Arrival in Cairo

We have now been in Cairo for two days, acting the good tourists. A trip to the pyramids first thing on Monday morning, along with the obligatory camel and sphinx photo, made us very aware we will not be going to work for a while.

A Sphinx Studying Lizzie on a Camel

It was pretty apparent at the Pyramids that tourism is not as

plentiful currently as the locals had come to rely on – this should
be peak time, around Christmas and New Year, and we saw fewer than
twenty tourists (although it was Christmas Day for the local Coptic
Christians, so many of them were there riding horses and celebrating).

Life does not appear to have resettled since the revolution – many
taxis drivers and others have spoken of the uncertainty of the future,
and despite being Muslim,  not one has so far mentioned support for
Morsi or the constitution.

 

There are clear signs around Cairo of the opportunism afforded by the

revolution as new buildings spring up in previously prohibited areas –

the number of empty new builds we have seen has been staggering.

On Tuesday, we visited Tahrir Square; it felt like we arrived at the
scene after the event but the staunch revolutionaries remained camped
out in their tents in the middle of the roundabout. Blockades still
stop the traffic flowing through, showing that normality is yet to
resume.

 

The fact there has been no clean-up operation was apparent, with this
figurine hanging from a traffic light.

The traffic is horrendous and as unruly as we had expected, but the
weather has been much worse – windy, dusty and cold – not conducive to
pleasant cycling! But there are still two days for the warmth and
calmness to return…