القاهرة (Cairo)

Egypt

Cairo, my first contact with African soil.

It’s okay to start visit with the largest city on the continent and accepting Cairo’s fascinating chaos. To feel the energy of a historical place with so many people and so much traffic for me was a travel success. The sound of constantly honking cars complemented by a scene of donkey carts driving down a dusty road is my first memory of this city. This is a traffic nightmare with roads full of vehicles and poor driving standards. There are lanes, lights and signs which no one adheres. If you are a pedestrian you are really irrelevant, no one will pay attention to you. Good luck in crossing the road.

I was dreading visiting Khan el-Khalili souk, one of the world’s oldest open-air markets because I heard so many experiences about the locals harassing tourists. I browsed the various shops and stalls, most of the traders tried to sell me their stuff and they didn’t accepted no for an answer easily. Honestly after a few moments I started to ignore them, although they tried to attract my attention by calling me Shakira, Spice girl or future wife. I consider this behaviour a part of their trading culture, and it’s definitely an experience. This is the place to go souvenir shopping but get ready to bargain, you should pay around 50% of the original price.

Best meals I had in Cairo, one is falafel at the mentioned souk and the other is koshery. Koshery is the national dish of Egypt. It is an extremely popular dish that is made up of layers of noodles, rice, lentils, chickpeas, fried onions, red tomato sauce and garlic sauce.

TIP: * I have to admit that I was in trouble when I ordered a taxi, got a message with the license plate number but a car “without numbers” came to pick me up. To make sure you get into a right taxi, learn Arabic numbers. It’s really not difficult and it makes so many situations (in which you will find yourself) much easier.

0	٠	6	٦
1	١	7	٧
2	٢	8	٨
3	٣	9	٩
4	٤	10	١٠
5	٥	20	٢٠

**If you love history visit the Egyptian Museum, home to an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities and largest collection of Pharaonic antiquities in the world.

I hope you like this little photo diary I put together to share my time adventuring through Cairo. Let me know if you have visited Egypt and how did you like it. If anyone has any feedback I’d be so appreciative to receive your comments and questions below. 

♥︎ Unta