CAIRO IS A NIGHT CITY... EVERYONE GOES "DOWNTOWN" AT NIGHT...
DOWNTOWN CAIRO IS KNOWN AS "EUROPEAN CAIRO"...IT IS ALSO THE NEWEST PART OF THE CITY... IT LOOKS LIKE A RUN DOWN VERSION OF PARIS... THE DOWNTOWN AREA IS CLOSEST TO THE NILE WHICH FLOODED EVER YEAR...SO OLD CAIRO...ISLAMIC CAIRO WAS BUILT ABOUT A KILOMETER FROM THE RIVER BANK...
DOWNTOWN CAIRO IS LOVED BY LOCALS AS A PLACE TO WALK AROUND AND WINDOW SHOP AT NIGHT...AFTER THE HEAT OF THE DAY HAS LESSENED DOWNTOWN IS PACK WITH PEOPLE... WHEN I SAW THE CHAOS OF DOWNTOWN CAIRO AT NIGHT...COMING FROM THE AIRPORT I SAID TO MY TAXI DRIVER...IT LOOKS LIKE RAMADAN... HE GAVE ME A "HIGH FIVE"... EGYPTIANS ARE BASICALLY HAPPY PEOPLE...BUT WHEN THEY GET MAD THEY CAN BE SCARY...
THE STREET PLAN IS...OR WAS HOPED TO BE...LIKE PARIS...A SPOKE PATTERN CROSSED BY A GRID...THAT WAS THE PLAN...THE RESULT IS MOSTLY CONFUSION...
CAIRO IS IMPOSSIBLE TO "DO" WITH A MAP... ALL OR MOST OF THE STREET SIGNS ARE MISSING...ESPECIALLY ON THE MAIN STREETS... AND EVERYTHING INTERSECTS AT AN ODD ANGLE.
THE PYRAMIDS ARE IN THE NEARBY WESTERN SUBURBS...ACROSS THE RIVER ON THE RING ROAD...AND CAN BE SEEN BETWEEN THE HIGH RISES GOING WEST FROM THE RIVER...
TALAAT HARB IS THE "DOWNTOWN" MAIN STREET...IT LEADS TO TARIR SQUARE WHERE THE MAIN GOVERNMENT OFFICE BUILDINGS ARE LOCATED...THESE BUILDINGS ARE HATED BY MANY EGYPTIANS...AND THEY COULD BE TARGETED BY THE PROTESTERS.
THIS IS WHERE THE MAIN BRIDGE CROSS THE NILE IS LOCATED... THE PINK STONES OF THE EGYPTIAN MUSEUM ARE VISIBLE ON THE RIGHT SITTING ON ITS OWN BLOCK OF LAND... DIRECTLY ACROSS FROM TARIR SQUARE IS THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF CAIRO...THE BEST UNIVERSITY IN EGYPT...AND ONE WHICH ALL STUDENTS HOPE TO ATTEND...
CAIRO IS A CITY OF NIEGBORHOODS.... CAIRO IS A CONCRETE JUNGLE OF FLAT ROOFED HIGH RISE BUILDINGS THAT EXTENDS FOR MILES...WITH PERHAPS 20 MILLION RESIDENTS...
THIS RECENT UNREST IS LIKELY NOT CITY WIDE...BUT IT HAS A FOCAL POINT THAT EVERYONE KNOWS ABOUT...DOWNTOWN!
IT WAS IN TALAAT HARB THAT THE REBELLION OF 1952 STARTED AGAINST THE BRITISH...AS PEOPLE FLOODED INTO THE DOWNTOWN AREA...A FAVORITE GATHERING PLACE.
EGYPT IS A COUNTRY THAT BENEFITS FROM TOURISM...AND THE TAXI DRIVERS ARE LIKELY DRIVING PROTESTERS TO AND FROM THE DOWNTOWN NOW...
I WOULD EXPECT THAT THE METRO IS CLOSED...
THE SOUTH OF EGYPT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE MORE "DANGEROUS" FOR TOURISTS...AROUND LUXOR AND THE RURAL REGION BETWEEN CAIRO AND LUXOR... A SPECIAL TOURIST "NIGHT TRAIN" WAS ESTABLISHED FOR FOREIGNERS GOING FROM CAIRO TO THE SITES AT LUXOR AND ASWAN...
CAIRO IS A NIGHT CITY...THERE ARE 20 MILLION PEOPLE IN CAIRO...
GOVERNING EGYPTIANS IS LIKE HERDING CATS...
