Cairo. Day 3: Islamic Cairo

For our third and final night in Cairo, we switched hotels to be closer to the action. So using father's handy diamond Hilton status booked a room at the Hilton World Trade Center Residences. We take our final Giza-Cairo cab ride and check into our new hotel. They inform us that we've been upgraded to the Nile Suite on the 27th floor and we can't believe it as we walk in. We have 1/4th of a hotel floor. This room has a sitting room, dining room, office, living room, 3 full bathrooms, a master and double bedrooms, and a wrap around porch overlooking the Nile. Thanks dad! As we're unloading we hear a strange knocking noise on a distant door. We open what we assumed was the hot water heater to find a full kitchen (full sized fridge, four burner stove, oven ect) and a butler ready to stock our fridge with various groceries. This thing is nicer than my apartment.

The room is nice and all, but that's not why we're in Cairo, so we quickly sunscreen up and hop in a cab for Islamic Cairo. This is the first cab driver we've had that doesn't speak a word of English. The cab driver and I spend the first 2 minutes in the cab speaking slowly loudly and at the same time at each other hoping the other would magically learn to understand our language, and eventually pull up to another cab to act as a translator. We hop out and pay next to our lunch venue, the only park in Cairo. We have to pay what we are convinced is the white man price to get into the park, but the greenery is lovely and the restaurant in the middle leaves nothing to be desired. The restaurant (appropriately called citadel view) has a great view of the Citadel and a palatable fare. We again do the Egyptian sampler appetizer which was again my favorite part, and finish it off with a collection of grilled meat.

We walk through the park, looking for the start of our guidebook recommended walking tour of Islamic Cairo, but get moderately lost. Thanks to some friendly helpers, who of course want to be tipped afterwards, found the start. The walking tour itself was unremarkable. Lots of cool buildings and mosques, lots of cool streets bustling with people, lots of people trying to weasel every last pound out of your pockets (including in the mosques which Derek and I agree doesnt seem very pious). The highlight for me was the touristy market, where we picked up some souvenirs which, thanks to a large amount of aggressive negotiation, we never paid more than quarter price for. We cabed back, at a pretty terrible (in more way than one (see my next post)) dinner. And got ready for our flight to Greece.

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