City Post: Cairo

Back to Holy Sheets I went!

It was a close-ish walk from the bus station, and within a decent walking distance (by Cairo standards) to everything I might want to see for my last couple of days in Egypt. I liked this hostel, because it was air conditioned, had a physical layout that encouraged people to get to know each other, and, like I said, was pretty close to things I would want to see (and, more importantly, coffee places).

What else did I like it? The Egyptian traveller's reunion! I ran into Tahli and her mom (an Australian duo on an archaeology tour of the region) again! They showed up shortly after me, so we had a good catch-up session. They were heading down South before too long and were just staying for the night, but it was still cool to hang out with them for a quick second.

As per usual, I didn't do too much on my travel day. Actually, I did the most important thing on my travel day: laundry. Jo had done laundry when we were here before, and I was approaching desperation on needing to clean my clothes. So that's what I did. I attempted to use this time to record a video series about planning The Great Gallivanting, but, being honest, I was nowhere near polished enough in front of the camera. But at least it was practice, and I got the thoughts recorded for posterity's sake (I upload all of my GoPro videos, good and bad, to my GoPro account).

The next day, I hopped to it...ish. I grabbed coffee at the nearby Café Nero and did some writing on my computer before getting started with my day. First up: the Abdeen Palace Museum. This was a military arms museum set in an old palace. The admission fee wasn't bad, but they did require you to pay extra to have a camera. Otherwise, you had to leave it at the reception area with the baggage check. They made me leave my bag there anyways, but I decided to pay to keep my camera. I wasn't really worried about it getting stolen; I wanted to keep videos for the vlog channel and my own records. Videos are really the only way my family get to see a lot of these places, too.

The museum itself had beautiful grounds, about half of which were blocked off from the general public. Apparently, parts of it were still in use by the military for some sort of training purpose. Even so, they were immaculately kept, with examples of old artillery pieces scattered all around. Most of them on display were British pieces given or sold to Egypt during colonial times.

The inner workings of the museum started with a bit of history of the former royal family, including family trees, lines of succession, busts and memorials, and mementos. It was less impressive that it sounds, which I thought was going to be

a sign of the rest of the museum. Luckily, I was wrong.

Once you were past the first courtyard, you entered the arms museum. And what a museum it was! It was huge, and had one of the most impressive collections of arms that I had ever seen. It was like the Musee de Armee in Paris on steroids. It had something for arms enthusiasts of all kinds. It started with old-school arms like swords and sabers, which I knew some of my old Cavalry friends would be interested in (I definitely sent pictures!). It then traced the lineage of military arms all the way up through the present day. It had the first machine guns, six-shooter revolvers, AK-47s, 1911s, muskets and rifles, decorative and ceremonial pistols, you name it. If it could have even remotely seen war related to Egypt, it was there.

The next part of the museum was dedicated to gifts and replicas which would have adorned the palace back when it served a primary purpose. These ranged from clocks to gold-emblazoned models of airplanes and ships to a host of miscellaneous artifacts related to Egypt's history and colonial times. While not as historically impressive as the arms collection, there were still some pretty cool pieces.

After I collected my bag, I headed out for lunch. I really just wandered the streets in the general direction of my next stop looking for a restaurant, which proved to be an ill-fated endeavour, as there weren't really any in that area. I ended up eating a pizza at a metal table on the street from a small pizza shop. It was...not the best pizza I had ever had in my life, but at least the people there spoke a bit of French, so we could communicate what I wanted to eat.

I couldn't help but notice that there were quite a few homeless people hanging about the area where I was eating. There was a mosque in the median nearby that looked like it provided outreach services, so I really chalked it up to that. I hadn't seen many homeless people since Jo and I got to MENA, at least not on the level one might expect from major cities, which is why I found it a bit odd that there were so many about.

My next stop for the day was the Museum of Islamic Art. I've never been much of an art person, but I have always thought that Islamic art was nice to look at, so I decided to give it a go. Besides, it was off the beaten tourist path, so why not?

This museum was larger on the outside than it was on the inside. It was still pretty big and had a lot on display, but it certainly was less than I would have expected from the outside.

Something I've remembered to keep in mind about Islamic art, is the definition of "art" in terms of historical relevance in this category didn't necessarily mean paintings and carvings. Certainly, there are those, but many times the category includes wood carvings of doors, windows, and mosque decorations. On the one hand, it was awesome that they recognise the immense skill and craftsmanship involved in creating these pieces. On the other, I could only look at so many doors, windows, and natural building adornments (Jo and I both agreed on this sentiment at the museum next to the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca).

(For anyone who may want to visit this museum, if you catch them at the right time, they have volunteer students who will take you around the museum and explain the pieces and exhibits to you, which would probably be worth any tip you decide to leave them for doing so).

That night, I met a guy from Dublin and we hit it off right away. We talked about Ireland, some of the political stuff there, and, of course, Guinness. God, how I missed Guinness! I hadn't had one since mid-October, and here it was the beginning of December. Well, being two Guinness-loving mates, we decided to head out and find a bar to have a couple of drinks. That was no easy feat in a Muslim-majority country. Alcohol wasn't illegal, but drinking in public wasn't exactly looked highly upon. The bars we found (which were apparently frequented by Western travelers) were all behind closed doors and packed full of people, and the owners wouldn't even let us in. Not to be beaten, we ended up grabbing a couple of pints at a liquor store near our hostel. A walk-up liquor store. Couldn't be seen drinking in public, but buying alcohol from a sidewalk store front was no problem. It wasn't Guinness, but it would do in a pinch.

(To this day, he and I still talk about Guinness from time to time!)

I purposely didn't leave much time in Cairo this time around. Jo and I had already seen the major sites, and anything else I could see from Cairo was too far away from me to see comfortably (several hours one-way on a bus on an expensive tourist excursion). My pickup time for my flight to Aqaba, Jordan, was at 10h (the same flight Jo took the week before) to get to the Cairo airport at the right time.

The Cairo airport was a bit of a security nightmare. Like most places in MENA, I had to have my bags X-rayed before even entering the building. That was pretty standard all over for places were there were large gatherings of people. Then I had to have my bags screened again, go through the metal detector, and prove I had a flight to check in for just to get to the check-in desk. Immigration was a breeze, although I definitely had some anxiety about a bag someone left unattended in the immigration line. Even though I knew that it had been screened twice before now, those screenings didn't exactly inspire confidence that they would actually catch something, nor did the sheer inattentiveness of the immigration and security officers. I was glad to have moved past them.

The third security check was at the actual gate. This is where I got really frustrated. It was TSA-style security, including removing shoes, belts, computers, etc., that you weren't allowed to go through until the gate opened for boarding. So as people were tying to get on the plane, people were repacking bags and putting on shoes in a narrow walkway. Talk about annoying. Even worse, was the Egyptian police officer conducting the bag screening was wholly apathetic about his job.

I wasn't really surprised that my carry-on was flagged for inspection. It had all of my electronics in it, because most of them aren't allowed in checked baggage because of the batteries. I didn't mind that bit, but it quickly became clear that something was going to be confiscated solely on the grounds that this officer wanted to show he had done something. He first tried to tell me, with no English, that my GoPro batteries weren't allowed. I stood my ground on that and told him they were required to be in carry-on bags. Then he acted like he wanted to confiscate one of my GoPros, and wanted to know why I needed two. Then he found the pen light that Jo had given me when we first got to Cairo. He wanted me to show him what it was, and when I showed him it was a flashlight, he told me it wasn't allowed. I said, "light, see?" And showed him again. Again, he didn't care. I wasn't going to be able to keep it. If it had been a dive flashlight, I would have caused a scene (and probably not been allowed on the plane), but this was a free, cheap flashlight, so I let it go.

Oddly enough, when he found my pill cutter for my medication, he knew exactly what it was and passed right on over it. He even demonstrated to me that he knew how to use it. So the flashlight wasn't allowed, but the thing with an actual razor blade in it was fine by his standards. Oh well. At least he got to "prove" he had "done his job." Of course, by this point my electronics bag was unpacked, so I was having to pack it up as they rushed me to get on the plane. Reminded me of Delta Airlines' shenanigans on my flight home from Spain in 2022.

Oh, and water wasn't allowed past security, either. The 3/1/1 rule applied at that screening, too, so if I wanted something to drink, I would have to buy it on board.

One thing was for sure: I never wanted to fly out of this airport again if it wasn't absolutely necessary.

Where I Stayed: Holy Sheets Hostel

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