We decided that we wanted to take the metro to Giza, which is a suburb (???) of Cairo. On the metro from Tahrir Square, it is only 6 stops. Once we got out at Giza, we were totally at sea. There were the usual touts hawking rides for usury rates, "helpful" people telling us where to go, tons of everyday commerce going on, utter confusion!
We were given a tip to cross the street and next to a mosque were buses went to Giza. We stood there for a while looking utterly confused and confounded, when a man in a white trench coat started talking to us. He said he was a chef in Giza and on his way home. He would help us get to the Pyramids. We get into the Cairo version of a dollar van and pass our money up. The man is talking to us about getting camels or horses for our visit and that we should go to the government sponsored stables as they can't haggle, they have to give you a fair price. Bill, realizes that he is a tout, he tells us we have to change vans, and we jump into another one this time the man pays for our fair, 1EP, about 5 cents. We get out in a residential area, and he leads us to a government stable. Now his friend starts to sell us a carriage/camel/horse ride to see the pyramids. I am not interested in riding a horse around as bad things have happened to me on horseback....falling off, it is a long way to the ground!
He keeps dropping the price, so we finally give in and for about $25 US we get a carriage, driver, and admission to the Pyramids. This deal all starts to smell bad when we go up to the exit booth, and another tout jumps into our carriage to buy our tickets, and the tout that jumps off, heads into the exit booth, comes out with tickets that we never see or touch, and then hands them to the guard at the exit, who happened to turn them over which revealed a couple of Egyptian bill notes. Ahh, we are going in the back door with help from our "friends". We enter on foot and our driver and horse have to go around, we start to wonder if we were really hosed big time, but the carriage appears, we ascend and off we go at a good clip.
To go from the Sphinx to the other 3 Pyramids, you must go up this rather steep hill. The horse had a tough time hauling our fat asses up that hill. The driver giving the horse the whip to pick up the pace, I was really embarrassed! We shoot past Cheop's Pyramid and head to the stretch of sand that is adjacent to the other two Pyramids. We get down, wander about, and have numerous camel drivers ask if we want our photo with a camel/on a camel/fucking a camel, etc. Politely as we could, we decline. Then over come the photo posers. Let me take your photo with your finger on the top, pushing on the side, walking over, sitting on, etc. All politely declined. The driver takes a couple of shots of us in the carriage...all pretty bad....and I snap one of him and the horse's ass!
This is the steep hill up to the 3 Pyramids.
This long low building is the Cheop's Solar Barque Museum
This is the Pyramid at the top of the hill
Here is the 3rd and smallest of the pyramids plus the bonus camel
Bill striking a pose
Obligatory Selfie
Carriage shot
Driver
Horse's Ass
We head for a spin around the smallest pyramid and then head down to the Sphinx. Here is where I really felt bad for the horse. The descent down the hill was really tough on the horse, it was skidding down digging their back hooves in to keep the carriage from pushing them down the hill at a faster rate then they wanted to go. We didn't see this on our carriage but in others descending down. There was one really bad case where the carriage held 2 men and the horse was trying to go up hill. The horse wanted none of that! The driver kept whipping the horse, but no go. The horse kept backing up driving the carriage into the wall. The two men in the carriage did their best not to look terrified!
I wanted to get to the other side of the Sphinx so that I could get the sun behind me for a better shot.
The edge of the Cheop's pyramid.
We headed into the Cheop's Solar Barque Museum, which was far better than I expected it would be. What put me off at first is that you need to put these canvas slippers over your shoes. These slippers are so full of dust and sand that it is a joke that they may be keeping the barque clean. The Museum is on several levels, the pits from which it was recovered, and then 3 level above that to view the boat from below, along side, and from above. Unfortunately, they did not allow photos without paying for the privilege to take them. The boat is tied together, there are no nails. It is made from Cedar and I am guessing Lebanese red cedar. I was fascinated by the way that the boat was bound together. There were holes and slots in most of the boards through which the ropes were thread and wrapped. With a solid wetting, the boat may swell and float down the Nile again!
We headed across the road and then over the sand to the west side of the Spinx. Unfortunately, that was the exit and there was no way to get a good picture. So we went back to the road. There were a few short walls which one created a barrier for Bill. He tripped and fell over it in a face plant in the sand. The impression was unbelievable! You could see the outlines of the button placket of his shirt, the folds in his trousers and his belt buckle in the sand. We had a good laugh about that. We had to climb over a higher wall to get back to the road, which made us both a little more nervous given the previous difficulty! Needless to say, there were no more falls.
After we exited, we hadn't the slightest idea of how to get to a metro to get back into town. We were approached by a young man, could not have been more than 10, who asked in English if we wanted to go to the metro. He then quoted us 5EP for a seat. We agreed, and were then asked if we wanted the entire bench, and if we did, then we needed to pay another 5EP. This was a small minivan. There were 12 people crammed into this as we went hurdling toward a metro station. The young boy told 2 teenagers to look after us and get us to the metro after we left the van. They took their charge seriously. We got to the metro station, of course, it was not the same one that we used that morning, but hey, it was ok, just a few stops further down the line.
As we head into central Cairo, these 2 young men, yelled out, Madam, this is Sadat Maidan, which is Tahrir Square. We thanked them and told them that we were going 1 more stop. We decided to try this pigeon place.
This pigeon place has no English name. We knew it's address but that was all. After 2 passes down the street, we finally found a place that thought might be it! The only thing that the restaurant does is stuffed pigeons. You just have to tell the waiter how many. The meal comes with hummus, pitas, and 2 different types of salad and a mug of bird broth. The sides were delicious and a wonderful prelude to the pigeons themselves. You just had to rip them open with your hands. This was made comfortable because there was a sink right behind me where you could wash your hands pre and post meal. I just split the birds in two and pulled out the rice and then tore into the meat. It was a really nice meal. Was this the best meal we ate in Egypt? NO, but it certainly was one of the most memorable. The broth was really tasty. Coupled with the rice from the birds, a trip into heaven.
When all the tables were full, the waiters pull closed a gate and people lined up outside the gate (one of the only orderly queues we saw in Egypt).
It is clearly a neighborhood place, because right to my immediate right on the floor, someone had thrown some tidbits for this orange cat! The cat was very happy!
We left full, sated, happy, and just thrilled to have found that place. It is in Lonely Planet Egpyt.
Carnage after the meal
Broth and some birds
Plate of the 5 we ordered
Hummus and pickles
Pita and green herb salad
A truly memorable meal in Cairo. If you ever go, I recommend trying to find it.
We were given a tip to cross the street and next to a mosque were buses went to Giza. We stood there for a while looking utterly confused and confounded, when a man in a white trench coat started talking to us. He said he was a chef in Giza and on his way home. He would help us get to the Pyramids. We get into the Cairo version of a dollar van and pass our money up. The man is talking to us about getting camels or horses for our visit and that we should go to the government sponsored stables as they can't haggle, they have to give you a fair price. Bill, realizes that he is a tout, he tells us we have to change vans, and we jump into another one this time the man pays for our fair, 1EP, about 5 cents. We get out in a residential area, and he leads us to a government stable. Now his friend starts to sell us a carriage/camel/horse ride to see the pyramids. I am not interested in riding a horse around as bad things have happened to me on horseback....falling off, it is a long way to the ground!
He keeps dropping the price, so we finally give in and for about $25 US we get a carriage, driver, and admission to the Pyramids. This deal all starts to smell bad when we go up to the exit booth, and another tout jumps into our carriage to buy our tickets, and the tout that jumps off, heads into the exit booth, comes out with tickets that we never see or touch, and then hands them to the guard at the exit, who happened to turn them over which revealed a couple of Egyptian bill notes. Ahh, we are going in the back door with help from our "friends". We enter on foot and our driver and horse have to go around, we start to wonder if we were really hosed big time, but the carriage appears, we ascend and off we go at a good clip.
To go from the Sphinx to the other 3 Pyramids, you must go up this rather steep hill. The horse had a tough time hauling our fat asses up that hill. The driver giving the horse the whip to pick up the pace, I was really embarrassed! We shoot past Cheop's Pyramid and head to the stretch of sand that is adjacent to the other two Pyramids. We get down, wander about, and have numerous camel drivers ask if we want our photo with a camel/on a camel/fucking a camel, etc. Politely as we could, we decline. Then over come the photo posers. Let me take your photo with your finger on the top, pushing on the side, walking over, sitting on, etc. All politely declined. The driver takes a couple of shots of us in the carriage...all pretty bad....and I snap one of him and the horse's ass!
We head for a spin around the smallest pyramid and then head down to the Sphinx. Here is where I really felt bad for the horse. The descent down the hill was really tough on the horse, it was skidding down digging their back hooves in to keep the carriage from pushing them down the hill at a faster rate then they wanted to go. We didn't see this on our carriage but in others descending down. There was one really bad case where the carriage held 2 men and the horse was trying to go up hill. The horse wanted none of that! The driver kept whipping the horse, but no go. The horse kept backing up driving the carriage into the wall. The two men in the carriage did their best not to look terrified!
We headed into the Cheop's Solar Barque Museum, which was far better than I expected it would be. What put me off at first is that you need to put these canvas slippers over your shoes. These slippers are so full of dust and sand that it is a joke that they may be keeping the barque clean. The Museum is on several levels, the pits from which it was recovered, and then 3 level above that to view the boat from below, along side, and from above. Unfortunately, they did not allow photos without paying for the privilege to take them. The boat is tied together, there are no nails. It is made from Cedar and I am guessing Lebanese red cedar. I was fascinated by the way that the boat was bound together. There were holes and slots in most of the boards through which the ropes were thread and wrapped. With a solid wetting, the boat may swell and float down the Nile again!
We headed across the road and then over the sand to the west side of the Spinx. Unfortunately, that was the exit and there was no way to get a good picture. So we went back to the road. There were a few short walls which one created a barrier for Bill. He tripped and fell over it in a face plant in the sand. The impression was unbelievable! You could see the outlines of the button placket of his shirt, the folds in his trousers and his belt buckle in the sand. We had a good laugh about that. We had to climb over a higher wall to get back to the road, which made us both a little more nervous given the previous difficulty! Needless to say, there were no more falls.
After we exited, we hadn't the slightest idea of how to get to a metro to get back into town. We were approached by a young man, could not have been more than 10, who asked in English if we wanted to go to the metro. He then quoted us 5EP for a seat. We agreed, and were then asked if we wanted the entire bench, and if we did, then we needed to pay another 5EP. This was a small minivan. There were 12 people crammed into this as we went hurdling toward a metro station. The young boy told 2 teenagers to look after us and get us to the metro after we left the van. They took their charge seriously. We got to the metro station, of course, it was not the same one that we used that morning, but hey, it was ok, just a few stops further down the line.
As we head into central Cairo, these 2 young men, yelled out, Madam, this is Sadat Maidan, which is Tahrir Square. We thanked them and told them that we were going 1 more stop. We decided to try this pigeon place.
This pigeon place has no English name. We knew it's address but that was all. After 2 passes down the street, we finally found a place that thought might be it! The only thing that the restaurant does is stuffed pigeons. You just have to tell the waiter how many. The meal comes with hummus, pitas, and 2 different types of salad and a mug of bird broth. The sides were delicious and a wonderful prelude to the pigeons themselves. You just had to rip them open with your hands. This was made comfortable because there was a sink right behind me where you could wash your hands pre and post meal. I just split the birds in two and pulled out the rice and then tore into the meat. It was a really nice meal. Was this the best meal we ate in Egypt? NO, but it certainly was one of the most memorable. The broth was really tasty. Coupled with the rice from the birds, a trip into heaven.
When all the tables were full, the waiters pull closed a gate and people lined up outside the gate (one of the only orderly queues we saw in Egypt).
It is clearly a neighborhood place, because right to my immediate right on the floor, someone had thrown some tidbits for this orange cat! The cat was very happy!
We left full, sated, happy, and just thrilled to have found that place. It is in Lonely Planet Egpyt.
A truly memorable meal in Cairo. If you ever go, I recommend trying to find it.
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