So you’ve seen the Pyramids, now what?
Cairo is your answer! It’s only a half an hour’s drive from Giza (be warned though – traffic can easily change that), and there’s a bunch of interesting stuff to see there! There’s Old Islamic Cairo, modern museums, and all the history you could want!
And cats, there’s also cats! 😻
Museums
I imagine every museum in Cairo is amazing, to be honest. There’s quite a few, but the main three are:
GEM (Grand Egyptian Museum) hadn’t opened yet when I was there, but looks very promising! Here they’re going to have the Tutankhamun treasures.
EMC (Egyptian Museum Cairo)
NMEC (National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation)
We had the option of the last two, EMC or NMEC.
EMC looks fantastic, and I’ll go if I visit Cairo again. The artefacts and statues there are historically really important and symbolic. The only reason we chose NMEC is because it has a collection of Royal Mummies. We were going to be in Egypt for a while so didn’t want to burn out on artefacts too soon.
Saladin Citadel / Mosque of Muhammad Ali
Please don’t miss this one! The Citadel has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979, and has three museums and three mosques, one of which is the famous Muhammad Ali Mosque. Stunning minarets from Persia (the only ones you’ll find outside Iran!), pristine alabaster courtyards, Ottoman architecture, colourful domes. It’s just really beautiful. Not to mention, the panoramic views of Cairo!
Khan el-Khalili Bazaar
I had already done far too much shopping in Luxor. I’m not even a big shopper, I just love all of the Egyptian ornaments! But this is nice to see – jewellery, leather, dried fruits and seeds, shisha pipes (hookah), decorative carpets, copper pots and pans. Everything you’d expect really!
And this is just a reminder that as fun as Cairo is, it’s also chaotic!
