Excursions
For a Half Day
Birqash Camel Market: The biggest camel market in Egypt takes place just outside the village of Birqash, which is about 35km (22 miles) northwest of the city centre. Each Monday and Friday morning, camel traders come from all over Egypt and as far afield as the Sudan, to sell their beasts in a hubbub of sights, sounds & and smells. It is something of a tourist attraction too and visitors will be asked to pay an admission fee (currently E3 per person, plus E2 for a still camera and E15 for a video camera). The most convenient way to make the 45-minute journey is by taxi. Visitors should negotiate a waiting time: most drivers will be happy to wait or come back at a pre-arranged time.
For a Whole Day
Alexandria: The Mediterranean port of Alexandria, named after Alexander the Great, and the setting for Lawrence Durrell’s The Alexandria Quartet, is a popular day trip from Cairo. Locals make the 225km (140-mile) journey northwest to enjoy the beaches, the main promenade and the slightly cooler temperatures. The beaches are nothing out of the ordinary and are packed at busy times but there are other attractions too. The most recent addition is the Library (Bibliotheque) of Alexandria, inaugurated in October 2002 at a cost of $200 million and ambitiously planned to become a world-class centre of knowledge. The Citadel of Qaitbai was built in 1479 allegedly on the site of, and from the stones of, the Lighthouse of Pharos, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. There are several museums worth visiting too: the Graeco-Roman Museum, Royal Jewellery Museum, Fine Art Museum, Naval Museum, Marine Life Museum and Cavafy Museum among them. Beautiful mosques and palaces also make this a trip worth taking. Trains from Cairo (three per day) take two hours, buses take about three hours and it is also possible to take a taxi from outside the Ramses train station. There are also several flights a day on EgyptAir.
Memphis and Saqqara: These two historic sites are about three kilometres (two miles) apart, some 24km (15 miles) south of central Cairo, and easily reached by bus, rented taxi, coach excursion or even by horse or camel. However, a full day should be allowed as Saqqara alone extends for a good seven sq kilometres (three sq miles). This is where the first pharoahs were buried, although they are now overshadowed in importance by the sites of the Great Pyramids and the Valleys of the Kings and Queens in Luxor. There are several pyramids here and, because much archaeological work still remains to be done at Saqqara, it may even be that one day it becomes Egypt’s most important historical site.
Saqqara was the necropolis for the pharoahs when Memphis was the ancient capital. Memphis is the oldest known royal city in the world. Founded in 3100BC during the 1st Dynasty, it was the royal capital for 500 years and remained occupied in all for a total of 4000 years. Sadly, not much remains today of what was one of the grandest cities in the world but the small museum and scattering of statues make a good appetiser for the more stunning remains at Saqqara.
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Excursions