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Sights of Cairo
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Paul and Jean’s unforgettable 24th wedding anniversary trip to Cairo (which becomes unforgettable for many reasons beyond the sights of this ancient city) offered the attractions of antiquity. Travel vicariously with them through Cairo.
FELUCCA RIDES ON THE NILE These simple sailboats, used since antiquity by Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, may still be found along the Corniche el Nil, the main Cairo thoroughfare that runs along the Nile River. Feluccas once carried cargo and passengers of every kind, from pharaohs and generals to the humblest tradesmen plying the river. Originally constructed of lashed-together reeds and small wooden plans, and covered with tarred cloth to make them watertight, feluccas had a single wooden mast and a sail made of cotton and linen; oars were added to propel the feluccas when there was no wind. With no motor, the sense of quiet and peace aboard a felluca is striking, and a skilled guide can show visitor thousands of years of Egypt history along the Nile shore. THE EGYPTIAN MUSEUM The oldest archeological museum in the Middle East, the Egyptian Museum houses the largest collection of Pharaonic antiquities in the world, spanning from the Predynastic Period (6000–3150 BCE) to the Greco-Roman Era (332 BC–395 AD). Designed by French architect Marcel Dourgnon, who was selected in an international competition in 1895, the museum was inaugurated in 1902 by Khedive Abbas Helmy II, and remains one of Cairo’s most visited landmarks.
Among the museum’s unrivaled collection are the tomb and treasures of the Tutankhamun Galleries, the complete burials of Yuya and Thuya (powerful courtesans during the reign of Amenhotep III) and King Psusennes I; the treasures of Tanis, the spectacular archeological find unearthed in the 1930s and 1940s, in which an entire royal complex of tombs as found
Experience a felluca ride
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brimming with gold and silver carvings and jewelry, and the riches of pharaohs referred to in the Old Testament; and the Narmer Palette, with its carvings of gods and kings. The Egyptian Museum also houses spectacular statues of the great kings, the pharaohs Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure, the builders of the pyramids at the Giza plateau, and an extensive collection of papyri, sarcophagi and jewelry from ancient Egypt.
THE KHAN EL-KHALILI BAZAAR This sprawling bazaar, or souk, in the heart of Cairo was first established in the Mamluk Era (1250–1517 AD), where tourists today can buy mementos ranging from artisanmade traditional crafts to mass-produced souvenirs, in shops alongside coffee-houses and restaurants serving traditional food. The name, when the bazaar was first established, referred to a single building; today Khan el-Khalili refers to a maze of alleyways and shops that comprise an entire shopping district.
The bazaar’s architecture displays its antiquity, with monumental gates beckoning visitors inside; once there, shoppers can find themselves lost in the scents of spices, the tinkling of brass bells, the shouts and bargaining of buyers and sellers. The Khan el-Khalili bazaar was built in 970 AD, the same year as the founding of Cairo by the Fatimid caliphs who ruled much of North Africa at the time, and who desired Cairo as a royal city with palaces, tombs and burial grounds fit for caliphs and their families. The bazaar is located next to two other major Cairo landmarks, the Al-Azhar University, founded in 970 AD as a center of Islamic learning, and the Al-Hussein mosque (1154 AD).
Take a video tour of the Egyptian Museum
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