Day 2 Cairo

The Egypt Museum

Another early start to reach the Egypt Museum before the busloads of local visitors and tourists. Getting through traffic in Cairo is an experience that we could have done with less of! Our guide Daria was invaluable at the famous museum for which she obviously has a passion. We were there for three hours and I could have stayed for three days. Daria showed us interesting and quirky exhibits that we would probably have overlooked and she told the story of each. She directed us through the maze of rooms ensuring that we didn’t miss anything important and ran interference for us when tour groups threatened to push us out of the way.

The iconic museum houses the world’s largest collection of Egyptian artifacts (more than 120,000 items on display) including the Tutankhamen collection with its beautiful gold mask and sarcophagus and the Royal Mummy room. There are thousands of items that it cannot display due to lack of space and secure facilities at the old museum. The billion-dollar Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), is due to open in October 2020 next to the Pyramids. Many, but not all of the old museum’s exhibits will be transferred to GEM and the 1902 icon will be refurbished and retain its place as a centre of Egyptology.

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This video is a good representation of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Note the absence of signage about the exhibits as well as the charming but unusual lack of security. You might want to mute the sound!

These are interesting articles about the “old” Egypt Museum and its future role and the development of the new Grand Egyptian Museum.

Will This Be the End of the Legendary Egyptian Museum?

Everything We Know About Cairo’s New Grand Egyptian Museum

Old Cairo

Next we visited Old Cairo, also known as Christian Coptic Cairo, where the Holy Family are said to have taken shelter in a cave while escaping from Herod. In later years, the Church of Abu Serga (Saint Sergious) was built over the cave. We visited the cave which is now the crypt in this holy Christian place. This ancient religious precinct also includes the Church of St Barbara, the Hanging Church and the old Ben Ezra Synagogue. Security was tight at the entrances to each church and the narrow lane-ways connecting each were crowded with locals out for a Sunday stroll.

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An account of a visit to the cave of the Holy Family: Egypt Today:  Holy Family leaves behind Egypt’s most visited church

Churches of Coptic Cairo

The Cairo Citadel of Saladin  was the last stop on our itinerary. Visible from miles away, the Citadel, on the city’s eastern edge, was started by Saladin in 1176 as a fortification against the Crusaders. It was home to Egypt’s rulers for 700 years. Within its walls there are three very different mosques including  the famous Alabaster Mosque and The Great Mosque of Muhammad Ali Pasha, several palaces and terraces with superb Cairo views including Giza’s Pyramids poking up in the far distance.

Before returning to our hotel we stopped off for a stroll around one of the cities largest bazaars. Unfortunately, it was very touristy and we quickly tired of the exhortations to buy what we had already seen at the Pyramids and other stops. There were very few other tourists in the market and we were sitting ducks. We beat a hasty retreat back to the car and to our hotel through traffic’s hell on earth.

We have long wanted to visit Egypt and have been deterred by threatened outbreaks of hostilities and attacks by fanatics but this was the perfect opportunity and we are glad we took it. Despite past terrorist activities in and around Cairo we never felt unsafe, except from crazy drivers. Security was strong at our hotel as well as at the sites we visited. Sometimes you just have to go for it and we are happy that we did.

The top 10 things to do and see in Cairo

Next up we had an amazing trip on the Nile visiting spectacular and fascinating archaeological sites everyday. Our floating home, the MS Tulip and her staff were magnificent and all in all it was an unforgettable experience. It was made even more fun by the great group we travelled with and our wonderful guide. More about that soon.

We are sorting out and packing up here in Dorset. It will be bitter-sweet to leave after our “amazing gap year.” The daffodils are out as they were when we arrived and there is just a hint of Spring in the air. We have a busy schedule now seeing old and new friends, trying to sell our car (!!) and packing before we leave on the 15th of March.  I may have to leave the sorting of the hundreds of photos we took on the Nile until we return home but I promise they will be worth the wait as you can’t take a bad picture in Egypt!

See you soon Australia!

Love Jim and Frankie xx