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A Postcard From Cairo, Egypt

A Postcard From Cairo, Egypt

This is a feature from Issue 11 of Charitable Traveller. Click to read more from this issue.

GRAND PLANS

On a tour of the Grand Egyptian Museum, or GEM, I saw Tutankhamun’s flip flops! Golden and jewelled, the thong sandals wouldn’t look out of place in my local branch of Accessorize, yet they are over 3,000 years old.

When it finally opens, after years of delays, GEM will be the largest archaeological museum in the world and house the first full collection of the young pharoah’s treasures. The vast, ultra-modern building is a short drive from the pyramids, monolithic Toblerone tombs that stand like ancient sentries between the city and the desert.

Behind the scenes in GEM’s restoration labs, I saw delicate papyruses painted with mesmerising hieroglyphics and ornate furniture intended for a luxurious afterlife.  Off clinical corridors were various rooms, signs indicating their speciality: ‘wood’, ‘fabric’ and ‘human remains’. Through a window I spied a white-coated Egyptologist bent over a wizened mummy in the latter. And in the chilled stillness of the stone restoration room, rows of statues – kings and queens, gods and goddesses – stood together and stared.

The labyrinthine Khan El Khalili Bazaar is filled with dimly-lit stalls, piled high with brass lanterns, carpets, silk scarves and spices

Ancient Treasures

Outside its climate-controlled museums, Cairo thrums with energy. The notorious traffic is sluggish and antagonistic, belting out exhaust fumes and a cacophony of horns. My taxi swept past dingy shop fronts topped with curved wrought iron balconies, green shutters and carved stonework reminiscent of Paris. But from flyovers I saw streets packed with gaudy markets which looked 100% African.

We finally reached the Egyptian Museum, Cairo’s current home for antiquities, housed in a pink stone building. Inside is an astounding collection of statues, some so huge and monolithic it’s hard to imagine how they got inside. Upstairs, vaulted ceilings and archways gave way to galleries lined with dusty wooden cabinets displaying artefacts ranging from broken pottery to scarab beetles adorned with softly gleaming gems. The pièce de résistance is Tutankhamun’s golden mask. His eyes are lined with bright blue lapiz lasuli, making the whites sparkle and his huge, obsidian pupils stare defiantly.

The opening of GEM will be exciting but Cairo’s original Egyptian treasure trove, with its romantic antique allure, has my heart.

In Restaurant Naguib Mahfouz, fez-topped waiters serve chargrilled chicken, crisp falafel and silky hummus with warm, crusty flat breads

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This is a feature from Issue 11 of Charitable Traveller. Click to read more from this issue.