Egypte / Egypt 2002

July 20, 2002 – Cairo

Once again I wake up later and I notice that there is someone else in the room. My neighbor is just coming from the train station. He is Danish and will spend the next 10 days between Sharm El Sheikh and Dahab as he terminated the pharaohs visits in the south.

I go outside to buy some water and when I come back to the hotel, I am very pleased to see Wan. He was told that I was here so he pays me a visit before my departure. I give him a short summary of what I have done in 3 weeks in the country and he explains me why he leaves the hotel and what his situation regarding his purchase of a flat here in Cairo.

At 11am after the usual light breakfast, I need to find the KLM travel agency to confirm my tonight flight. The lady is great with me. She tells me that I didn’t need to come as confirmation is not mandatory but as I am here she will register me for the two planes to Luxembourg. So I will choose the windows as usual.

Then I go straight to the parliament building as I remember that the district behind there was full of life and there were many vegetables stalls in the streets.

Then I walk in Bor Saïd street to reach the Islamic Art museum. I am very surprised and impressed by what I see, the museum has a rich collection and the objects are well presented with captions in English or French and Arabic. All the pieces come from Iran, Turkey, Morocco and many more countries. There is also a pediment with Hebrew written on it!! Strange to find this piece here in a Muslim country!!! This museum deserves many hours just to enjoy the considerable work it required to gather all these objects in one place. Unfortunately, you will not see any picture as cameras are forbidden inside the museum, you must leave them at the entrance in a locker.

After this great visit I decide to see the North cemetery best known as the City of the Dead. Fron Khan Al Khalili I walk in Sharia Al Azhar street along the mosque, the university and the hospital. I don’t try to find the subway as I see a footbridge over the 4 lines highway that separates the cemetery from the Cairo.

For not being lost in the cemetery and to find your way in this city, you just have to take a 1 EGP banknote with you as the famous Qayt Bey located in this cemetery is presented on one side of the note.

The cemetery doesn’t look like the western ones because here, there are a lot of enclosures edged with 2m high walls. People are living there in abandoned graves. They perpetuate the tradition of welcoming the living among the dead. Nut there are no more ceremonies to justify this but simply a deep poverty that forces hundreds of thousands of people to live there. This special city has its own police station and post office. As a visitor I am feeling some time uncomfortable to be here among them but I meet some great people there and especially 2 little girls who pass by me and just come back when I speak Arabic. I also meet one police patrol car and they are very happy to meet a French guy there.

The north cemetery : The city of the dead

I go back to the south souq of Khan Al Khalili because I noticed a guy selling mango juices in the street and I am thirsty. I am right as I see him with his handcart and the parasol. As the prices are noted on a sign, I give him 50 piastres for a big glass of mango. What intrigues me is the two demijohns full mango juices. He tells me that there is a difference between the two but I can’t see. Finally, I understand, the first one is more concentrated than the second one so the price is higher.

I walk back to the hotel but instead of following the usual itinerary I will go through Midan Ataba. Then I cross the Ezbekiyya gardens to join Talaat Harb. At a corner, I find a fruit and vegetables market street in Tawfiqiyya souq. A lot of colors and nice people!!

I walk slowly towards the New Sun Hotel and Midan Tahrir just to better enjoy these last hours there.

In the lobby, I meet Amélie, a French girl who fell in love with Arabic this year and since February she has been learning the language. She will come in Cairo again in January 2003 to live and work here after her studies in South America. We spend a long time talking about travels, Arabic and Egypt.

Midan Tahrir by night : The New Sun Hotel is just next to the Nestlé sign

I spend the rest of the evening talking with Wan and Essam. It is really the end.

Just before 10pm, I say my farewells to Essam, the New Sun and Cairo before taking the CTA bus #356 from the square behind the museum. For 2 EGP, I will reach the airport in 45 minutes whereas for a taxi it would have cost me more than 20 EGP even with bargaining. My plane is at 4am it wasn’t enough to take a room in a hotel to leave at 1am.