Citadel to tower

Tom has been looking forward to this morning all week as we will be having sausage and bacon butties to start the day, a real treat in a country that doesn’t really sell pork. Then we’re off to the old Citadel, the mosque is very impressive but the rest of the exhibits are disappointing and poorly organised. We once again have our celebrity moment of random people wanting pictures with the “white people”, they are though all very welcoming and pleased to see us, “welcome to Egypt” is the constant refrain always said with a smile.

Jan 

Inside Muhammad Ali Mosque

Cairo Old Citadel

Cairo from Cairo Tower

The next stop is Cairo Tower but before we go up to the top liquid refreshment is required in the café at the bottom, Cilantro, a perfect haven of peace and quiet. The top of Cairo tower has great 360⁰ views but it only emphasises the dreadful pollution that hangs over Cairo. A dusky coloured haze hangs over the city and the nose to tail traffic below us seem to add to it minute by minute.Our taxi ride back is relatively uneventful, or maybe it’s just that we have become accustomed to Egyptian driving, sights and loud music, even a car containing 5 people in the front and 6 in the back fails to shock us now. Our evening meal tonight is going to be in another area of Cairo called Heliopolis or more specifically, Bagdad Street. 

Cairo from Cairo Tower

After a bit of wandering up and down we settle on “Paul’s” a bistro café with a lovely outside open courtyard, beautiful steaks for some and fresh salmon for others. To round the evening off we walk down a back street and alleyway to a blank black door which opens into a small bar playing western music. The variety and sights in Cairo will   never fail to astound me.