Round The World -- Destination 1 Cairo

This hotel was previously a British Officers Club and as such is one of many buildings throughout Cairo with classic colonial architecture. Like all of the other colonial buildings, the Windsor Hotel has seen much better days. However this lack of maintenance and upgrading has meant that the Windsor Hotel has retained many of its original features and much of its charm.

This was the hotel that Michael Palin stayed in when he went Round The World in 80 Days and was the primary reason that we choose this hotel. (It has also featured in a few films.) He found it a wonderful hotel with many quirks, charisma and helpful friendly staff. This was very much the case when we stayed there and if we were ever in Cairo again we would stay here again.

The hotel arranged tours to the pyramids et al, but be careful to establish what is and isn’t in the price. The tour to the pyramids excluded the admission cost to the pyramids or a guide inside the pyramids. We were not aware of this when we booked (not that we asked!!)

We stayed in an A/C room with an en-suite bathroom with shower (EGP 267 a night, with basic breakfast included, though eggs any style cost extra!!). There was hot water, but it was rather sporadic. While the prices were quoted in US dollars, we actually had Egyptian pounds charged on our credit card. The room had a few power outlets so you are able to recharge batteries, mobiles, laptops, etc.

There is a restaurant and bar (The Barrel Bar), which has a TV (normally showing MTV or similar).

In addition to the above they also do airport pick up for US$10 (payable in dollars, cash upon arrival at the hotel). This cost, whilst more than the cab back to the airport was money well spent. We arrived at 2am, about two hours late to be met by the driver in the arrivals hall. We were quickly whisked off to the waiting minivan, and off to the hotel. Very easy and much better than trying to navigate the arrivals hall, find a cab and bargain a rate into town.

Their website address is www.windsorcairo.com .

The restaurant at the Windsor Hotel had a varied menu including most western dishes. There’s pasta, pizzas, fish, steak, and some Egyptian dishes. The prices were between EGP 7-15 for appetizers and EGP 10-25 for a main dish. The pasta (Bolognese and Napolitana) was very good value, if a touch uninspiring, but the pizzas are to be avoided (soggy and very un-Italian). The chips are cooked like your nan used to cook them and are well worth a taste, as is the tomato and feta dip, which is served with pita bread.

The drink prices are standard for Cairo, but relatively expensive compared to the food prices (EGP 15 for a bottle of beer.)

The actual restaurant lacks ambience and atmosphere, but you can order food and eat in the Barrel Bar next door.

All in all, it’s a very acceptable restaurant, especially if you are staying in the Windsor Hotel or nearby, but not good enough to travel across Cairo to eat in.

We joined a tour organised through our hotel to the pyramids. This was the easiest way to get there, as they are a way out of town. The tour included a couple of trips to places on the way, such as City of the Dead, which includes a visit to an old temple. It is so named City of the Dead, due to the amount of tombs in the area. You also get to visit the obligatory papyrus shop on the way where they try and sell you overpriced pictures after an interesting(-ish) demonstration.

The journey to the pyramids involves you driving through some very run down areas, where a lot of people are living on the streets. Once at the pyramids you have a choice if you want to visit them on horseback, on a camel or by foot. We opted for on foot. For this you just have to pay the entrance fee of 20 EGP per person. This covers you to walk around the pyramids, but you have to pay extra if you wish to enter the main pyramid (100 EGP) and extra to get very close to the Sphinx. We did not pay the extra, as our driver advised us that there was not really that much to see.

You have unlimited access really to walk around, and you can spend as much time as you wish. To walk up to the pyramids is a very uneven walk, but there was a road that took you up to the top of the pyramids, if you had mobility problems. However you wouldn’t be able to get really close though.

The main issue we had was the hassle from people trying to sell you things. If we were asked once if we wanted to ride on a camel, horse, or donkey, we were asked 100 times and normally by the same person!!! The same occurred from people who wanted us to buy their miniature pyramids, postcards, or T-shirts, etc. The most bizarre thing, however, is that on the trip back down from the pyramids, no one at all bothers you.

Our tour guide advised us that you should arrange either a horse or camel before you get into the area of the pyramids as there are a lot of unscrupulous people apparently. They charge you a very low price to get on the horse/camel, but a very high one if you want leading back to the entrance or just to get off! Personally, I’m sure that they are just trying to funnel the money to the people they know, probably to get a commission. Someone on our tour did arrange a ride through our driver, and had a very good gallop by all accounts. However, the price he paid up front was supplemented by tips and backhanders to go places where 'you’re not supposed to go'. These added up to much more than the hire of the ride!!!

This tower is a good way to see Cairo from above. We went at twilight and it was interesting to watch the city lights come on and the sun go down. When up top, you may or may not see the pyramids, depending on the light and the amount of smog on that day. We could just about see an outline, with the air quality being reasonable that day.

The cost was 50 EGP, which included a drink and a slice of cake in the rotating restaurant. We tried to get a ticket without the cake and drink, but were told that this ticket didn’t allow us to the top of the tower!!! There is an extra cost for a video camera, but cameras are free. You can buy an all-inclusive meal ticket for the rotating restaurant if you so wish, but it did seem rather tacky when we were having our cake.

As you would expect, there are several mosques in and around Cairo and we were accepted into all that we tried to enter, provided that we were wearing suitable clothing. On occasions, females were only allowed into certain rooms via a specific entrance, with males going into the ‘main’ room.

Every mosque that we entered was ‘free,’ but all expected a donation when you went to retrieve your shoes on exit (there are no shoes to be worn inside). It’s therefore important to keep some smaller notes on you, as on one occasion I only has EGP 20 and expecting change certainly isn’t the norm.

The main mosque within Cairo is the Al Azhar mosque, which is featured on the 50 plasters note. On our way to this mosque, we stumbled upon a much newer mosque, which we mistook for the Al Azhar. This mosque is across the road and, while impressive from the outside, is less so on the inside. You’ll know when you have found the Al Azhar mosque by the magnificent marble courtyard inside.

For a change, we decided to have a guide and he was excellent. His English was excellent, as was his knowledge of the mosque. As is the custom, the guide was also ‘free,’ but our tip was warmly received.

You may wish to time your visit so you either miss or catch one of their times for prayer. Prayers are held five times daily. Friday is the most holy day and the mosque may be closed to tourists.

The Egyptian Museum is situated next door to the Hilton, within its own grounds. It’s free to enter the museums grounds, which are a respite from the mayhem in Cairo in themselves. To enter the museum costs 20 EGP (10 EGP for children) and there are guides outside plying their trade, and an audio guide available inside. We shunned the guides, so cannot comment on them.

The museum is sectioned into a chronological order, and we managed to find our way round easy enough. Whether or not museums are your sort of thing, the Egyptian Museum is a must see for the Tutankhamen room alone. There is one room set aside for Tutenkhamen’s tombs, masks, and artefacts. All the Tutankhamen’s exhibits were naturally in a glass case, so photographs can be disappointing. (There are plenty of postcards, photos, and books available in the gift shops.)

The other main exhibit within the Egyptian Museum is the Royal Mummy Room. Unfortunately, there was an extra charge for this room. As seemed to be the trend within Egypt the cost of an attraction was split into several constituent parts. The price on the door was seldom the price to see all that was inside. There is rarely any indication of the total cost to visit everything within a particular attraction at the entrance, and you only find out about the extra charges once inside. The cost of the Mummy Room was 40EGP and at twice the entrance price, it seemed overpriced, so we opted out.

You should also be aware that there is a baggage check to enter the museum, so remember to leave your Swiss Army knife in the hotel.

The website is www.egyptianmuseum.gov.eg.

Dinning out in Cairo can be a very difficult experience, unless you are willing to splash the cash. Without a Lonely Planet or Rough Guide in our possession, we ventured out on several occasions to find places to eat and were relatively unsuccessful in our quest. Most of the food outlets in Cairo are of the food stall/hole in the wall variety with descriptions and prices in Arabic and the locals in a scrum around the counter.

Finding restaurants with the ability to sit down and eat vegetarian was a fruitless task; the three or four restaurants we did find were either empty (not a good sign) and/or had a limited (and Arabic) menu. The few exceptions to this were the plethora of eating establishments within the Hilton, Sheraton, and other major hotel complexes. These were invariable expensive and very la-di-da for the average traveller (i.e. us), but right up your street if you’re on a two-week holiday.

The saving grace was the venerable Golden Arches and The Colonel. These were found close to each other along and just off Talat Harb street. They represented very good value and at a standard that is the same all around the world. A Big Mac meal was around 12 EGP, with KFC being slightly more expensive and far far busier. McDonald’s is the place if you wanted to just chill out with a shake or cup of tea (McDonald’s was the cheapest tea we found in Cairo).

When we were in Egypt, we had planned a trip from Cairo to Sharm El Sheik on the Red Sea Coast. Rather than fly or use a tour operator, we planned to use public/private transport when we arrived in Egypt.

East and West Delta are the main coach companies in Egypt. Unsurprisingly, East Delta serves the east of Egypt and West Delta the west. There are some other coach companies, such as Superjet, but we thought the Delta coaches looked in the best condition.

We unintentionally found out there are several bus stations in Cairo, with Abbassia being the main one. You can probably arrange the tickets through your hotel, but we decided to walk to the station to buy our tickets, as it didn’t seem that far on the map. Two hours later, we arrived after asking directions about 10 times. I heartily recommend getting a taxi (approximately EGP 15) or getting your hotel to sort out the tickets.

Buying a ticket is simple, even though our Arabic was nonexistent and their English limited. Pointing at a diary with the intended date and writing down the desired time did the trick. It’s little use looking at the ticket for conformation that everything has been understood, as it made little sense.

We paid EGP 65 one-way to Sharm El Sheik on the overnight bus. It arrived at 6am at a bus station about 3km from the centre. We paid another EGP 20 for a taxi into Sharm and were soundly ripped-off. I wouldn’t advise the overnight bus if you want to sleep. They showed a film (in Arabic) very loudly and stopped twice on the way. Together with a very cold air-conditioner we couldn’t turn-off, sleep was patchy to say the least. Be aware that if you get offered food and drink, you have to pay for it at the end of the journey; regardless of how they make it look like it is in the ticket price (i.e. giving it to you even though you’ve declined it five times).

Also, if you are returning to Cairo like we did, you may well get dropped off at a different bus station. We were expecting to get dropped off at Abbassia, but got dropped off elsewhere. We had no clue as to where in Cairo we were, which side of the river we were, and how far it was to our hotel. Asking the locals was not much help; even presented with a map of Cairo, several people couldn’t point to where we were. Haggling with a taxi driver as to how much the fare to the hotel should be was very difficult and we ended up paying EGP 35 for a 45-minute journey, which seemed a fair price.

Overall, the value for money was outstanding and well worth the additional hassles involved.