Luxury in Cairo

Cairo is the sprawling capital of Egypt and home to 10 million people. It is also home to popular attractions such as the River Nile (the longest river in the world) and the Egyptian Museum which contains a large exhibition of Tutankhamun treasures.

Bridget and I completed our short Egyptian break by staying in Downtown Cairo. We had decided to end with some comfort and luxury so following a night in a hostel, roughing it in a desert camp and a modest hotel overlooking the Pyramids of Giza we had booked the Kempinski Nile hotel. But more on that later as I’ll begin with the two Cairo sights we visited: the Egyptian Museum and the Cairo Tower.

The Egyptian Museum (official name being ‘Museum of Egyptian Antiquities’) is located next to Tahrir Square, a 17 minute walk from the Kempinski hotel where Bridget and I were staying. This short walk was fine until we had to negotiate a couple of busy roads to cross! But never mind, we made it 🙂

We purchased our tickets at the entrance for a cost of 450 EGP each (£11.50) and after bag scanning we made our way to the entrance. Guides hang around at the entrance offering to show you around but we declined. All of the signage throughout the museum is in English as well as Arabic which was most helpful as we were informed on what we were looking at.

We made our way around looking at thousands of ancient Egyptian artifacts in this oldest museum of the Middle East.

There were many statues and above is the king who unified Upper and Lower Egypt. The information explained his black skin and crossed arms associated him with the god Osiris, the god of death, fertility and resurrection. This statue was found by Howard Carter, a British archaeologist who also discovered the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in 1922.

It can take a couple of hours at least to explore this large museum, especially if you want to take your time reading all of the information associated with each of the exhibits and artefacts.

A statue of Shepsi was placed in front of a false door and visitors placed offerings of food and drinks in front of it.

There were several pieces of papyrus on display. Made from the papyrus plant, papyrus was used as writing material by the ancient Egyptians. It was later adopted by the Greeks and also used in the Roman Empire.

The absolute highlight of the Egyptian Museum was to see the original Tutankhamun’s Golden Mask in the Tutankhamun exhibition. We were not allowed to take photos (and it was behind a glass cabinet anyway) so I purchased the above image from istockphoto. Made with 11 kg of solid gold this was quite spectacular.

Tutankhamun was an ancient Egyptian king who ruled from 1333 BCE to 1323 BCE. Discovery of his tomb in the Valley of the Kings in 1922 is considered to be one of the most important archeological discoveries in modern times.

Within the exhibition we also saw the golden tombs and many of the 5000 artefacts which were found buried with Tutankhaman.

Cairo Tower is about 1.5 km from the Egyptian Museum so rather than walking and negotiating multiple lanes of heavy traffic, Bridget had the sound idea to take a taxi. On our behalf, a tourist police officer at the entrance of the museum waved at an official taxi driver who drove us the short distance for 200 EGP (£5).

At 187 m the free-standing concrete Cairo Tower was the tallest structure in Egypt until 1998 when it was surpassed by the Suez Canal overhead powerline crossing. The design of the tower was inspired by lotus flowers and is made up of 8 million mosaics.

Tickets to the tower were 250 EGP (£6.50) each and we were taken to the top by a lift. Thankfully the morning haze had cleared a bit and we had good panoramic views across the city.

Kempinski Nile Hotel

And finally hello to the Kempinski with its lovely festive decorations. The day before our visits to the Egyptian Museum and Cairo Tower, for $15US our Pyramids driver Muhammad had driven us for 30 minutes from Giza to Downtown Cairo. Uber is widely available too and would have been a cheaper option.

Having checked in, we decided to explore our new surroundings. The rest of this post focusses on our 24 hour experience of staying in this lovely hotel with some pure and shameless indulgence!

Having left our stuff in our room the first thing we did was to take the lift to the top floor roof terrace with its bar and pool area. Having had no alcohol so far on this trip, a cocktail was long overdue. I had a ‘Mango Dazzling’ the Kempinski’s signature cocktail made with vodka, mango puree and lime juice 😋

For a late lunch to accompany the cocktail I had smoked salmon and quinoa while on the roof terrace.

The sun was setting at around 4.45 pm

Above is our sumptuous room, well it certainly felt like it when compared with a tent and camel wool blanket from two nights before!

Before dinner we headed back up to the roof terrace to have a look at Cairo by night.

From a choice of Italian or Turkish within the hotel we had earlier booked a table in ‘Osmanly’ the Turkish restaurant.

Having been seated and selected our meals before long we had our hands washed! I thought we were being served some water to drink until I realised the jug and bowl were for hand washing as part of Turkish tradition to do so before eating.

I had a glass of Egyptian red wine which was tasty and under £5 for a large glass.

Dinner was served from a trolley. With a starter followed by a main each, we had so much to eat we were unable to manage dessert. Instead we decided to visit the Kempinski Jazz bar.

Not as heavy or filling as a dessert but not exactly budget friendly, we enjoyed a post dinner drink in the relaxing ambience of the 11th floor Jazz bar of the hotel, overlooking Cairo by night.

Kempinski breakfast

A quick shout out too for the Kempinski breakfast which was amazing. A vast range of fresh food, topped up and replaced frequently and with excellent service. The breakfast here would certainly be in my top 10 all time branded hotel breakfasts and far superior to the average Hilton or Marriott I’ve had. (Although some of the smaller independent hotel or B & B breakfasts have been fabulous too).

Having spent the morning at the Egyptian Museum and then the Cairo Tower we had a final drink back on the roof terrace before heading off to the airport. This time I tried hibiscus which is a local drink served with liquid sugar which you add to taste.

We did our best to make the most of the facilities of the Kempinski Nile hotel but sadly didn’t get to experience the chocolate bar, i.e. the coffee shop which also sold a large range of luxury chocolates! Or the spa…

Summary

From the peace and tranquility of the White Desert to the crazy mayhem of Cairo what a fabulous overall trip! While busy with a lot packed into a short space of time, everything went to plan. Everyone we met was so friendly, helpful and accommodating; the staff in all of the places we stayed in and each of the drivers including the jeep, minibus and the taxi drivers.

And wonderful to spend time with my lovely friend Bridget, a great travel buddy!

“Do what makes you happy because life is short!”