We set an alarm for 7:30 AM (Egypt) and headed to a wonderful hotel breakfast. Following that we headed to Giza to see the Great Pyramids of Giza and Sphinx (obviously). We ended up walking around all 9 pyramids and had fantastic views. Aside from the camel (desert) taxis, there were relatively few people around – and none of them Caucasian. After about 3 hours and almost 4 miles of walking, we decided to be done and head back into Cairo. We took an Uber back to Cairo, specifically the Khan el-Khalili bazaar. Miles (well km actually) and miles of mini-stores seemingly randomly ordered into topics – clothes, perfumes, watches, jewelry, fruits, shoes, washing machine repair, fish, chickens, bread, pigeons, and on, and on, and on. And throughout the market was dotted with feral dogs and cats. We covered about 3 miles before heading towards the Zwuwala Gate. The cornucopia of smells was amazing: cumin, licorice, urine, manure, perfume, putrid mud, incense, fresh bread, burning car exhaust, ….Next we headed up to the Citadel where we walked around the Salah Al-Din Al-Ayoubi Castle and Mosque of Mohammed Ali. The views over Cairo from here are spectacular Much to the chagrin of the local taxi drivers, we continued on foot, walking to the Al azhar Park and perusing that for a while. (In combination of here and the Citadel, we must have seen the photographing of at least ten wedding parties.)Our next stop was the Ramses Railway Station. On the way we reentered the bazaar and I purchased a cheaper than cheap-quality ball cap next to nothing. At the station it took a while to figure out what and where to buy the train tickets, but we eventually had two tickets to Aswan for tomorrow night. We paid $11 for a 13 hour train ride in first class (2nd class was $3 cheaper).After a brief stop at our hotel, we then headed to dinner at a superb Turkish restaurant.’
In total we walked 20 miles for the day and covered most of our priority items in Cairo.
