CAIRO
In Cairo
The Mena House –
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Our hotel in Cairo was the Mena House Oberio – a five star hotel filled with history. Originally a hunting lodge, it was turned into a hotel a century ago.
The Egyptian Museum in Cairo
Our first day in Cairo, we went in the morning to the Cairo Museum. We arrived about 20 minutes before the gates opened, and wandered the gardens taking pictures. Unfortunately, the museum does not allow any cameras in the building; I had to check mine at the kiosk by the gate.
 The entrance to the Cairo Museum |
Sculptures in the gardens…
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Once the doors opened, we joined the crowd going in. Our guide Ahmed knew the usual drill… we went up the stairs on the west side of the museum and straight to the King Tut treasures. The busloads of tourist groups were lead by their guides the other way, with commentary about what they were seeing. When we got there, there were 4 or 5 others in the room with the gold mask and sacrophagus. Once they left, we had the room completely to ourselves for 5 or 10 minutes before the crowds arrived.
Here’s some scanned images from Postcards:
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The Narmer palette, celebrating the first Pharoah believed to have united Upper and Lower Egypt into one country. This carved stone table is almost 5,000 years old.
Then, we went to see…
The Pyramids of Giza
See more pictures of the Pyramids!
The Sphinx, with the Great Pyramid behind it.
Our second day in Cairo, we visited the old city of Cairo, the Coptic area with the Hanging Church and then the old market area near the citadel. We also visited several mosques.
If you want to (foolishly) do your own wandering, the Coptic neighbourhood is across from this Metro (subway) station.
Our guide and tour organizer, Ahmed Hamed Yousif, in the Amr Ibn Aas mosque not far from the Coptic neighbourhood of old Cairo. He sat after giving us the tour and he let us wander to take pictures…
Once done there, we went to see the pyramid fields outside Cairo, at Sakkara and Darshur.
See more pictures of the Sakarra and Darshur pyramids!
- CAIRO ONE MORE TIME
After our sojuorn around Egypt and Jordan, we returned to Cairo before leaving for home. We had one more day in Cairo.
View from atop the Mokkatam Hills.
In the distance by the lake you can see the new Egyptian National Museum. It is scheduled to open soon. As of May, 2012 – not yet but soon. It will display historical antiquities from the whole of Egyptian history. (Unlike the more famous Egyptian Museum of Antiquities in downtown (see top of page), and its coming-some-day replacement in Giza – which concentrate on the Pharonic period). It was very hazy that day, we could not see the pyramids from here.
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