Salmiya

I have left Cairo two weeks ago with plenty of new impressions. The city with its 20 millions or so, the incredible traffic with its, for Arab countries so typical, exactly two rules (rule number one: don’t let anybody in; rule number two: there are no other rules). Crowds in the streets rather reminding of mass demonstrations. The noise. The mixture of good and bad smells. And friendly people everywhere, deeply rooted in faith and trust in God despite touchable despair. I loved the heat and the rubble in the street. The enormous souqs. Very oriental, actually decaying, quarters amidst urban areas. Fancy park-like residential quarters, and incredible new ones with very-low quality buildings for the poor. I’ve noticed that the common tourist usually leaves the city after having seen Cairo’s main souq (or bazaar) Khan al-Khalili and the Egyptian museum only, to head for Luxor and Aswan. This is actually a pity. It took me about ten days to explore the city and visit only a small number o...