Quick roundup of my recent trip to Egypt.

Part One: Cairo Downtown

I had two weeks in Cairo and four blissful days in Hurghada. I had never been to the Red Sea before and it was a good choice because Cairo and the coastal city of Alexandria suffered a terrible heatwave and dust storm. The temperature shot up from 30 degrees to 42 degrees Celsius overnight. I foolishly tried to continue my program of activity and fell seriously ill with heatstroke, Lesson learned!

Cairo is a wild, beautiful, busy, historic, modern, and hectic city that is well worth a visit. But don’t make it superficial. Sure, the Pyramids are fascinating (though I definitely recommend Saqqara as well as Giza—and NOT on the same day), but there is SO much more to Cairo than that.

Like most big cities, Cairo is a place of distinct neighbourhoods. Many are ‘new’ cities – developments in the desert, reclaimed territory designed to provide luxury living for Egypt’s huge middle class and expats. These satellite communities – New Cairo, Sheik Zayed and 6th October CIty aren’t especially interesting for the tourist though I did gape at the astounding opulence and size of the Mall of Arabia.However if you know someone who lives there, or have a reason to visit, it is worthwhile to see how modern Egyptians live.

I was invited to give a lecture at the German University in Cairo, This is a private non profit university in New Cairo, a new satellite city on the other side of the Nile. It is a fully accredited German University that teaches in English. I was impressed with the campus, and I saw the work of the photography students, which was excellent.

Most of the Universities are located in the new cities, or have moved there, like the venerable American University in Cairo, AUC. The new cities date mostly to the early 2000s and feature many gated communities. The houses are lovely, though expensive. Still, for me it is all a bit too suburban.

Since 2020, the Egyptian government has been actively investing in the development of new highways and infrastructure in Cairo. This initiative is aimed at enhancing accessibility to the new satellite cities. Take the historic City of the Dead, a vast necropolis dating back to medieval times and expanding into the desert from the historic city walls of Old Cairo. Now the government, while dedicated to preserving significant parts of it, has deemed some of it must be sacrificed to allow for infrastructure improvements. The transformation is evident, with a fabulous new museum – the Museum of Egyptian Civilization (more on that SOON) the emergence of expansive new ring roads and extensive urban renewal projects. The ongoing construction has led to a remarkable transformation, signifying unprecedented growth and progress for Cairo.

Cairo Downtown ( Wust al-Balad)

In Cairo proper there are older neighbourhoods that are really nice but have more history and charm than the new ultra-comfortable satellite cities. Cairo Downtown (Wust al-Balad) is very historical with amazing architecture. ‘Downtown’ is the urban area between historic mediaeval Cairo (‘Old Cairo’) and the Nile, and it became the city’s commercial centre in the twentieth century. Given its significant architectural heritage from the Khedive Ismail era, it is officially designated Khedival Cairo and declared a government protected site. Administratively, Wust al-Balad includes the districts of Abdeen and Ezbekia, as well as Qasr al-Nil itself. It is a bustling area with beautiful flats (albeit many have not been updated), hotels and hostels to suit every budget, and stores (including the kind of fantastic independent boutiques that we no longer have in London – plan to shop if you visit!). And, of course, wonderful cafes. But the major attraction is the architecture. Start at Tahrir Square, walk to Talaat Harb Square (more of a circle with streets radiating off it) and dive into the street life. Day or night it is a blast.

I can recommend checking out the AUC Tahrir campus for events. I saw the fabulous Egyptian rock band Massar Egbari there – probably the coolest place to be in all of Egypt that night!! There are plenty of good places to eat but I enjoyed the food and the ambiance at the Greek Club (21 Mahmoud Bassiouny, Marouf, Qasr El Nil), the historic Cafe RIche – where you can get beer and wine at both; and the excellent authentically Italian pizzas at Cairoma. (Many restaurants don’t serve alcohol but hotels mostly do. )

Downtown also hosts several galleries and many more popups. The best thing is to check when you arrive to see what is on. When I arrived in April the main art season was over, but there were still shows. I saw a particularly strong graduation show at the AUC – AUC Visual Arts Senior Thesis Show 2024. The show explored cultural and urban issues in contemporary Egypt, featuring artworks that examine Cairo’s socio-political landscape from various perspectives. “Construction Site | خرسانة” refers both to the literal eternal and noisy construction that is ongoing, but also to the construction of identities, social constructs and the detritus of construction. Very powerful work by young artists Azima Salama, Dalila Hassanein, Daniella Nemeh, Farah Gamil, Hoda Alamri, Jasmine Keshk, Mahitab Yousry, Malak Shamaa, Mariam Elsadek, Menatallah Ibrahim, Nouran Malek, Salma Wael, Shahd Sherif, and Tia Radwan. Curated by Bassem Yousri.

Azima Salama’s Urban Organism impressed me not only because of the piece but also the poetic writing that accompanies the work. Asking the question ‘How does the massive metropolis mirror minuscule organisms?’ Salama writes:

Watch out for Part II of my explorations of Cairo Downtown then I’ll move on to show you more!