Bo2642

We're on a small group tour of Jordan and Egypt., and there are times when we can break away to explore on our own. For example, at a certain point in our itinerary, after our flight from Luxor to Cairo, we will have a free afternoon and evening in Cairo to plan and do as we wish. We will already have visited the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, Giza etc., and also the Saqqara pyramid. We will also have had a "Spititual Cairo" experience which included the Islamic quarter, the Citadel, a Synagogue, old Cairo churches, and the el-Khalili bazaar.
So.....On our own? Well, Cairo is intimidating. We are two lady teachers who are interested in wringing every bit of cultural experience out of the trips we take. That, by the way, doesn't exclude minor shopping and restaurants. Are there any recommendations for a meaningful afternoon and evening in Cairo for us? We're not excited about spending precious hours at our hotel, le Meridien Pyramids, on one of our last days in Egypt. Any recommendations for guides??

lincasanova

casual-cairo on here is very recommended and has answered all my emails very quickly.

mowmow

Are you on the OAT tour? We did that tour a couple of years ago, and I don't remember having too much free time that afternoon in Cairo. The chaotic airport and bus ride through Cairo to the hotel take forever, so you won't have enough time to do anything, unless you hire a driver and miss the farewell dinner.

Le Meridien is too far away from downtown and there aren't any shops to speak of around there. The traffic is horrible, and you're risking your life if you try to cross the street.

I considered a Nile boat ride, but I was Nile boated out by then. Another go at the Egyptian museum would have been great, but it wasn't open late enough to be worth the trip into downtown. We also considered a walk to the pyramids, but were tired of being constantly hassled.

I'd give up and rest by the pool, it has a lovely view of the pyramids, and you'll have a long flight home the next day. My DD still likes to brag about lounging at the Mena pool looking at the pyramids, and we enjoyed watching them glow in the sunset, then the moonlight.

Sorry, maybe someone else will have a better idea for you.

Bo2642

Yes, mowmow--we will be with an OAT group. Thank you very much for the heads up re the traffic and all. Not being in any way familiar with the area, I really appreciate input like yours.

Just read over my post. Wow. I hope it was the late hour and not a....er....senior thing that has us flying from Luxor to Cairo instead of Aswan to Cairo, and by way of another correction, make that "spiritual" instead of "spititual". That feels better.

Actually, our free afternoon and evening will occur not on the last full day of the tour, but two days before that. There is nothing planned, and no optional tour to choose, on the day that we fly to Cairo from Aswan. We supposedly land at 11 AM. Our itinerary reads, "Experience modern Cairo with time at leisure to make your own discoveries".

We would at least like to check into the hotel and get that squared away, but since there is no event to keep us there all afternoon and evening, we're still wondering--would it be worth hiring a driver/guide for something? And if so, are there any suggestions? It could be, mowmow, that we would like to have more time at the Egyptian museum, but in truth I think we might have had enough of the antiquities by that time and would rather explore something else. The bottom line, I guess, is that it seems a waste of precious hours to sit at the hotel when we've come so far to see and do things.

Hal8999

You might consider visiting the Manyal Palace on Roda Island followed by a walk along the Nile. We thoroughtly enjoyed that. Also a trip up the Cairo Tower gives a magnificent view when the sky is clear. As for food, you’re on your own; Egypt is not a gastonomical delight.

Don’t be intimidated by the traffic as long as you’re not driving in it. If you watch the locals crossing the street is easy; drivers keep an special eye on tourists because they assume you don’t know what you’re doing and will give you a bit more leeway than they give to locals but, generally, find an opening in the traffic and step through it to the space between “lanes” move though the next opening until you have crossed the street. The first time may be rough, but it gets easier each time. Got to be that I enjoyed it; in honesty, however, my partner did not. You will 'learn to appreciate how big an inch can be'.

I second getting advice from Casual_Cairo she won't steer you wrong.

Bo2642

Hi, Lincasanova and Hal--
Just a FYI
I have contacted Debbie and we're working out a plan. I'll get back to this thread and report what we've come up with when all is finalized.

sf7307

<<<If you watch the locals crossing the street is easy; drivers keep an special eye on tourists because they assume you don’t know what you’re doing and will give you a bit more leeway than they give to locals but, generally, find an opening in the traffic and step through it to the space between “lanes” move though the next opening until you have crossed the street.>>>

I could not disagree with this more!! I also considered crossing the street in Cairo a "personal challenge", but I don't think it ever got easier, and I definitely do not think drivers "watch out for tourists". I don't think they watch out for anything at all. The best advice I got on this forum was to cross with the nearest old person, because they "didn't get old by being stupid".

Axel2DP

If your free evening falls on a Wednesday or a Saturday, then I highly recommend taking in the free Whirling Dervishes show at the wikala of al-Ghuri in Islamic Cairo.

You can visit mosques that you didn't see on your tour or revisit mosques that you had already seen for a more detailed look. For example, a typical tour of the Citadel will take you to the Mosque of Mohammed Ali and then call it a day, but the al-Nasr Mohammed Mosque is supposed to be the more beautiful of the two mosques at the citadel. Or you can make a walking circuit between Bab Zuwayla and Midan Salah Al-Din below the citadel and take in mosques like Sulta Hassan and the Blue mosque that are no in the typical tour. Ibn Tulun Mosque is also very highly recommended in the guide books.

I bet you can also arrange for some private belly dancing lessions or Egyptian cooking classes, etc., if those are your interests.

Casual_Cairo

Axel - There are actually 3 mosques in the Citadel we visit on our tour. The Suliman Pasha one in the North Court is my favorite and most often missed by everyone else. Better for us that way actually, but everyone should know about it, and understand that visiting the Mohamed Ali Mosque at the Citadel DOES NOT constitute visiting the Citadel. If that is all you see of the Citadel, you have only seen one small bit of what is there to see.

The Citadel is fantastic, and maybe more fantastic to see if you rent The Kindom of Heaven (with Orlando Bloom) before visiting it. Orland fights Salah el Din for Jerusalem in that movie. Salah el Din built the first part of the Citadel here.
DO NOT confuse that movie with the Jamie Foxx movie THE KINGDOM - very different movies!

colduphere

Interesting article on Cairo traffic:

http://www.elkoshary.com/features/li...troduced-cairo

Axel2DP

Hi Casual_Cairo,

Yes, I was disappointed that my tour of the Citadal comprised of just seeing the Ali Mosque... but that's about to be rectified. I'll be back in Cairo for 3 days in November and plan to spend more time at the Citadel visiting the other mosques on there. I understand that the balcony at the military museum on the Citadel has very nice view of Midan Salah Al-Din area below also.

polly229

It's been 10 years since our trip to Egypt (on our own) but even though it wasn't too long after the attack on the tour bus at Hatshepsut's Temple, we always felt safe. But we certainly weren't in Kansas anymore.

We found a guy in the NY Times and also in Lonely Planet who did mini-bus day tours in Cairo, 8 people max, and booked two of those, but we also booked a day with a driver and guide and went to the Bent Pyramid, Red and Black Pyramids and Meidum - practically no people at any of those places though a taxi pulled up at the Bent Pyramid as we were leaving. Cost at that time was a reasonable $100 a day for car and driver and guide. (You can also get just a taxi for a lot less but the guide is nice - and I might feel better with an arranged guide if it were just me and another woman.) We enjoyed the trip about as much as anything we did. I have not confirmed this but believe the agent's company (he was just starting out at the time and had no "company name") is Samo Tours. His name was Salah Mohamed but the email address I have is defunct. Possible that Lonely Planet still recommends and has contact into.

Another thing we did purely by accident that was even cheaper and a greater adventure was when we were at Khan al Khalili a second time and were approached by two young men, Mohamed and Mohamed by name, of course, who "wanted to practice their English." Although we knew the ploy, we decided to take up their invitation to show us "the parts of the bazaar tourist don't see", figuring we were in no danger in a public place. One Mohamed took off to the mosque at the call to prayer but the less devout Mohamed continued to show us around. We would probably never have found the Street of the Tentmakers on our own in the maze of streets and with the convoluted and confusing map in our market guidebook. We we certainly would never have gone into the areas where the Egyptians were making the inlaid boxes, walking sticks, chess men, etc., using foot-powered "Dremels" and similar tools. Although we did not buy from any of the shops where Mohamed took us (and undoubtedly got a commission), we did buy from a couple of others. When it came to dinner time, we told him what restaurant we needed to go to and he left us off at the walkway to the "tourist" part of the market with instructions on how to get to the restaurant. We parted company with the "secret baksheeh handshake" that we had learned from Salah Mohamed's guide - with a folded bill or two in the palm of your hand - so he made as much money as he probably would have getting a commission on our purchases and we got a $15 tour (which was reasonable pay for about 75 min. by Egyptian standards). I realize you can't count on going to the Khan Khalili and running into Mohamed and Mohamed, but even if you don't make firm plans for the entire time, something serendipitous could happen if you go somewhere and wander.

Our sense in Egypt was that while we might get our pocket picked or be told we were buying gold or an antique when it was plated or made last month and buried in the back yard for a week, we were never in any danger from violence. We certainly did feel hassled a lot - especially in Luxor. Just keep walking, saying "La shukran" (no thank you) while waving your hand side to side with the palm facing the ground - and don't let them know what language you speak. Just smile mysteriously. And keep walking.

Bo2642

Hi, Axel, sf7307, Polly, and All

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and memories.

Polly, I loved your description of your time at the Khan al Khalili Bazaar:

"We would probably never have found the Street of the Tentmakers on our own in the maze of streets and with the convoluted and confusing map in our market guidebook. We we certainly would never have gone into the areas where the Egyptians were making the inlaid boxes, walking sticks, chess men, etc., using foot-powered "Dremels" and similar tools."

This increases our anticipation for what Debbie of Casual Cairo has arranged for us. As you may have read in the early posts on this thread, we have a free afternoon and evening that we want to fill with something other than what we would be seeing on our group tour. And now it's set--an afternoon visit to the City of the Dead and a visit to the bazaar afterwards. Although we will have had a brief visit to the bazaar with our tour, our Casual Cairo tour with just the two of us and our guide will allow us to leisurely experience it, not just for shopping, which we're not deeply into, but especially for some of the cultural things you mentioned in your post.

Regarding Casual Cairo, Debbie is wonderful to work with and has gone the extra mile to help us come up with a good plan considering our wants and our time frame. Not only that, she's worked out a contingency plan in the event that our flight from Aswan to Cairo arrives later than scheduled. In the spirit of returning the favor and/or paying it forward for the input all of you have taken the time to give, I promise a follow-up to this post when we return. We're leaving in less than a week for both Jordan and Egypt and will return on October 22.

polly229

I will look forward to your trip report. Would love to go back to Egypt - with a short cruise and to Aswan since we didn't get there last time - and have also promised my daughter and her husband we'd take them on a trip in the next year or so. They would both love to go to Egypt. Although I generally travel independently, I did a Machu Picchu/Galapagos/Amazon trip with OAT and was reasonably pleased. Have wondered if my daughter and son-in-law would be totally miserable with a bunch of old folks (though they certainly would be happy with the 5 other couples we were in Peru with) because it would be a lot easier than planning it myself. Furthermore, OAT trips are cheap enough that I might blow off the group stuff in Cairo and we'd do things on our own (or with my buddy Salah if I could find him). My biggest qualm is that they've been using hotels in the boondocks of Cairo the last couple of years instead of in town (like the Hilton on El Nile Corniche they used for a year or so). So I'm interesting in hearing about your experiences especially as they relate to the OAT trip.

City of the Dead is fascinating and, IMO, you can never spend too much time at Khan al Khalili, talking with shop owners and having a cup of very sweet tea along with shopping. (Just remember that Egyptians want you to be happy, so if it would make you happy that the scarab is an antique, an antique it is. I have an "antique" scarab myself. ) I envy you the trip.

Casual_Cairo

Polly - LOVE the "antique" scarab story! It's SO true!

BostonHarbor

I went back to the Museum of Antiquities twice and I wish I had had enough time for a 3rd or 4th visit. This is one of the great museums of the world--and it is still as it was built in the 1920's. The new museum being planned in Giza will be hermetically sealed like all the other museums in the world. "We already would have seen the museum" with a group means only seeing the biggies--Tut and company. The rest of the museum defies description--and is far more interesting than Tut and friends. I also agree that getting a taxi and driving through the City of the Dead is fascinating. They no longer allow official tours through the area, so the two of you could have a unique experience. I loved Khan al Khalili, but more than one trip there isn't as magical as another trip the the museum--but that might just be me. I have too many trinkets from Morocco and India already : )

polly229

Boston Harbor, you're right about the museum - we went twice, too, and I'd go back for a day in a heartbeat. But I loved Khan al Khalili as well. But your post reminded me of something I'd recommend to Bo or anyone else going to the museum - take a small flashlight. The lighting leaves much to be desired and some of the tiny, crabbed 19th C. handwriting on the little cards (the only description or ID) in the cases is hard to read in the dim light. Hard to read in better light, for that matter, particularly if it's in French and your French is as inadequate as mine. Last spring I finally made it to the Petrie at the Univ. of London to check out their Egyptian collection and their website recommends bringing a "torch". While I was there, I realized that if I got back to the current Museum of Antiquities, I should take a torch there, too. (BTW, BostonHarbor, we are flying to Boston tomorrow, assume that might be your neck of the woods.)

Bo2642

Hi, Boston--

You must have been in heaven to have had to opportunity to immerse yourself in the treasures of the Museum of Antiquities so many times during your stay in Cairo.

I'm a museum person myself, though I must admit that after a certain point I do go on overload and have to take a break. Were we to be in Cairo several days during which time we could combine exploration of the current culture with the antiquities, I'm sure I'd be answering the museum's call again and again. Unfortunately, for this trip, that's not to be the case with us.

This will be a rather quick trip--5 whole days in Jordan, and 13 or 14 days in Egypt. It's the best we could do on short notice; it came about sort of on the spur, an opportunity for a little time out, because I have a sick relative who is, at least for now, stable, but who knows for how long, and well, there are other things which make it a very narrow travel window. What we are doing, then, is considering this trip an overview of sorts, and if we're longing for further exploration here after it's over, we'll return for more when we can.

In trying to figure out what to do on our free afternoon and evening, we decided that we'd like to do something where the people are and see something about current life. We will have been able to visit the iconic sites in Giza, Luxor, and Aswan, as well as points of interest along the Nile during our river cruise from Luxor to Aswan, so it's a taste of present day Cairo that we'd like to have.

In my early post, I actually didn't say that we will have "seen" the Museum of Antiquities. That almost feels like an implication that...well... we have "been there, done that, and that's all that's necessary". That would be an absurd thing to convey. I did say that we will have "visited" the museum. I'm not sure if we'll just be shown the biggies or if we'll have the opportunity to delve further into this treasure house, but, as I say, this trip could very well be just an overview for us.

A point of interest for anyone preparing for an Egypt visit, there is a wonderful set of lectures on dvd--48 half-hour lectures in all-- which can be obtained from The Teaching Company (www.Teach12.com). The lecturer is Professor Bob Brier, an Egyptologist and Professor of Philosophy at Long Island University, a 2 time Fulbright Scholar, and frequent host for programs on ancient Egypt for National Geographic, The Learning Channel, and the History Channel.

This should probably be on a thread of its own instead of my just tucking it into this one. At any rate, Brier's lectures have given me wonderful preparation for the things we'll be seeing in just a couple of weeks now, and I know my trip will be so much richer for having spent the 24 hours listening to him.

I do go on, but, Boston, thank you for your recommendation for extended periods at the museum. Maybe someday. And it was so good to hear that you feel that our trip to the City of the Dead will be a fascinating and unique experience. As for the bazaar, it is our hope that we will be able to see something of the crafts, the craftsmen, and the whole busy-ness of the modern day marketplace. We're looking forward to that.

Axel2DP

I hadn't planned on visiting the mosques in the City of The Dead when I'm back in Cairo for 3 days in November, but now I might put this in my plan. Is it safe or not safe to go there by oneself?

Casual_Cairo

Axel - It's a difficult question. It will be safe in the daylight in that probably no one will knock you on the head and mug you and take your wallet, but you should exercise EVERY caution. These people are extremely poor, and life here in Egypt is getting harder for them, and more expensive. You and what you have may represent "the way out" for someone you meet. It's possible, perhaps unlikely, but I can't say it is A-OK to do the City of the Dead alone. I would take a trusted driver in with you at the very least.