Egypt travel guide

On the paper Cairo can seem like an exciting capital filled with amazing sights: Pyramids, the Nile, historical museums, ancient mosques, traditional souqs, cave churches, the list goes on, but for first time visitors Cairo will just be a chaotic traffic jam. Sights are spread all over town, meaning you have to crisscross downtown, which is a confusing maze of roads and small lanes. There are no really city centre and every street is jampacked with people, goods, and cars, meaning getting from A to B takes an eternity. The air is dusty and the heat is suffocating. So yes, the first couple of days in Cairo will probably be hard, but then the city will grown on you.

At the foot of Mokattam mountain lies a cluster of Christian churches, which have been chiseled out of the mountain face. They lie in the outskirts of Garbage City, a neighbourhood of garbage collectors or Zabbaleen as they are called, which is an odd sight itself. The first cave church was carved out in 1975 when the Christian community of the Zabbaleen felt they were not going to be evicted again, which they otherwise have suffered from throughout their history. Today there are several cave churches on the site, whereof St. Simon is the biggest with seating for more than 20,000 people, though it feels more like an amphitheater than a church. When visiting, remember to have a look at the equal fascinating Garbage City next door.

In the eastern outskirts of Cairo, at the foot of Mokattam mountain (well, hill), lies a community which is almost made up entirely by garbage collectors, so-called Zabbaleen. The neighborhood is known as "Garbage City" and has almost 30,000 inhabitants. Here the streets are dusty and filthy, and sorted trash are pilled up everywhere. Inside the half-completed buildings the Zabbaleen sort the newly arrived garbage from all Cairo, which come in on overloaded trucks, cars, and horse carts, yes, even on the backs of men. The stench is overwhelming and foul throughout the neighborhood. However, the grim setting stands in stark contrast to the friendliness of the people, and as repulsive Garbage City might sound, as mind blowing will a visit be to this bizarre community.

The Pyramids at Giza are surprising on so many levels. Besides their mind blowing size (Cheops is 146.5m in height) and age (4500 years old), the thing that surprises most visitors is how close to Cairo they actually are. They lie right on the outskirt of Giza, a suburb of Cairo. You could throw a rock at the Sphinx from one of the roof tops of the apartment buildings. Another surprise is how ordinary this surrounding neighbourhood is. You would think pyramid views were in high demand, but it seems the Egyptians don't care much. Then the number of pyramids surprise you, there are three big ones along with a number of smaller Queen pyramids in addition to the Sphinx statue. And yes, there is a Pizza Hut slash Kentucky Fried Chicken right in front of the Sphinx gate, but it's very small and low key.