Night Boat to Cairo

Cairo: it was dirty, and dusty, and to drive you had to have big-big-balls (I mean they made the Emirati - and even the Sri Lankan - driving look tame!  You mean there are lanes to drive in?!?  Why would I use an indicator?!?) but what a fascinating place to spend four days.

Cairo is the capital and largest city of Egypt.  The city's metropolitan area is the largest in the Middle East and the Arab world, and 15th largest in the world - our driver told us about 25 million people live in the greater Cairo area, and after being there and seeing the city you can believe it.  Two million people alone are estimated to live in the 'City of the Dead', which is the six kilometer long Islamic necropolis and cemetery below the Muqattam Hills in southeastern Cairo.

Cairo sits on the Nile at the point at which the river fans out to become the fertile green Delta.  Modern Cairo was founded in 969 AD by Jawhar of the Fatimid dynasty, but the land composing the present-day city was the site of ancient national capitals whose remains remain visible in parts of Old Cairo.  The main city covers well over 200 square kilometers, most of which is on the east bank of the Nile, and Cairo clings to the river stretching 40km from north to south.  Its lateral spread east used to be constrained by the bare-rock Muqattam Hills, which give way to the Eastern Desert, but population pressure has meant the hills have now been leapfrogged.  In fact, driving in this area on the ring-road around the city you can see Malls and housing projects and schools that are more in line with what we are used to seeing in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Anyway, after only getting to the hotel at 3am we had a lazy start to our first day...

And why not.  The heat and ability to swim was, after all, why I wanted to find somewhere to holiday south of the Mediterranean.

We eventually dragged ourselves away from the pool and the mountains of Arabic food that we love, and headed downtown in search of the Nile.

The Nile is generally regarded as the longest river in the world and is truly 'international' with its drainage basin consisting of eleven countries - Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Sudan and Egypt.  It is the primary water source for both Sudan and Egypt and Egyptian civilization and Sudanese kingdoms have depended on the river since ancient times.  Most of the population and cities of Egypt lie along those parts of the Nile valley north of Aswan and nearly all cultural and historical sites of Ancient Egypt are found along the riverbanks.

We decided to experience the Nile for the first time by felucca - a traditional wooden sailing boat, which in 2017 also happened to have an outboard motor, neon lights, and loud Egyptian music - or so we thought...  Turns out that, to the actual weekend, thirty four years ago I was also on a felucca on the Nile. That's crazy!

Barely visible in the background is Cairo Tower, a free-standing
tower with a revolving restaurant on top.  It stands in the Zamalek
district on Gezira Island, in the city centre.  At 187 meters tall
(614 ft) it is 43 meters (141 feet) higher than the Great Pyramid
of Giza which stands 15 kilometers to the southwest.

Even though it was in the high twenties we still felt a bit
cool once the sun went down!