Egypt and Morocco were high on our wish list of places to visit when planning the trip. Of course we had concerns about a visit to North Africa. Starting with Cairo on January 25th, on regime after another was in the middle of coup to oust the sitting dictator. Each night the previous week we would consider our options. Marrakesh? Well there was a bombing there in March so maybe that was still a bit hot. Libya, Iran, Jordan? Not likely.. Finally a few emails from a local guide that was recommended to us from one of Susie’s former students gave us the feeling that Cairo was safe enough for US tourists- and after bartering away the last of our free air miles- off we went!
Upon landing in Cairo, we experienced the next level of the stampeding herd – both on the plane and into immigrations (see Madagascar 1). Women and children were pushed out of the way while the plane was still moving on the runway and the mad dash was on. As we walked in we were caught in a cacophony of middle- eastern people wearing all colors of jelabas, tunics, and burkas. As we stood their dumbfounded, a well-dressed man, named Mustafa, approached holding a sign with our family name and said “please follow me Mr. Hopper” We were immediately escorted past the aforementioned long lines of colorfully clad peoples and “escorted” through immigration in about three minutes! Our guide, Ahmed, had said that he would be waiting outside to meet us, so we were a little leery of our newfound best friend, Mustafa. Was he for real? He took away our passports . . . and brought them back promptly. But upon exiting the baggage area Ahmed was there waving, and after a quick discussion in Arabic with our sharp dressed friend, it turned out that his name was Mustafah, and he had come from the Oberoi hotel where we were to stay. That was our first of many pleasant surprises in Egypt. Noa jumped on the baggage cart, and Ahmed said “yella, yella,” - lets go!
Not knowing where to stay in Cairo, we had asked Ahmed and he went ahead and set us up at the Oberoi hotel near the pyramids. Not knowing about the hotel, we had just said “whatever you think is best.” So you can imagine our surprise when, after a 3 hour ride in the car stuck in Cairo traffic jams ( we learned that the traffic lights and lane lines are just suggestions), we crossed the Nile and arrived in Giza at our gate guarded 5 star hotel Next to the great Pyramids! Upon seeing that the foyer was bigger than our house, we told Ahmed that we could not afford to stay there. But it seems that he is friends with the concierge and it was the start of the low season – meaning 110- 140 degree days. The Oberoi, we found, was the oldest hotel in Cairo and dated back to 1863. The original “palace” wing was lined with old sepia photos of early excavations and British explorers taking tea. We had a garden room reserved in the new wing far from the hotel entry.
Next the concierge, Abdulla, asked if we wanted to upgrade to a palace suite with a view of the pyramids (for about double the price), and we politely declined, needing to save some money for the next adventure. On the way to our cheaper garden room, he took us by the palace suite we had turned down – “just to show us,” and then presented the keys and said it was ours for no charge. We could not believe our luck! He was so nice! The spare bathroom was as big as most our home bedroom and living room combined! Susie did a gig and Noa ran around listening to his echo. There was a tower of finger deserts and free waters. Outside our patio, again gargantuan, was the great pyramid. We had never been in such a place and were bordering on canceling our site-seeing just to lounge about in opulence- but ancient Egypt was calling…
 |
| Cairo cars & traffic |
 |
| Pyramid RIGHT outside the balcony |
 |
| 4 room Sheik suite |
 |
| Infinity pool for Noa's delight |
No comments:
Post a Comment