A city of a thousand minarets
Cairo does not reveal itself in a single day. It is twenty million people living on top of five thousand years: a Pharaonic capital at Memphis, a Roman fortress at Babylon, the Fatimid city of Al-Qahira and the boulevards of the nineteenth century, all within a short taxi ride of each other.
The best way in is slowly. Start in the lanes of Islamic Cairo before the shops open, when the light falls straight down Al-Muizz Street and the stone of the Qalawun complex is still cool to the touch.
Museums and Old Cairo
The Grand Egyptian Museum at the edge of the Giza plateau now holds the complete treasure of Tutankhamun, while the old museum in Tahrir keeps its dusty, wonderful cabinets of daily life. Give each one a full morning.
Across the city, Coptic Cairo gathers the Hanging Church, the Ben Ezra Synagogue and the crypt where the Holy Family is said to have rested, within the walls of a Roman fort.
In Cairo you never visit one century. You walk through six of them before lunch.
Practical notes
Traffic shapes every plan in Cairo, so we group visits by district and avoid crossing the city at rush hour.
- Dress modestly for mosques and churches; scarves are lent at most entrances.
- Friday mornings are quiet in the old city but some mosques close to visitors during prayers.
- Book the Grand Egyptian Museum for an early slot to see the Tutankhamun galleries before the groups.
