Saying goodbye to the old woman Kairo

Day 4: on a guided tour - final part

Sitting in our bus, shielded from the scorching sun, and with the monotony of the endless rows of tenement blocks visually accompanying the enthusiastic voice of our young guide, I wondered what to make of this city of 16 million people we were just about to leave in six or seven hours.

Certainly, the Khan el-Khalili market, the (generally) friendly staff at the Ramses Hilton hotel, the sheer vastness of our host city, all of that had left a (probably) indelible mark on my mind. So many people. So many beautiful people at that. So much to call Kairo. An yet.....

Kairo seems to me in a very real way to be steeped in the past. So much of the city is an state of dilapidation. Public and private buildings give the impression that not much attention, or funds, has been devoted over the past decades to maintaining an appealing exterior, not since the British left a long time ago, anyway.

Egypt may not have the oil money that, outwardly, has modernized Arabic countries like Yemen, still I wonder why this old, weather-worn woman, this Kairo, is left to decay. For how long can she rely on the Pharaos to bring foreigners, and much wanted capital, to her spacious Nile banks?

Probably for a long time to come, if the mummies are anything to go by. Ramses II has been dead for 3,300 years. Still people like me think it's worthwhile to pay 100 Egyptian pounds to get a closer look at the one who brought so much glory to his country. And his country should be thankful for him, as I doubt there would be much to draw us to this sprawling urban phenomenon hadn't Ramses spent his time and energy well.