Day 3: A Mixed Start with a Great Finish
Egypt is undoubtedly one of the great centers of World
History. Every child’s education is incomplete without it. We learn about the
Pharaoh’s and the Pyramids, and the long history that intercedes from the
Mesopotamians (generally where civilized modern history began) through to
Alexander the Great and the Roman Empire. That all is true. What is also true
is that Egypt is a 3rd World Country in Africa. It may have the
highest average quality of life of any country in Africa (though that is more about
a higher floor rather than a great ceiling like a South Africa or Namibia), but
it is still Africa. It is still 3rd. The world. The confluence of those two facts is in
full display in Cairo.
One of the areas that this is not apparent is the airport, which
is quite well constructed – far more so than most Indian airports outside of
Mumbai. It was also a decent drive into the city, with little true traffic
(this was about noon on a Sunday), and the city, while dusty, is not dirty in
the relative sense of someone with 12 trips to India under their belt.
Where the first bit of 3rd world hit was in the walk
to lunch, that would go by the Egyptian Museum and Tahrir Square – the site of
the infamous Arab Spring uprising in 2013 that kicked out President Morsi. It
was hot, it was dusty, there were some middle-income (for Egypt) people sitting
on plastic chairs overlooking the Nile smoking hookah. The walk to Falfela was
about 30 minutes, and the first half of it on the Nile, and while there was a
certain ‘Holy Shit’ feeling of walking on the banks of the Nile River (a staple
of those History classes), it wasn’t as grand as I was expecting. It actually
reminded me a bit of the river bank running through Belgrade. No big issue
there, but you would think if Egypt could fulfill what it could be, it would be
nicer.
Anyway, lunch at Felfela was really nice. It was a well
reputed restaurant (seen by the sheer number of Westerners) that had a classic
Egyptian menu. The setting was nice as well, as it was indoor, but with a
canopy with real vines made it seem quasi-outdoor. The food was good, having
the Foul with (beef) pastrami for starters, and a lamb shank with yogurt,
saffron rice, mint and pita for main. I was hungry, having eaten sporadically
with airplane food taking up four of five meals to date. I was also tired –
which probably plays a part in my opinions of Cairo as well, so I got two
espressos; effect unclear.
After lunch, I walked to the Egyptian Museum, probably the
crown jewel of Cairo proper (excluding the pyramids, as Giza is a suburb). On
Sunday, the museum is open until 9pm (usually closes at 4). Of course, I
realized when I got there that the reason they do this is a special ‘Museum at
Night’ that they hold from 5:30 to 9, so there was an extra hour to play with.
For the hour, the destination became the Christian area of town, where the
Coptic Christians set-up shop with multiple churches and the Coptic Museum, which
was already closed. The Christian area is well protected after a 2014 terrorist
attack on Coptic Egyptians on Christmas Day, and well maintained. The churches
were open, and actually felt quite grand, even if the outside area is still
very third world. Egypt can clean itself up when needed – a crucial difference,
sadly, between Egypt and India.
The churches were small, but really well maintained, with
nice ornate sculptures and paintaings and a few little touches that seemed
quite questionable, but locationally interesting (e.g., a Well where the claim
was the ‘Holy Family drank from here’). Depending on how the rest of my Cairo
portion of the trip plays out, the Coptic Museum itself may be a destination
worth coming back to. Certainly, it is an interesting part of Cairo, and behind
gated wells you could tell it was quite well maintained.
After finishing and heading back to museum around six, ‘Museum
at Night’ was squarely underway. They don’t do anything different at night, but
the time you visit is irrelevant, what is inside that fairly standard building
is what matters, and it was amazing.
I’ve been lucky enough to have been to many of the World’s
best museums. I went to one of the most voluminous (with a few Egyptian pieces
as well) just last Saturday at the V&A Museum in London. The Egyptian
Museum is not the best, but it might be the most overwhelming. It showcases
Egyptian history. That is it. Of course, that history spans 4,000 years taking
you up to the Roman Empire in the early ADs. The Museum lacked a few elements
that are so over-present in other areas, like placards for every piece (the museum
was a pure 50%). Instead, it was a total volume-play, packing piece after
ancient, historic, piece in as little space as possible. I’ve never seen a
combination of singular focus of subject and breadth of artifacts in one
building. I spent two hours just soaking it in, taking picture after picture,
and I already feel like going back and getting a guide (after some vetting/gambling
on choice of guide) to explain much of it to me.
The museum is really well laid out, going in clockwise
direction from the entrance from the earliest period of Egyptian history
(around 5000BC) up to the earliest period of ancient history (~300AD), with
some special exhibits on the second floor (like theme rooms, and then whole
exhibits on King Tut), and then putting a collection of the most stunning
pieces in the central atrium, including two towering statues. The amount of
pieces that they fill in each room seem to belay the logical approach, but the
overwhelming, unending, piece after piece effect is startlingly effective in
its immersive power.
My favorite sections were the oldest areas, with an astounding
number of hieroglyphs on cut out pieces of wall or tablets, and old stone
statues of pharaohs and princes and priests. The more ‘modern’ sections were
more colorful, but when you see the clear legibility of some of the ancient
writing from 6,000 years ago, it is just staggering.
There is a certain earned cache for it being at the real
home of where all these pieces laid so many years ago. Both the V&A Musuem
and the British Museum in London have impressive Egyptian collections, but
those are somewhat symbols for Britain’s unadulterated pillaging and raping of
the world. In Cairo, it represents what was left over, or reclaimed, and it
being more earnest adds a large intrinsic value to what you are seeing. Also,
the unorganized approach (again aside from being in chronological order) adds
to that feeling. It was as if Egypt was saying ‘just see it all’, throwing
piece after piece at you. I took about 40 pictures in the first (admittedly
large) room, and realized quickly I had to meter my pace.
I left after 90 minutes or so fully satisfied, but also
somewhat committed to coming back getting a guide and getting a better
understanding of the real history that lies within or written and draw on each
piece. From everything I’ve read, there’s nothing in Cairo proper that comes
close to this, and in this case, that is not exactly a negative about the city.
Even when expanding out to overall archealogical sites/museums I’ve visited (so
throwing things like Angkor Wat or Machu Picchu into the mix), the Egyptian
Museum will hold a special place.
After returning to the hotel for a bit of R&R after a
busy day made more draining due to fighting off jet-lag/lack of sleep, it
quickly got to time to head out for drinks and dinner (wanting to sleep
somewhat early switched the normal order of events for me). The bar I intended
to go to was Pub 28, on Gezira Island, but it was a bit too smokey and a bit
too ‘pub’-y for my liking, so I ventured a couple blocks north to The Cairo
Celler, which was basically the same but slightly fancier, slightly more airy
and less smokey, and ice cold Heineken on draft (can’t be too picky in Egypt).
The Cairo Celler was fine, there were a lot of Westerners (as far as I could
tell) there, enjoying their various libations. I liked the underground aspect
as it made me pretend to be in some olden days where drinking was an
underground affair in Egypt.
Dinner was at Sequioa, a restaurant at the very tip of
Gezira island, with a great view of the Nile in the background. I had to go
with 10:30 to get a table, partially due to the popularity of the place, and
partiaully due to Egypt’s late-night routine. The view, and the cool Nile
breeze, was exceptional, and even outranked the food which itself was good –
the best dish being an appetizer called Hawawshi, kebab-cuts of lamb baked in a
crust – it was amazing. The night ended close to 12, finally getting a chance
to try to become accustom to these waking hours which I’ll deal with the nice
13 days.
