Cairo, Egypt - The Mother of All Cities

And, surprise me it did in the most unexpected of ways.

For a start arriving at Cairo’s shiny new airport turned every horror story I had heard of bumpy landings, immigration hassles, broken conveyor belts, stolen and lost luggage on its head. Within minutes of a smooth landing, not only had we sashayed through immigration and collected our visas, but all our bags rolled out on time and a pick up taxi was waiting for us as we wheeled our trolleys out.

A new motorway led us out of the vast airport complex before joining a ring road that skirts the outer fringes of the city.

The ring road was meant to by pass the city traffic but we had arrived in the rush hour and endless queues of cars had got to it before us. Our driver politely asked us to belt up before he started pushing ahead and sometimes back in what can only be described as cross-country driving in the middle of a traffic jam. Occasionally he took on the role of a guide, pointing to the 6^th October City, Cairo’s newest development to our left and then to Old Cairo on the right, as we passed them both from a distance. Over the next few days we would take a closer look but for now our sights were set on Giza.

The Giza plateau, home to the pyramids sits high on the west bank of the Nile and is for all practical purposes an extension of Cairo which sits on the east of the river; only perhaps a trifle less developed. Within minutes of crossing over the connecting bridge and turning right into Giza we see them. Towering over the mish-mash of apartment blocks, the three unmistakable structures.

‘Look Pyramids!’ we all exclaim, stating the obvious, having least expected to find them rising out of the city like that. And as if that wasn’t surprising enough, imagine our joy at finding out that our hotel was located right in their shadows. We had chosen it for its proximity to the monuments but had never hoped to find them in our backyard so to speak. I was doing well on the surprises.

The sun was setting on the mighty tombs when we reached our room and watching them from our balcony I was filled with as much awe as the first explorer to have stumbled upon them. I needn’t have worried about the pictures and guidebooks spoiling the moment for me. Nothing I had seen or read could have captured these amazing wonders of the ancient world in their raw majestic beauty.

Standing at their base the next morning staring up at the colossal structures, I was struck by their elemental simplicity and the genius of engineering. These were inspired pieces of architecture envisioned by a civilization far ahead of its times.

The Great Pyramid of Khufu, the only survivor of Seven Wonders is also the oldest and the biggest in Giza, our guide tells us. It stands 481 feet tall covering an area of nearly 13 acres. It took nearly two and half million precisely cut limestone blocks weighing almost six million tones to build it. Unfortunately not much is known about Khufu because his tomb was raided long before archeologists got to it. Khafre (Khufu's son) and Menkaure also from the 4th dynasty erected the other two pyramids over the next 75 years.

South of Khafre’s pyramid sits the Great Sphinx, as much a national symbol of Egypt as the pyramids. Historians think it is probably the largest monument to be ever sculpted from a single piece of rock. With its face to the sun the Sphinx cuts an impressive figure symbolizing even today the power and might of the Pharaoh. Which pharaoh exactly we are not sure. While Khafre’s name is found carved between its front claws, Egyptologists now think Khufu possibly built it. At dusk this magical monument comes alive as the narrator in an interesting Sound and Light Show. Wrapped up in shawls and jumpers we brushed up on Egyptian history and thoroughly enjoyed it.

From the tombs of the kings to their treasures. Next day we head to the Egyptian Museum in Central Cairo. Opened in 1902 this neo classical building is crammed from floor to ceiling with the world’s most significant collection of Egyptian art and antiquities. A veritable treasure trove that cannot fail to wow even the most jaded travelers and Indiana Jones wanabes. Exhibits crowd the inadequate space over two floors with Tutankhamen’s treasures alone taking up all of the first floor. There are over 1,40,000 relics and antiquities ranging from tiny scarab beetles to pieces of jewellery and papyrus scrolls to giant monoliths bringing to life almost every period of ancient Egyptian history. Many of the relics still remain a mystery sitting un-deciphered and unlabelled. Great Kings and Queens of the past with their possessions spread about them gaze down upon us as we walk around the dusty corridors trying to make sense of it all. So one visit is not enough. I would have loved to go back even if it was just to take one more look at the spectacularly handsome mask of the boy prince. Perhaps I will another time when the much-needed new museum, touted to be the world’s biggest, opens in 2012.

There is of course more to Cairo than the pyramids and secret treasures of the Pharaohs.  Aptly called Um ad Dunya (mother of all cities) it is the largest city in the Middle East and Africa and home to a staggering 22 million people. Trapped beneath the blue haze of pollution and amidst the urban sprawl of incomplete buildings is a teeming metropolis still living and breathing as it did centuries ago.  One has to simply walk down one of the many lanes of Old Cairo to lose all sense of time and place. Here along with the ruins of Roman Babylon we found Egypt’s oldest Synagogue, Church and Mosque. Moses is fabled to have passed this way when he was baby, as did Joseph, Mary and Jesus when they were escaping from Jerusalem. Quite a claim to fame.

And then there are the icons of the Ottoman dynasty, the Citadel of Salah Din and Mohammad Ali’s mosque which are all worth an explore. Not to forget the famous markets of Khan el Khalili. It is here, sitting in one of the many coffee shops sipping syrupy chai with the call for prayers ringing in the air, that I contemplate a city, which defies all description and can only ever be experienced.