We had a day excursion to Cairo as part of a Louis Cruise Lines 2 day excursion from Cyprus. I was disappointed in the city. I obviously had different expectations. Most of the buildings are surrounded by rubble and many are in various states of falling down/falling apart. The amount of litter and garbage everywhere is unbelievable.

Our bus took us to the Giza Pyramid and the Sphinx. We had to struggle through legions of street vendors who are very aggressive in trying to get you to buy things. I had thought that a national treasure would be in an appropriate setting but it was again more rubble and numerous camel jockeys pressuring tourists to ride their camels.

The National Archaelogical Museum houses many original pieces but having come a week before from the British Museum in London, I couldn't help but compare how much better the latter was in terms of layout, information and all-over ambience and style.

I must also mention the heavy police presence. All the way from Port Said to Cairo there were police armed with machine guns in towers every 50 to 100 feet. Near any tourist attraction there were more of these armed guards. Even the traffic police had machine guns and bullet-proof glass panels to stand behind.

Cairo wasn't at all what I expected.

Just got back from 4 days in Cairo. First time there. It was an emotional marthon that was fueled by adrenaline. Your first panoramic view of the city is mesmerizing. And when you walk it's 5,000 year old streets for the first time, the feeling is overwhelming. The city can be appalling and stunningly beautiful at the same time. The city pulses with a vibe like no other. It makes NYC feel like a tamed puppy.We stayed at the Ramses Hilton. Great Hotel. Even though we slept for an average of 3 hours a night due to being out late and getting up early. Giza plateau was jaw dropping and as you approach Cheops your heart races with anticipation. We visited many places that most westerners don't venture. We visited many slums and garbage dumps. One in Coptic Cairo near St. Simon and the other outside the city center in Helwan. We were in the dumps of Helwan at midnight with a small group of Americans with no police, no security, and no electricity. Talk about outside your comfort zone. Even with nothing but garbage to eat in these slums, the people where more hospitable and welcoming then most Americans I know. It was life changing. We even got lost on the way driving through the back neighborhoods where we didn't see a single tourist or westerner or police or hotel. People smoking sheisha on the street and selling everyting from produce to meat. All we could do is stare in wonder and amazement. We stopped to get directions several times, and never felt at harm or threatened in any way. It was like a trip back in time. It was incredible. Do yourself a favor, go and be inspired.

My partner and I have recently returned from Cairo were we spent a week visiting some of the tourist sites.
We arrived without our luggage, which fortunately was recovered and sent to our hotel the next day.
We had organised a meet & assist service, to help us with the formalities to get a visa, and any other help we might need including transport to our hotel.
It was a bit chaotic, everyone seemed to be pushing and shouting their way through customs, and in the middle of that confusion we were trying to change money, later at the hotel we found that we were ripped off by 100 Euros.
Our hotel from the airport was on the other side of Cairo, in Giza, so we were about to experience what traffic is all about in Cairo.
Luckily our mini bus had “air-con” so we kept the windows closed, but nevertheless we could still hear the constant noise of every driver’s car horn.
They must have it connected to their clutch or accelerator pedal, not to the brake pedal for sure because nobody seems to stop or give way to others, everyone cuts in front of one another. No wonder all of the vehicles look like they have been involved in a accident or something similar, and most of them have front or rear lights missing…
The exhaust fumes mixed with the dirty city roads could be seen in the air, which obviously doesn’t present a problem to the inhabitants of Cairo, they are used to it (like the poor little girl trying to sell tissues in the middle of four lane chaotic moving traffic…).
It was a relief when we finally got to the hotel, and without being involved in a motor accident.
The next day we took the hotel mini bus to the Egyptian museum, (which in our view is the only safe place to visit on your own) and because it was Ramadan the Museum (like any other tourist attraction) closed earlier so we were almost kicked out of it by some impatient and ruthless heavily armed police.
Outside in the street we were approached by a well-dressed Arab who spoke good English, and claimed to be the gardener (well and I am Jesus I thought…) and keeper of the Museum grounds.
We didn’t want to be rude so we briefly listened to the guy who persuaded us to cross the road, (“Madness”) to visit a so called “Government papyrus shop”, and because we had some forty minutes to wait for the mini bus back to the hotel, we thought to go along and look around. As soon as we entered the shop we were offered tea and juices as an “Egyptian hospitality” (which we later found was part of a con to make us buy something) and they closed the front door of the shop so my partner and I were the only people in it besides the owners. We felt intimidated and after a while we managed to get out but not without a papyrus that costs us 400LE (around £40) after the starting price of 1500LE
Back to the hotel that evening we decided the next day we would get a taxi from the hotel, to visit the Pharaonic Village (well recommended if you know little about Ancient Egyptian history).
As we learned that day the taxi driver had either a friend or a member of their family who own all kind of business, money exchange, camel/horse riding, papyrus museum, (shops) perfume and souvenir outlets, etc, and before we arrive at our destination we were taken to all of those.
That evening before going to the Sound & Light show at the Pyramids our friendly hotel taxi driver invited us to have a drink at his friends, and surprise surprise, we found ourselves inside another papyrus museum (shop), again the doors and curtains were closed behind us but we were less intimidated this time because of the presence of the taxi driver, who eventually went away for a while leaving us at the mercy of the shop owners, who promised us a special discount for our kids papyrus. Later we discovered we could have purchased it for a much lower price in another shop…and without a discount!
At the Sound & Light show we were greeted by a brass band look a like. dressed in Ancient Egyptian costumes playing drums and “bag pipes”. (Is this an Egyptian/Scottish kind of a bad taste joke?)
The next day we went to visit the Giza Pyramids. Fed up with being taken around by the hotel taxi driver to places other than our destination we decided to get a taxi outside the hotel (also much cheaper).
As we entered the grounds at Giza we were approached by someone who asked for our entrance tickets, he showed a card written in Arabic, with his photo claimed he was working for the government and would show us around, but I wasn’t completely sure about this and asked a group of policemen close by about this procedure, but they didn’t seem to pay much attention or understand my question. Later we found out that these guys worked together to rip off tourists and share the money.
We went along with this so-called guide, and after a while two of his friends came along with camels and persuaded us to go on a ride. We refused it because they weren’t prepared to tell us how much it would cost us. I had enough and told him to give us our tickets back, and he demanded to be paid 50LE from each of us, suddenly one of them forced my partner to sit on his camel, and by the time I gave him the money to get rid of them I realised that my partner was marching towards the desert on the top of the camel. I shouted to bring her back, and they demanded more money. Fortunately I saw a tourist policemen mounted on a camel in the distance and I waved at him, they got my partner down from the camel before they all disappeared in a flash. A word of advise,DO NOT give your tickets to anyone, you will almost certainly find yourself in a similar situation.
We continued our tour around the pyramids thinking what could happen to us next.
We were into our third day in Cairo and we had just one more thing to do, visit Sakkara, Dashur, and Memphis, but because of the distance from Cairo we didn’t want to take any more chances and hired a guide for the day, expensive but well worth the money, it was at last a “trouble free day.
There were two days left of our visit and we took the chance of visiting the “ Khan El-Khalili” market. It was Friday (the Muslim day of prayer), it was Ramadan, and it was a mistake…
When we got there the place was full of armed police and army vehicles everywhere, we went through one of the alleyways of the market and started being harassed and grabbed into the shops. We tried to avoid the tourist shops and went through one of the alleyways more frequented by the locals. What a mistake! If before we were being harassed and grabbed, now we were constantly pushed, people were shouting and arguing, there were bodies stepping on each others toes, we felt like sheep going to the slaughter market.
My partner was constantly touched and grabbed by any man that could get their hands on her and I was nearly robbed by someone trying to unzip the side of my shorts pocket.
The smell of rubbish and dirt was unbearable, we tried to find a way out but by this time we had lost our sense of direction, we continued to be pushed by the crowd until we found a main street, with traffic at a stand still, we walked up the street in the opposite direction trying to find the place were we started so we could finally buy some gifts for our kids. We didn’t feel like being nice or talking to anyone, we’d had enough. We went to the first tourist shop that we saw and the shop owner wanted us to go upstairs to see more goodies he had for sale, but this time one of us went into the shop and the other stayed outside the door while the shop keeper kept on asking: “you don’t trust me?” of course we didn’t! We picked up and bought three T-shirts for 15LE each, the asking price was 40LE each (we would recommend to pay less than half of the price asked, they will still make a small profit. If they do not accept just leave and walk away).
Next we went out of the shop and someone asked if we wanted a taxi, we said yes and saw him going to the street to get one. Obviously this guy wanted money just for stopping a taxi for us so we ignored him went up the street and got a taxi ourselves, the asking fare was 40LE we offered 20LE he agreed and we ended up giving him a 5LE tip because he did not try to rip us off. By our own experience, we found the ordinary taxi drivers (in the black & white cars) more honest than the ones who work for the hotel…
The day before we left Cairo we were quite frustrated and upset, so we decided to prove to ourselves that we could go out and do things our own way, without taken any nonsense from anyone. We got a taxi outside the hotel and went to the Giza Pyramids again, and like the previous visit a guy come up to us asking for our tickets and we just walked by and ignored him, anyone who approached us with gifts were ignored, we didn’t even bother to say “La Shukran” (no thanks) just ignored everyone completely, and anyone who placed anything under our arms claiming it was a gift we just threw it on the floor and walked away. It might seem rude, but so is being harassed at all times while wondering around the Pyramids admiring the sites.
We enjoyed our last day at the Pyramids, we sat around at those magnificent and monumental pieces of architecture, we admired the wonderful surroundings that look down from a distance to the crowded and polluted city of Cairo.
At the Airport the day of our departure, we went around various shops and despite the fixed prices (in American dollars) we managed to buy a silver bracelet for £35 after the asking price of £55.
(So much for fixed prices…) As soon as the plane took off we were happy we were going home, at the same time sad because it was good we saw some of what’s left of Ancient Egypt but knowing that we would never come back to Cairo, ever again!

We strongly advise anyone who wishes to visit tourist sites in Cairo to go on a group tour or hire a “professional” guide. But if you are (like us) an adventurer and want to go it alone…well…good luck, you will need it!!!