In Arabic, CAIRO means "The Vanquisher" or "The Winner" and if you take a close look at the bustle of Africa's largest metropolis, you can easily understand why. Every day, Cairo survives the changes it is subjected to and greets tourists straight into the very heart of Arabian culture.
Even if from home, Cairo might seem an unsafe realm, things are different once you set foot in the Egyptian capital. Tourists remain respected guests regardless of time or season, so the Giza pyramids, the Egyptian Museum or the 500 mosques must stay on the list of architectural wonders you must see at any cost. And if it's during the fall, temperatures in the land of Egypt drop bellow 30 degrees and Cairo gladly lay its beauties at your feet, ready to fill you up with history, to present its traditions and lure you with its local cuisine. So step right up for a journey through the fabric of history and modernity!
A stroll through the realm of pharaohs
As soon as you land at Heliopolis Airport, you are greeted by the Egyptians' merchant skills, as they are used to take joy in tourists' wish to know as much as possible of the pharaohs lands' cultural richness. The offer is unmatched from souvenirs and hookahs with apple, peach and melon flavored tobacco to trips on the Nile on board a felucca, a small, narrow ship with sails and oars, that the Egyptians have been using since the time of the pyramids. Moreover, you might also get an offer for a trip to the pyramids.
But take your time. Cairo must be enjoyed at leisure, one fascinating detail at a time. And any trip in the Egyptian capital must begin with a visit to the Egyptian Museum, the place where Ancient Egypt's treasures sit in state in glass window, carefully placed next to nine mummies of the most recent royal figures, including the one of Queen Hatshepsut, discovered by archeologists only in the 1980s.
The ground floor of the museum hosts a vas collection of papyruses with fragments in Greek, Latin, Arabic and Ancient Egyptian. Right next to them unfolds a bit of Ancient Egypt's economy, with an entire series of gold, silver and bronze coins of Greek, Roman, Islamic and Egyptian origin. Be sure not to miss the large - scale artifacts of the New Kingdom (1550 - 1069 BC), which includes statues, tables and sarcophags of the Egyptian society's upper class.
Up on the first floor, the museum hosts artifacts dating back to the last two dynasties of Ancient Egypt, including treasures retrieved from the tombs of the Pharaohs Thutmosis III and IV, Queen Hatshepsut and the courtier Maiherpri. But the most important riches of the Egyptian Museum are revealed only now: the famous mask of Pharaoh Tutankhamen, made of 11 kilos of pure gold, alabaster vases and jewels of ivory and gold, all are part of the over 3500 artifacts found in the tomb of the famous Egyptian Pharaoh.
Built by the Egyptian government in 1835 near Ezbekeyah Garden, the museum was moved on the shore of the Nile, at Boulaq, 30 years later, because the initial building was no longer big enough to host so many artifacts. In 1878 however, the new building of the museum suffered permanent damage after the river overflowed. This is why the authorities had to move the exhibits to another museum in Giza. The artifacts stayed there until 1902, when they were moved, for the last time, in the current museum in Tahrir Square.
