Ancient city with modern problems
Written: Nov 28 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: inexpensive, pyramids
Cons: noisy and dirty
The Bottom Line: Pyramids, Cairo Museum are the main reasons to check out Cairo but be ready for lots of chaos of city life.
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| cybermaven's Full Review: Cairo |
When you first step into the airport from the plane you get an idea of the chaos that is Cairo. There are mobs of people at the exchange places and outside offering taxi service and of course the people arriving from the flights. I had arranged assistance from my hotel in helping me get a visa and going through customs and of course transportation to the hotel. This helped a great deal and I was out of the airport in 15 minutes. I would assume those who did it on there own were probably in the airport for a lot longer than that acquiring visas at the airport. Those who like to really prepare should get their visas prior to arriving in Cairo.
Driving conditions – It seems like there is always traffic and this city never sleeps. Furthermore I could not believe how people drove through the streets. Cars would be constantly cutting each other off and not stopping for anything. You would rarely see street light so it would seem like one chaotic mess of cars. The conditions of the cars were also not the best. Many cars were old and dilapidated but maintained enough to work. During certain times of the day and in certain locations traffic would be at a standstill with traffic moving very slowly. So if you want to go to certain places that are not that far walking it might be quicker to walk or to use a bicycle. I would not recommend driving unless you are prepared for the complete offensive driving mentality there.
Housing - Many residential buildings are left unfinished. One of my tour guides explained that this is done purposely because then the tenants/owners of the apartments do not have to pay taxes because officially their homes are not completed yet. As for the building near the hotels like the Semiramis (where I stayed) the building were actually quite nice. I guess cause this is the richer part of town with embassies and 5 star hotels all in the same location.
Currency - You also realize that the Egyptian pound is not one of the stronger currencies as I exchanged 200 dollars and got a stack of Egyptian pounds. So in general everything is pretty inexpensive in Cairo compared to American cities such as New York City.
Living - The city is full of poverty as you see many men waiting at the hotel offering their taxi services and trying to negotiate a good price. They also try to take you to shops where they get a commission for every sale the shop gets from their customers. You do find children and senior citizens trying to sell items to tourists. You find more children out in other parts of Egypt than compared to Cairo.
Accommodations - There are many nice hotels in Cairo and I suggest staying at one of the chains like Sheraton, Hyatt, Hilton and Intercontinental to get the best service possible.
Baksheesh – This is the biggest thing in Cairo. Everyone wants tip. One tourist police assisted us in crossing the street and he wanted baksheesh for it.
Language - Not many people speak English though or if they do its very limited or they just don’t want to try to communicate in English. My hotel was in walking distance to the Cairo Museum but trying to get directions for locals was not easy. Learning a little Arabic will be helpful.
Pyramids - Of course the biggest thing Cairo has is the Pyramids. I would have thought they could have made the surrounding area around the pyramids a lot nicer or at least more developed with more restaurants, cafes, shops etc but does not look like it at the moment. There are things like that there but seems they are not maximizing the opportunity here.
Cairo Museum – There is so many artifacts in this museum its incredible. You can spend days checking this museum out. I must say though the condition of the museum itself is not very nice and most of it is not air conditioned. In speaking with locals though we learned that there are plans to create a new museum with modern facilities that will replace this one.
Khan el-Khalili Market –
This market is huge and there is so much stuff. If you want to buy souvenirs this is the place to go. Be prepared to haggle and you can get some great deals. They recommend going in the evening.
There are other places to check out in Cairo like Old Cairo, Islamic Cairo, Memphis and Saqqara but we got sick during our stay so we missed out on these other places. Personally I liked Luxor better than Cairo as its cleaner, not as dirty and noisy as Cairo.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Singles
Best Time to Travel Here: Sep - Nov
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Epinions.com ID:
cybermaven
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Reviews written: 37
Trusted by: 0 members
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