A Canadian Girl in Cairo: Help, I’m lost!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Help, I’m lost!

We got a little lost on a visit to a mosque and Islamic Cairo. We stopped at 1 building and we were unsure if it was the mosque we were supposed to meet the others at. We decided to call them to find out where they were, but as we went to dial we realised our friend could not help us, because the landmarks are all similar-
I’m next to a sand coloured building;

There are lots of taxis;

There is a mosque;

There are lots of people;

There is a market.

These things do not help anyone in Cairo! EVERY building is sand coloured, every 9 out of 10 cars on the road is a taxi, there are 1000’s of mosques, there are 10’s of 1000’s of people on every street corner and in that area of town is a market everywhere! Luckily we figured it out and didn’t need to send up smoke signals, and made it to our tour.

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Information About Cairo

The Lonely Planet says: “The crowds on a Cairo footpath make Manhattan look like a ghost town; your life will flash before your eyes each time you venture across the street, and your snot will run black with the smog”. All true!

The Lonely Planet also says: “This city has an energy, palpable even at 3 in the morning, like no other. It’s the product of 20 million people simultaneously crushing the city’s infrastructure under their collective weight and lifting the city’s spirit up with their uncommon graciousness and humour”. Again, all true (try finding water in any tap in my flat around 6 pm during Ramadan- EVERYONE is using water to cook!)

“So blow your nose, crack a joke and learn to look through the dirt the see the city’s true colours. If you love Cairo, it will love you back”. So far, so good!

The ancient Roman city of Babylon is where Cairo started. The core foundations were started in 969 AD by the Fatimids, who conquered the old city and began a new one. They named it Al- Qahira after the planet Mars (the Europeans butchered the name and it became Cairo). There are many buildings that still exist that were built in that time, and in times before that. Cairo is considered the Mother of the World, as it survived dynasties and Pharaohs whims as the city grew larger than its walls. The effects of each ruler can be seen in certain areas of the city. Cairo continues to grow today, with suburbs now reaching the pyramids. The estimated population for Cairo is 20 million people!