cairo. Although its not a long flight, the day seemed tedious with waiting, transfers and travelling. The domestic arrivals area in Cairo airport is a mess with renovations. We would all have appreciated an earlier flight so that we could have had more time to explore the crazy city of Cairo. It is a bit intimidating and needs a bit of guidance before setting out aimlessly. We had the same excellent bus driver in Cairo that we'd had before, so we negotiated the traffic safely back to the deluxe comfort of the Marriot Hotel.

One of the things I would have loved to do was visit Old Cairo which is the ancient Coptic area. But there was no time for that. Instead Peter and I joined forces with new friends Kathy and Bennett and took a taxi to the 600 year old souk Khan el Khalili. This is one of the oldest markets in the world. Our experience here was a great adventure, and definitely a highlight of trip.

When we alighted from the taxi, we were almost immediately greeted by a local who wanted only to practice his English - or so he said. Mohammed was a persuasive talker and an affable guide who said he was studying to be a lawyer and worked at the local mosque. We all knew that this was likely just a story for the gullible tourists, but we decided to go along with him. He quickly led us into the heart of the market, helping us to avoid being run over by the fast moving pedestrian and bicycle traffic. Tray loads of bread the size of a door, floated by held aloft by guys riding bikes and cars occasionally threaded there way along passageways, just wide enough for them to squeeze by. We moved deeper and deeper into the interior, along ever smaller laneways. Mohammed walked at a brisk pace and didn't leave much time for idle browsing. After a while we noticed that we were the only tourists afoot. The merchants watched us curiously as we trotted by. I didn't take out my camera, much as I wanted a record of our journey. It just didn't seem right. We stopped at a spice shop but moved on once we said that we couldn't take spices back home. We declined to visit a papyrus shop and a visit to the top of a minaret in the mosque and eventually after more twists and turns, now through darkened lane ways, arrived at Mohammed's grandfather and nephews' shop, where they made inlaid boxes. The four us joined forces as to choose and bargain. Our negotiations were fairly firm and there was a lengthy period of haggling. I am not sure if the price was any deal or not, but we moved on from there with three lovely boxes between us.

More twists and turns, passing all kinds of colourful and exotic wares; sensory overload of colour, sound and smells. It was about an hour and half before we emerged and found ourselves across the street from the more touristed part of the market. Mohammed gave us directions to the restaurant where we wanted to go, and after extracting a good tip, he look his leave. It was well worth the small change to have the unexpected tour of a part of the bazaar where we would probably not have ventured on our own. On this side of the market, it was busier, with more familiar souvenirs for sale, tourists browsing and merchants calling from their stalls. As we entered the restaurant Naguib Mahfouz, we threaded our way through a room of hookah smoking patrons to the more formal part of the five star restaurant. Fortunately, 5 star prices in Egypt aren't what you would pay in some other places. We had an excellent authentic Egyptian meal, negotiated a fare from a taxi driver and ended the day with one more trip through the wild traffic of Cairo.