A Westerner’s View of Cairo Egypt

I am writing this tonight because my wife is at this very moment on her second trip to Cairo. She and I both visited the city in April of last year 2009. I wish I was able to go this time but it is impossible so I thought I might write about the experience she and I shared while we were there. Hopefully this will give any would be travelers to Egypt an idea of what to expect.

T o preface this article I will tell you that we live in a small city about 60 miles west of the city of St. Louis by the name of Troy, Missouri. My wife’s job is to educate bank employees all over the world how to use the software that her company designs. She is fortunate that her career allows her to visit all these worldly places. The company pays for her flight and hotel expenses as well as her meals. I am also fortunate because I occasionally get to go with her on some of the trips.

Anyway, here’s my impression of Cairo as I reflect back on our trip there in April.

I thought Cairo was for the most part a very interesting and quite beautiful city. We stayed in an extremely nice hotel by the name of the Marriott Cairo Hotel and Omar Khayyam Casino which overlooked the Nile River. It was a very nice place to stay. I would describe it as 4 Star. I will say I’m not sure what the hotel’s true rating is by the travel companies. I’ve placed some pictures we took for your viewing below.

Marriott Hotel

We were very impressed with the hotel as well as the service. It seems like the rates were about $250.00 to $300.00 per night. The room was about what you would expect a nice hotel room to look like here in the US. We enjoyed cable television, an internet connection, air conditioning, refrigerator and all the rest of the norms. There was a bank in the hotel, ATM machines and a few vending machines. The only thing you must remember if you visit is to take a special adapter for your electronics as they use a different type of electrical plug. There were about 20 floors on the building and plenty of restaurants and bars. It also had a casino on the first level. The entrance had armed guards and a metal detector like you would see at an airport which you had to pass through to enter. If my memory serves me correct the hotel used to be a palace for one of the Egyptain Kings hundreds of years ago.

There were plenty of outdoor bars and restaurants on the hotel’s massive back patio and the Egyptian people seemed very happy and very friendly. Everybody was smiling but please understand these were for the most part fairly wealthy patrons of the hotel.

Marriott Entrance

While we were in the city which was about 4 days total we visited the Cairo museum which is extremely famous and has starred in plenty of Hollywood movies. It houses King Tut’s Tomb and many other historic artifacts. Don’t plan on taking any pictures inside as it is forbidden. It has something to do with the camera flashes and an erosion of the artifacts. Seemed kind of bogus to me but who am I to second guess the rules governing so many priceless artifacts dating back  thousands of years.

Cairo city street from our hotel room at night

We were fortunate enough also to visit the Great pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx which is where I took the pictures used for this site’s header. This was a cab ride of approximately 35 minutes. My wife and I decided to be driven around the pyramids and the Sphinx in a horse and carriage. We could stop whenever we wanted and look around or take pictures. I would guess it’s approximately two or three miles around to see all the pyramids and the Sphinx. At the time I just couldn’t believe that we were standing there in the middle of an entirely different part of the world with such an impressive amount of history all around us.

Pyramid at Giza

During our stay we took a half day to go out and walk around the city and shop a bit. There were some decent little boutiques and it reminded mostly of a flea-market like atmosphere. I was, however, a little disheartened by the amount of armed guards posted all over the city. It seemed that each street had at least one police guard post and one military guard post. We knew the difference by the color of their uniforms. One wore white and the other wore black. All carried rifles. I suppose it is necessary to keep the violence down to a minimum in such a war torn part of the world. Even though there were times we didn’t feel safe I must say nobody ever bothered us. For the most part the people were very pleasant and many spoke good English.

If you plan on visiting the city and you want to do some shopping just know that most everything is negotiable. The people of Cairo understand negotiation and expect it. Egypt has it’s share of wealthy individuals but the overwhelming amount of people are very poor. At the time $1.00 in American money would get you about $5.45 in Egyptian money. I believe it’s still very close to the same conversion rate currently. If you’re a smoker you can buy a pack of Marlboro cigarettes for $1.50 and a 6 pack of coca cola for $2.00 US. You can also buy really nice hand made souvenirs in shops just walking around the city for much cheaper than you can at the tourist spots such as the pyramids and the museum.

Nile River at night

There were Nile River dinner cruises available for fees between $40.00 and $80.00 U.S currency. Unfortunately my wife and I never got around to taking a cruise but I wish we could have. The river and the city is absolutely stunning at night time. Hopefully my wife will find some time to take the river cruise this go around.

To sum things up our overall experience of Cairo Egypt was very pleasant. The people were friendly and it was a once in a lifetime opportunity for me. If you ever get the chance to go, please don’t fret. Jump at the opportunity and have a great time marveling at all the history the city has to offer. You won’t be sorry!

Cairo Museum