I needed to come back and re-introduce this one. I’ll leave my original opening unedited below, but I feel it is important to open with the fact that Cairo is an incredible place, a life-list destination and an experience that should not be missed. My initial experiences as written, reflect a fair bit of culture shock, which is hard for me to admit. Fact is this is Africa, and things work the way they work. My recommendation based on this, is to save time for the Giza Pyramids and the portions of the visit most important to you until you’ve slowed down a little, become accustomed to the ways here. It takes a little time to adjust, but once you do, like I did, you’ll appreciate the experience so much more.

Cairo is not for the faint of heart. After a long, long flight, it was a pleasure to see my name on a welcome board (last minute email to the hotel paid off) so I didn’t have to deal with the licensed bandits called taxi drivers that lie in wait at the airport. I had read a number of horror stories regarding the taxis, and their method of quoting one price for something and adding more and more ’special or exclusive deals’ to whatever was originally agreed.That wasn’t going to happen to me. I got a driver sent by the hotel, a very nice hotel, The Mena House in Giza, the view from my room above speaks for itself. No, I thought I’d be lucky, and get a decent deal from this apparently reputable driver. Needless to say I didn’t. We agreed on a few hundred Egyptian Pounds (5.5 to 1 US; 8.5 to 1 UK) for a few hours of very specific things I wanted to do: 1. Visit pyramids, 2. Photograph Islamic and Coptic Quarters, 3. have some really strong local coffee some place.Never happened. About five minutes from the hotel, the driver’s showing me a view of the pyramids from a rubbish strewn overpass over two miles away (the hotel being two minutes walk from the pyramids). Bad choice I thought. Next, we pull up at a backstreet full of camels and horses and not much else. We go into his brother’s uncle’s perfume shop where I never got my cup of coffee, just a long sales pitch on a two hour camel ride and other things I didn’t want. After my driver disappeared, I decided enough was enough and walked out, found him and told him to take me right back to the hotel, which, thankfully, he did, with much apologizing and mentioning of his sick daughter and toothache.I was a little angry about this ignominious start and once back at the hotel, walked up to the Great Pyramids of the Giza Plateau myself. Best idea of the day. No problem, got some wonderful shots and, as was my goal, got the rather gaudy new sandals I picked up cheap in Singapore nicely covered in the dust of the ancient kings.Nothing prepares you for the awe-inspiring scale of the pyramids and the sphinx. The Great Pyramid itself is a true wonder of the world. No camera angle can really encompass its scale and majesty. The Sphinx is a little smaller than I expected, yet you feel you can touch the history that surrounds it. I’m still studying my photographs of it, each one revealing more and more to me. Amazing place, incredible to experience. But it can be a little difficult to absorb where you are and what it means because of all the people hassling you to ride a camel, ride a horse, buy crappy stuff with pyramids on it and, as outlined above, pull the Egyptian reverse blind guided tour stunt at every possible opportunity. At least a dozen people pretended to be officials and asked for my ticket, then started talking like they were my new best friend and guide. After the first one, I realized the game and firmly and colorfully refused to give them my ticket, or even acknowledge them except to say no, no and NO.I felt sorry for the couples and other visitors I saw stuck with these ‘guides’, a real shame in a wonderful place. A quick official note here: There are no officially sanctioned tour guides up there: you pay your ticket and it’s up to you, the only sanctioned tour guides are the ones that arrive with you on tour buses if you arrive that way. Period. Much as I don’t like tour groups, it’s the best bet: organize anything you do here through your hotel so you have a recourse and a phone number to call if the deal starts ‘growing’ on you.How these unsanctioned bandits can be allowed at one of the world’s most important and spectacular heritage sites, and the last remaining wonder of the world is beyond me. Not only that, but everywhere is strewn with years of rubbish, plastic bottles, bottle caps and cigarette butts, none of them tourist brands. It takes away from some of the magic and romance of this wonderful place. I’d romanced the pyramids since I was a kid, and while there is some adventure in dealing with this sort of thing, after the spectacularly friendly people of Singapore, feeling like everyone was out to rip me off was a bit of a shock. But it was more my ‘jumping’ into the trip than anything, I should have taken more time to acclimate, rather than making a tour deal right out of the airport.However, I wandered back to the hotel and sat down with the manager and had a good long chat about my taxi experience. I was lucky, the hotel had recommended the company, and in both our opinions, it was their responsibility. So we came up with a solution. 1. the partial payment I left in the cab this morning was going to be refunded. 2. He would recommend a second driver, and interview him with me and discuss exact prices, and plans. My taxi back to the airport was also arranged free of charge. Done deal. Now, with a fresh start, and my Cairo venting out of the way, let’s take a look around real Cairo!I’m quite specific in my goals, as usual, and my new driver, Salah, was awesome in getting me where I wanted. I also learned more from him about the great dynasties and the rich history of Cairo from ancient times through the present day than I ever did from the History Channel. What’s more, I was there, immersed and surrounded by the history itself. Rich. Sprawling. Colorful and chaotic. The roads are incredibly dangerous, with pedestrians, cars, bicycles, scooters, minivans, trucks, camels and donkeys pulling carts all competing for their place on these amazingly crowded thoroughfares. My driver pushed, edged, inched and darted through chaotic intersections and used whatever side of the road or lane got us where we wanted to go. Traffic lanes are meaningless here. There’s probably a speed limit, but no-one was able to reach anywhere near one most of the time.Cairo is divided by the river Nile, on the east side is downtown Cairo, and the old quarters, called Coptic and Islamic Cairo, and on the west side, Giza. There’s a number of modern skyscrapers and buildings in the downtown area, as well as beautifully laid out squares, incredible museums and tree-lined boulevards, but the majority of both sides of the city is very old, dirty and, as I’ve mentioned before and will mention again, chaotic. You’ll find whole streets dedicated to particular trades; marble and masonry artisans line one street, ceramic and traditional crafts another. Cotton and silk stores fill entire market areas. Every one of them busy, full of people carrying, shopping, creating and fixing, rushing to and fro on all sides.The Coptic Cairo portion of Old Cairo includes the Babylon Fortress, the Hanging Church, the Greek Church of St. George and many other Coptic churches and historical sites. I visited Saint Virgin Mary’s Coptic Orthodox Church also known as the Hanging Church, one of the oldest churches in Egypt dating to the 3rd century. Around the corner from this church, we sat at a hole in the wall store where I drank some powerful Turkish coffee that makes your teeth itch and traditional Egyptian tea, which is excellent. Here, in a quiet corner of the ancient city, I began to feel truly connected with Cairo, just a tiny corner of it’s massive sprawl, the largest city on the African continent all around me. We smoked dried dates in the traditional hookah while we enjoyed the peace and quiet and the wonderful tea. This is what I came to Cairo for, a small slice of life in an incredible place.There’s a busy intersection where the Khan el Khalili marketplace’s main thoroughfare the famous Al-Muizz Street crosses a busy road. Framed by an ancient gateway, this is one of the oldest streets in Cairo, crowded with people going about their day in the heart of the Islamic Quarter. We sat here for a time, and drank more excellent Egyptian tea as we watched the hustle and bustle — strike that — chaos of market life all around us.My favorite part of the road trip was a short cut through the City of the Dead. Fantastic place. Miles upon miles of Egyptian people’s tombs. Not like the tombs of the ancient Kings, but a rabbit warren of what look like mini mosques, mausoleums and ramshackle lean-tos stretching for miles along the plains that surround Old Cairo. There’s actually a surprising amount of life in the City of the Dead. Some of the tombs have satellite dishes sprouting from the roof and washing hanging out on rusting balconies. Many thousands of people live here, work here and, well, die here, too. Some of it’s streets are designated for car parking, others for car washing, car repair and all sorts of other commercial uses.For the complete story: 48 HOURS IN Cairo, Please buy my new book: Around The World In Eighteen Days, featuring 48 Hours In Hong Kong, Singapore, Cairo, Istanbul and 96 Hours Across Europe By Train. Click here for more information…