Black Tea at a Café in Cairo | Egypt Travel Blog: Day 0 (Part 5)

First Time at a Café in Cairo – Trying Egyptian Tea

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In the last part, I talked about the Monastery and the largest churches in the Middle East. Today, I will write about the rest of my first day (Day 0) in Cairo, Egypt.

One we finished visiting all the churches, we were tired. That was a lot of walking uphill. I met an Australian couple with whom I got acquainted very well. The weird thing is they visited Canada in 2018, when I visited Australia.

Our tour guide took us to a café, which was on the 2nd floor.  This was my first time entering a café in Egypt. It looked a bit old and rundown, but that added charm to the place. The café was half full, but still noisy. I saw lots of ceiling fans running, as it was hot in winter in December.

The black tea with lots of sugar tasted unreal. I had black tea before in many places, but I was not sure why tea in Egypt tasted so good. 3 teas costed 10 LE (Egyptian Pounds), which was around $1 CAD. I also bought a beef shish kebab sandwich for 20 LE and a Dasani 750 ml water for 4 LE. So cheap!

Dinner at The Oasis Hotel Restaurant

After returning to my hotel, I had coffee in my room. I took a shower and then relaxed a little before heading out for dinner.

For dinner, I had a kebab and kofta skewer of lamb and grounded meat, Egyptian style. There was no water included and it costed 175 LE ($16 CAD), which I found expensive. The food quality was so-so and service was poor.

Amazing Cave Churches Carved Out of Solid Rock | Egypt Travel Blog: Day 0 (Part 4)

Middle East’s Largest Church - Saint Simon Church (also called the Cave Church), Cairo, Egypt

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I arrived in the early morning at the Oasis Hotel, so I had the afternoon and full evening free on my first day (Day 0) in Cairo. The tour guide suggested a few tours, and I picked visiting the Winter and Summer Churches located on the outskirts of Cairo.

The Monastery of Saint Simon is located in the Mokattam Mountain. To visit this historic area, you have to go through Garbage City, home of the famous Zabbaleen. The residents here are Coptic Christians who collect, sort, and recycle garbage of Cairo, all done by hand—no machines. The way this community does all the work manually is an incredible story in itself.

There are seven churches and chapels hidden inside the Monastery of St. Simon the Tame, all within a series of caves. The Virgin Mary and St. Simon Cathedral is the largest church in the Middle East with a seating capacity of 20,000 in the amphitheater.

The Cave Church of St. Simon is literally carved out of the solid rock of the stone mountain. The cave church is really a natural grotto, also known as the summer church. There is another underground 'winter' church as well.

Inside the church, you will find beautiful engravings covering the walls, representing stories from the Bible. The whole area has lots of engravings and artworks on the walls, on the mountains, statues, paintings, and carvings and all over.

Some other cave churches carved out of the rock are St. Bola’s Church, St. Marks Church, and St. Simon the Tanner’s Hall.

In recent days, there was another Church discovered underground. The Church (now known as the Burnt Church) got burnt, possibly from electricity. However, the picture of Jesus Christ did not burn. I saw the signs of smoke and fire on the frame, but miraculously the picture got saved without any significant damage.

The whole area was historic and felt like going back in time, especially the engravings on the walls telling various events from the Bible that occurred in Egypt.

There were lots of visitors, both local and foreigners, in that area. The security presence was noticeable. After seeing so many historic places in one area, I got tired and our team wanted to go for a restaurant or café to relax a little bit.

The Oasis Hotel Review | Egypt Travel Blog: Day 0 (Part 3)

At The Oasis Hotel, Alexandria Desert Road, Giza, Cairo, Egypt

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Upon arriving at the hotel, the driver handed me to another tour guide who was to brief me about my 10-day tour in Egypt and a few other things I needed to know about travelling in Egypt.

The first thing I noticed was the high-security protocol the hotel has in place. Every vehicle has to go through bomb-squad police dogs when entering the hotel boundary. The dogs inspect and sniff the full vehicle before visitors are allowed to go through the main gate. Later, I noticed that those dogs work in  shifts and there are different dogs working throughout a 24-hour period.

Visitors and their luggage then have to go through scanning machines when entering the hotel lobby. My guess was that these security measures were placed by the government to safeguard tourists.

The resort-style hotel sits on 9 acres of landscaped garden full of palm trees and other elements. The location is in Giza, far from the city centre, in the middle of nowhere. You cannot walk anywhere to eat or buy anything, so guests are forced to pay overpriced and often poor-quality foods from hotel restaurants.

The hotel felt like a relic from the ‘80s. It seemed like The Oasis Hotel caters to various tour groups and most of the guests are from tour companies. The tour guides even permanently live and eat at the hotel.

I had the opportunity to experience three different types of rooms. I reached the hotel around 9-10 in the morning and my room was pretty bad: far from the lobby and doing anything involved a lot of walking. Also, I noticed that there was a door connecting my room to the next door, but there was no way to lock it. Needless to say, I requested a better room close to the main lobby. I also felt a little unsafe to spend my first night far away from the lobby, although the hotel had tight security in and out.

The room they switched me to was not bad and much better than the first one. However, at the end of my trip, the room they gave me for my last night was far superior.

The facility had no free Wi-Fi. The only place to get free Wi-Fi was by the pool and the connection was so poor that it would take half an hour to send an email. Later I heard from those who paid to for Internet access that even the paid Wi-Fi was terrible and a waste of money.

I saw lots of cats all over and took pictures. They don’t come too close, but came close enough for some good pictures.

Overall, The Oasis Hotel is not an upscale luxurious hotel, but not bad either. If you get one of the better rooms, don’t mind having no Wi-Fi, and are OK with their food, staying here can be a pleasant experience.

First Impressions of Cairo | Egypt Travel Blog: Day 0 (Part 2)

Airport to the Oasis Hotel, Alexandria Desert Road, Giza, Cairo, Egypt

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My airport guide brought me to a car in the parking lot. There were no other passengers or guides. He said the driver would take me to my hotel, so we headed towards my hotel, which would be about an hour's drive.

After exiting the airport, the highway to Giza seemed to be on high land and it offered a very nice view of Cairo from afar.

My first impression of Cairo was on the drive from the airport to the hotel. The first thing on the street I noticed was that no one was following lanes and driving was chaotic. Some drivers were cursing at each other for trying to cut through or whimsical overtaking, although it seemed to be the norm. I instantly realized that I was no longer in Canada.

One strange thing that struck me right away is the intertwining of ancient and modern Egypt. Although it’s a modern city, Cairo still has that ancient feeling. It’s like Ancient Egypt lives within present Egypt’s modern structure and modern landscape. I have not had this kind feeling anywhere else - that I am in a very ancient city. The structures, air, noise, smell, landscapes, sights in the distance … everything reminded me that I am experiencing a living history 3000 years old. 

I noticed lots of frames of abandoned buildings that were never completed. I was not sure why so many abandoned buildings were left standing like shadows of ghosts.

I will write more about Cairo in future posts, but if you want me to summarize Cairo, I will tell you this: Cairo is crazy, intense, chaotic, confusion, mayhem, noisy, polluted, hot, unthinkable, uncontrolled, disorganized, and dirty.

But don’t get me wrong here. I didn’t say I disliked Cairo. What I mentioned above is what makes Cairo unique. Cairo is also colorful, vibrant, ancient, full of life, welcoming, safe, friendly, bubbly, warm, and accommodating.

There was something about the ancient sprawling mega metropolis that tugged at my heart and I put Cairo on my list of Forever in Love. I will not hesitate to visit Cairo many times in the future.

Cairo Travel Blog: At the Cairo Airport - CAI | Travel Blog

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Cairo Travel Blog: Day 0 (Part 1)

At the Cairo Airport - CAI

I arrived in Egypt one day prior to my 10-day trip itinerary. This was because I took one extra trip to Alexandria, which would require one extra day. I had one extra night booked at the same hotel by the tour operator. I am counting my first day in Egypt as Day 0 because I arrived one day ahead.

My EgyptAir Flight MS 996 landed in Cairo on Nov 29, 2019 at 6:25 AM. You can read the full flight review in the previous post.

In the past, wherever I went, I met the tour guide after exiting customs and immigration. I was shocked to realize that my guide was waiting for me at the gate, right where we were exiting the plane.

But I had more surprises waiting. The guide took my passport from me and literally did all the customs and immigration work. I was kind of just following him from queue to queue and he even managed to skip regular lines for me.

The immigration officer even didn’t see me face to face, as the tour guide asked me to sit at a spot and took my passport to the immigration officer, who glanced at me from a distance and stamped my passport.

I realized that tourists are treated very differently in Egypt. Specialized tour guides do all the necessary paperwork at the airport, so tourists don’t have go through the hassle. This is to make Egypt a tourist-friendly country and encourage more tourists to visit.

Later on, I asked my guide at the airport and he confirmed that he (and other tour guides from different tour companies) has an airport pass issued by the ministry that allows him to maneuver inside the airport and assist tourists. He would remain at the airport for the rest of his shift to assist other tourists arriving that day.

A different guide took me to my hotel. I was so pleased that he did all my paperwork so smoothly that I gave him a good tip. He was very pleased.