Egypt’s visa on arrival process was straight forward enough. Slip someone behind bulletproof glass exactly $25 US dollars in crisp bills, get a giant sticker slapped in your passport, and voila welcome to Egypt! At the arrivals area, my friend’s cousin was waiting for me. Let’s call him Alex, which may or may not be his real name. After loading up his Peugeot, we were off like a rocket straight into Cairo traffic, which would be accurately described as cluster and then some.
It took a couple of hours for us to reach our first stop: the Great Mosque of Muhammed Ali Pasha.
As impressive as it looked on the outside, the mosque was even more splendid on the inside.
There was a nice view of the city from the courtyard.
While the Great Mosque of Muhammad Ali dates back to the 19th century, the Al-Nasir Muhammad Mosque just next door dates back to the 14th century. It isn’t as ornate as the Great Mosque, but the Al Nasir Muhammad Mosque was impressive in its own right especially considering when it was built. The curator was an older gentleman who was very eager to talk about the history of the mosque. I’m sad to admit I didn’t retain much of the information, but I truly enjoyed his enthusiasm and knowledge. He encouraged me to walk around and take pictures, which of course I did.
The hand carved wood ceilings were particularly impressive.
On the way out, the curator thanked us for visiting with a warm handshake. Apparently, they don’t get a lot of visitors these days. I don’t quite understand why, as it’s a fantastic little gem of history.
And back we went into Cairo traffic on the way to The Egyptian Museum. My first recollection of learning about Egypt in depth was in Coach Spitz’s sixth grade history class. I suppose the curriculum was pretty run of the mill and covered ancient civilizations beginning the Bronze Age, Mesopotamia, and finally Egypt. The chapter on Egypt was a favorite of mine as many remnants of the ancient world still exist today, and of course I hoped to see it for myself. And what better way to begin my immersion in the ancient world than the largest collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts.
The museum itself isn’t very large physically; however, there were a ton of exhibits crammed in there. I spent the rest of the day exploring the exhibits, and I didn’t leave until shortly before the museum closed. I was completely beat by the time we got back in the car. While incredibly enjoyable, the last couple of days were rough and the short redeye flight the night before didn’t help. So I opted to head to the hotel, which was just across the Nile from the museum. On the way, we passed through Tahir Square, where the some of the first sparks of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution flew.
The hotel was probably 2 miles from the museum, if that. But traffic was horrendous, and it took a solid thirty minutes before we pulled up to the Conrad Cairo.